Oportunidades: Camp V.A.L.O.R.

This past weekend I helped organize and carry out what has perhaps been my favorite Peace Corps project. We hosted a camp for high school boys in between 12 and 16 years of age. The camp was called V.A.L.O.R. which stands for Varones Adoloscentes Líderes para la Organización y Responsabilidad (Adolescent Men Leaders for Organization and Responsibility). The theme was “Be a Hero” which emphasized the idea that anybody can be a “hero” in his community, provided that he works for the good of the community. The camp only lasted from Friday through Sunday, but it was a blast!

There were 22 youth in attendance and 29 PCVs coming from all areas of the departments of Ica and Lima (even Yauyos was able to come). We camped out. Volunteers from the Red Cross came to talk about the importance of volunteering. We also had the Peace Corps Medical Officer Jorge discuss sexual health with the youth. A young man talked about being an agent of change in one’s community, and the firefighters from the area came to teach fire safety and basic first aid. In between, we had all sorts of group discussions and group activities. The main point of the camp was to have a session where youth could work with their hosting PCV to develop a small project for his/their community. The youth designed projects ranging from control of gangs to recycling to building new classrooms for a school.

I was extremely happy to watch the youth interact and actively participate in the activities! It was an absolute joy! It was a lot of work, but every minute was definitely worth it! I now have so much more respect for any and all camp directors! Now we are pumped to do the all girls camp in September!