Thursday, September 17, 2009

Oh GLOW, where did you go???
Do you remember camp GLOW last July? Or rather, do you remember reading about camp GLOW last year? I remember writing about it. I remember writing about a camp that flew me to the moon! I remember an all-girls camp that made me proud to be a woman: a 5-day extravaganza where I was proud to be a Peace Corps Volunteer. I finally felt that I was accomplishing something: something that no previous experience could hold a candle to. Camp GLOW was it. Life clicked for five days and I was one happy PCV. Sure it was a lot of work and every second was worth it. Hence why I decided to direct camp GLOW this year. Planning started the day camp 2008 ended. We had meetings to not only raise camp GLOW to its highest potential, but to also launch a year round girls group/ gender equality program. I was becoming part of something big - something bigger than a one off 5-day event. This was huge news for a pseudo professional trying to find her place as a “soft soldier.” My service was finally starting to live up to my expectations. I was driven to lead the best camp GLOW the D.R. had ever seen. Big shoes to fill? You bet. And I was ready to fill 'em. Things started off smooth and steady. We created an application process for volunteers who wanted to be part of this all star opportunity and chose carefully. Formal meetings began in February and Emily (co-director/coordinator) and I made sure even the slightest of details had been ironed out. The goin’ was good and I was in charge of something that I believed in, enjoyed doing and fit in my job description. Does it get better? Well, yes, I could be getting paid, but that is another story.
Steps were being taken to make camp GLOW a GO! Committees were forming; charlas created, supplies ordered, reservations for lodging made and professional Dominicans were contacted to speak to the souls and futures of our young adolescents. It was all happening! Fundraising was in the works and our PCPP was slowly filling up. I remember the excitement I felt when I saw the grant had filled. Granted, my right leg was in a cast from my recent motorcycle accident, but I was pumped as could be! All was good and according to plan until July 19, 2009.
Emily and I just spent a rather epic evening celebrating our friend Jo’s 26th B-Day in Loma Verde. We hitched a bola to Rancho Campeche where camp GLOW was set to take place the next day. Perched on the back of a pick up truck, wind was blowing through our hair and we were smiles ear to ear. This is what it was all about I thought! I couldn’t really have been happier. The next thing I know, we are waiting under the shelter of a colmado for the rain to stop. It eases up a bit and we get back on our motorcycle (with Priscilio, my neighbor & trusted moto-concho driver, former house builder, enamorado and current friend). At the entrance to Rancho Campeche, the motorcycle overpowers Priscilio and our tires loose their grip. Sure enough we fall over going about 0 mph. Emily and Priscilio fall with the motorcycle to their left while I decide to fight gravity and burn my right calf on the muffler. I paid Priscilio 100 pesos ($3) and walked the rest of the way, tears rolling down my cheeks. Camp GLOW was off to a bad start and it only got worse. I had just reckoned with the scar on my right knee and gotten used to the pain & eye sore of what my previous moto accident left behind. And now a muffler burn? Right on top of the one I got my first day in Las Pajas. What does this country want with me? Tough to say, but camp GLOW 2009 will go down in history. Tuesday night, the 2nd night of camp and a Tropical storm comes through. One of the reasons camp has been held at Rancho Campeche in the past is the tents: we can see the stars and give some Dominican muchachas the feeling of camping. Hauling wet colchones (sleeping pads) out of tents at 9pm while dirt kissed my muffler burn sure took the romance out of camping! What is one to do with 60 wet Dominican hembras, their clothes, wet tents and a thunderstorm? PCV’s take action! We grabbed all the mats, bags, clothes, sheets, etc. and had a great big sleepover in Aula Taino! Yoga mats and egg crates became sleeping pads; body parts took the place of pillows and the conference room turned into a sleeping hut. We made do so to speak. Sleep deprived? Yes. So, we got a late start our second day at camp Ser Mujer, but we survived the first storm to hit camp GLOW in 6 years! I became the entertainment committee while half the volunteers organized wet sheets, clothes, pillows and mattresses! We had breakfast and played team building games for about an hour and then the sun started to peak through, Gracias a Dios! (Thank you God!) That night at about 11pm we handed out dry sheets and I got my first taste of disaster relief!
Life was pretty chaotic there on out, but at least the sun was out again and camp GLOW lived on! It was a close call. Needless to say, this was not the camp I was expecting, but así es la vida!

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