Camp GLOW: Empowerment through Expression

Camp GLOW: Empowerment through Expression was a three-day intensive GLOW camp for girls of Taroudant and the surrounding villages. The camp was held from June 16th-18th, funded by the Small Project Assistance grant, and was attended by approximately thirty girls from middle school to university. The camp focused on themes such as gender equality and positive self-esteem, women as leaders, goal setting, SIDA and female reproductive health, and the environment. Each attendee learned how these themes are pertinent to their lives as women and as community members.

Each theme was taught through workshops and followed by an expression activity. For example, a trained Moroccan counterpart led an IYF session on gender and stereotypes, which was followed by an activity in which the girls designed hands of Fatima with colors that were assigned to positive attributes they self-identified with. Other expression activities included a recycled item fashion show, self-portraits in which the girls envisioned themselves as leaders, and friendship bracelets.

Other sessions included personal fitness and how to maintain a workout plan during Ramadan led by Tatiana Cary, an entrepreneurship workshop complete with business model posters led by Rebecca Levy, and goal setting led by Johanna Boyle, in which campers defined their goals and the steps they will use to reach them. While these workshops highlight these PCVs' prowess, these girls were tremendous in their ability to help girls with any activity no matter how artistically complicated and fill spare time with new lessons that were not initially prepared for the camp.

While these PCVs contributed to the benefits Camp GLOW had on the girls of Taroudant, the success of this project would not have been possible were it not for the contribution of our community members. We partnered with the Taroudant Nedi Neswi who provided lunch and kaskrut for the girls, helping to retain attendance of girls who traveled in order to participate in the camp. We also had help from our counterpart and friend, Mounia. From neighbors who let us use supplies to turn the Dar Chebab into a gym to others who provided time and expertise, a thank you is not enough. We hope to hold another session this fall with new programming for the girls who attended Camp GLOW and their friends.