Band of Brothers Camp

I spent last Saturday and Sunday up in Perquin helping facilitate a leadership and reproductive camp for young boys focusing on HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. My friend Anna organized the whole camp and invited me up to help facilitate a few of the sessions. She brought several young men from her site, as did my other friend, Daniel. A few of us came without kids to help offer our support. In total we had 19 young men, most between the ages of 13-17. There is precious little reproductive health taught in schools here. Most kids don't know anything about the prevention of STIs, especially HIV/AIDS, or about contraception. Most classes or information is presented to young women. This camp gave us the opportunity to talk to young men about not just reproductive health, but also about general themes in their lives including teamwork, planning the future, dating, and how to treat a woman with respect.

I was blown away by the work of my fellow volunteers who came together to put on an amazing experience for these boys, most of whom had never spent a night away from their homes. The boys were on their best behavior, were incredibly respectful, made great friends and hopefully learned a thing or two.

(Anna and Daniel solicit help from the boys as they develop the guidelines for camp.)

(Boys and Laura sitting in a circle ready for a discussion.)

I got to co-facilitate the workshop focused on trust and teamwork. Brian developed several exercises the boys had to complete as a team, and my group worked together so well. Here they have to use a bench, rocks and bamboo poles to cross a "lava river."

(Working as a team to climb the hill without entering the area between the bamboo poles.)

(Crossing from one side of the "spider web" to the other without touching the rope or using the same slot more than once. Great display of teamwork!)

(A view from above as Sarah teaches the boys about proper condom usage.)

(Practicing how to correctly use a condom. The boys were great at getting rid of their shyness and learning a critical skill.)

In one workshop, the boys learned about how HIV/AIDS can spread quickly in a small community when people aren't in monogamous relationships or using protection. We put up pictures of eight models, and each boy had to sign up with three models to go on dates with. Later it was revealed which models were HIV positive. Anyone who slept with that model contracted HIV, and then anyone who slept with a model who slept with one of those boys also contracted HIV.

(Signing up for a date with Scarlett.)

I borrowed heavily from my days at Envision for some of my sessions. In this one, I asked the boys to think about a respected leader in their communities and draw pictures of what they think the ideal leader is. I was impressed with their answers, and how culturally different they were from what the kids in the US come up with.

I also did an activity with them on leadership, teamwork and non-verbal communication. They had to work as a team to toss water baloons from group to group, without breaking them, to the end of the line. Only the team leader was allowed to talk. After a few rough starts, both groups got the activity down and ended up tied with 15 balloons each.

(Looking up at everyone with their diplomas!)

(A group photo of all the young gentlemen and the PCVs.)

The camp made me realize how much I miss working more with kids and facilitating leadership camps. I also feel really good about the new knowledge they went home with at the end of camp.