Wonderfully Rewarding Week!

This past week has been amazing. I feel like my whole trip here has been worth it now. I have been having a little bit of a hard time, feeling homesick, and wondering what I was doing here. But after this week, I think I am really going to miss Uganda.
This past week, we did an "empowerment" seminar for girls at a nearby secondary school (basically a mix of middle school and high school - there are 6 grades). I had been wanting to do something like this all summer, but just hadn't known where to start. I came up with 5 different aspects of empowerment: building self-esteem, learning a marketable skill, understanding our bodies/taking care of them, self-defense, and effective communication. Another girl in my group, Lindsey, had wanted to do a similar thing, but needed  ideas, and so we joined together and started to work on it. In the meantime, we got some of the boys in our group involved, and they developed some empowerment classes for teenage boys. We taught a 2-3 hour class each day to about 120 girls (broken up into 3 classes throughout the day) On Monday, we taught about self-esteem - it was a great lesson! I felt like we were teaching a lesson at girls' camp, because it was so fun. The girls really liked our object lessons and stories. I was so happy to start the week out on a good note. The next day, I had Richard come in and teach about looking for business opportunities. He did a great job, and the girls LOVED him! They laughed at all his jokes, and at the end, one of the teachers told me that they all thought he was a great teacher. After we ended the business class, we had an optional craft - and everyone stayed to learn it. I taught the girls how to make paper beads, and I think they had a really fun time. It was so chaotic trying to teach all those girls at the same time, but I hope they can use that skill in the future. The next day we taught about Maturation and menstruation - it was the first class I felt really comfortable with - I knew the material really well, and because I care about it a lot, I really enjoyed it. The next day was self-defense, and you know how passionate I am about that - it was such a fun day! I LOVED every second of it. I started out by teaching about safety, and setting personal standards for what is and isn't okay for boys to do, etc., and then after that, we moved all the desks to make a space in the room and started teaching some of the moves I learned in my self-defense class. It was great! The girls (and teachers) were so excited to learn, and they got a real "kick" (pun intendended) out of practicing everything. I had so much fun that day! The last day, we taught about communicating effectively in our relationships. It was a good lecture, not as fun as the day before, but still a good one. After we finished our lecture, we went to the auditorium and had a big ceremony with speeches and I even gave an impromptu speech (Africans LOVE speeches, so no matter what you say, they still think you're brilliant and give emphatic applause). Then, we gave out certificates (they also LOVE getting certificates) so that was fun too. THEN, we went to the home ec room and taught the africans how to make american pancakes - they LOVED that too! (Richard had talked about selling "Mzungu pancakes" on the street in the business class, so they wanted to try them).  The headmaster even suggested setting up a partnership with a school in the U.S. so that the students could get to know the students in America.  I thought that was a great idea! 

I feel like I just walked out of a perfect dream - I don't think things could have gone any better, or been more rewarding.  I LOVED this past week!!!

Pictures to come!