Thursday, September 5, 2013

Gramsh Girls Camp Pictures

Last week my dream of holding a girls camp here in Gramsh came true.  I've spent the past month forgoing summer vacation to organize and plan and every second of it was worth it.  It is still too early for me to have the words to describe this camp and what it means to me but it was easily the most fulfilling thing I've done yet.  Twenty-three girls aged 14-18 came for three days of lessons and activities focusing on healthy living, leadership and physical exercise.

'Crossing the River'
The girls were involved and enthusiastic, even at 9 AM during their summer break. I worried that they would find some of my American games silly or weird but they took to them with a vigor that even surprised me.

My counterpart Laura leading an activity on creative thinking.
The Albanian women that I worked with to organize the camp stepped up to the plate and really committed to my vision and making it happen.  They gave lessons, led discussions and acted silly with me, showing me that they really appreciate my work and friendship.

A group shot with all of the PCVs, my Albanian counterparts, and visiting PC staff members:  Mira, Language and Culture Coordinator; Agim, TEFL Project Manager and Earl, PC Albania Country Director.
The PCVs who came to help were amazing with the girls and there is no way I could have done it without their energy and their willingness to make countless friendship bracelets and hair braids.  Overall it was overwhelmingly fantastic!  There are so many pictures there is no way I could decide between them all so be expecting more to come later!









2 comments:

  1. Jenn,
    This made me cry and I wished I had been there with you. I looked at the cross the river photo and thought of a step class:)

    They looked like they had a great time thanks to you and your volunteers..

    Linda

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  2. Good morning how are you?

    My name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.

    I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because trough them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.

    For all this I would ask you one small favor:
    Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Albania? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Albania in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:

    Emilio Fernandez Esteban
    Avenida Juan de la Cierva, 44
    28902 Getafe (Madrid)
    Spain

    If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.

    Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.

    Yours Sincerely

    Emilio Fernandez

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