CampSky Reflections

(If you don't understand what I mean by "CampSky," please refer back to previous entries.)

All in all, I felt the camp was a huge success. It was one of the more meaningful things I have done in my life, and there were multiple times where the whole scene gave me goose bumps. One of the boys that lives with me was there, and every time one of his friends asks him how the camp was, he starts giggling for about five seconds before he can compose himself enough to explain how much he enjoyed it.

In years past, the camp was about two weeks long. However, this year-due to school calendar changes and other BS that we had to deal with- we were forced to shorten it to six days. When starting to plan for the camp, we expected to have 12 days to work with. Later on, the number of days was cut in half, and instead of also cutting the activities in half, we just crammed them into those six days. This meant that we were constantly busy running around doing different things from 5:30am to 10pm every day. At first the students grumbled about the fast pace, but then they agreed with me when I told them that we have to take advantage of the fact that we have electricity at the camp. I told them we can sleep when we return home to the village, with total darkness at night.


So what did the students do at the camp? Every morning was spent in the classroom until lunch time. The topics learned about were similar to what they learn about at their respective schools, but here they had access to better resources and teachers that actually knew what they were talking about. The afternoons consisted of a wide range of activities ranging from Peace Corpish skills training (jam, peanut butter, and soap making; composting; planting tree nurseries, etc.) to Karate to elective classes on unfamiliar topics such as human rights, budgeting, and natural medicines. One afternoon we also went to two places near Lilongwe city. First, we went to the Lilongwe International Airport. Of coarse, the two (no typo) flights that were coming in that afternoon were late, but it was well worth the 90 minute wait to see the amazement on the students faces when the hundred ton hunk of metal gracefully fell from the sky. Immediately after the plane landed, we spotted another flying in, getting ready to land. At an airport that only has about five international flights coming or going on any given day, we were lucky enough to see two land at about the same time. Soon after the second plane landed, we had to rush off to our next destination. When we first arrived at the airport I started a rumor that we were going to America. The students were a bit let down when they realized this was a lie. Our next destination was the Hastings Kamuzu Banda mausoleum. For those of you who aren't Malawian history buffs, Banda was the first president (dictator) of Malawi. He is a national hero to most Malawians that I know, and the students were very interested to look at the monument. We didn't spend a lot of time there, but it was a decent evening activity before dinner.

The only regret I have is that I wasn't able to teach at all. I was always busy taking care of logistical issues such as food, security, and transportation. All this was good experience for me since I had never been in this kind of leadership role before. Still, if I'm a part of the camp next year, I will just be a teacher. Someone else can be the bad guy-yelling at everyone and taking responsibility for all the problems.

Lastly, I certainly shouldn't forget to thank all of you that donated money to make this camp possible. One thing that I have learned over this past year is that lots of donor money is wasted/mishandled in developing countries. However, I can confidently say that your money was well spent-empowering the future leaders of Malawi.

"It is when we try to grapple with another man's intimate need that we perceive how incomprehensible, wavering, and misty are the beings that share with us the sight of the stars and the warmth of the sun." Joseph Conrad