Minassians to Armenia 2015: GLOW'ing Even Brighter, Back to the Classroom

GLOW Camp Day 3

Woman of the Day: Tegla Loroupe, first African woman to win the New York City Marathon, world record holder for running, humanitarian, and peace activist

Topics of the Day: Emotional Awareness and Mental Health, Physical Fitness/Nutrition, Environmental Stewardship

Tegla Loroupe

Our day started with some energizer activities including the game where there’s one person in the middle and they call out an item of clothing they are wearing or something they like and whomever else that applies to in the circle has to run around and find a new place. As you can see, Sevan got in the mix as well calling out his love for different sports (American football is not so popular) and “who brushed their teeth this morning”. In the counselor debrief yesterday, they discussed that getting the girls active in the morning and full of movement (games, dance) would make them more engaged in the day’s work. It certainly proved effective!

Today I got the privilege of being a guest lecturer at GLOW Camp. Regular duties aside for a moment, I got to do what I love to do most: Teach! The topic I was offered was “Emotional Awareness and Mental Health”. Aislin and Maureen put together a great curriculum that I was to adjust for my teaching style and run with! And yes, it had to be all in Armenian. Luckily, I had Lilith by my side. Lilith is an Armenian woman who spent a year abroad on the FLEX program (a highly competitive exchange program between the US and Armenia run through the US State Department and American Councils). Lilith was there for me in case my Western Armenian proved incomprehensible and the girls needed an Eastern Armenian translation. Surprisingly, I was able to implement about 90% without her help but her being my side was a huge support! The main lesson was around explaining what it looks like to be healthy and what it looks like to be sick and how sometimes people are ill (depression) when they look perfectly healthy. We broke the girls up into groups of 5 and gave them scenarios of different struggles they might face. They were to talk about the scenario and decide if that was social, physical, or psychological depression. Then when we got back in the group, they were to discuss with a partner which of those scenarios was most relevant for their own lives and how. They shared some of their responses out loud, giving others an opportunity to hear some of their stories. Then we discussed ways that people can get help for the different struggles they feel. One of the girls shared that the scenario about financial strife was something applies to everyone in that room and is something they can support each other through, by listening. They spoke a lot about making one another more joyful and creating ways to cheer their friends up. It was the first time in the camp that the girls opened up so publicly about their personal lives and the struggles that some of them have. We connected the lesson to the life of Tegla Lorupe and how she overcame some of her own challenges. Then they journaled for a while in their home groups and shared their reflections with their team.

Dark room, but bright minds (not my PPT behind me, leftover from the previous)

Scenarios

Sevan has been a bit more engaged with the girls today. He is giving them lots of space (both because he is embarrassed and also because he wants to keep the integrity of it being for girls) but has started to play a little with them during the down time and was my trusted assistant during my presentation. Today his work in the kitchen entailed cutting up the cucumbers, serving some snack, and wiping down the tables after snack and lunch. He is also happy running small errands and in his down time, occupies himself in the basketball gym playing soccer or sometimes, logically, basketball.

From Sevan’s Perspective:

I like the camp so far and was expecting to have a little more work. I like the location because the school looks nice. Schools at home are not as pretty. This school has a garden inside, upstairs! I like the size of the school, which is big! Being the only boy around girls was weird for the first two days but now since I am apparently entertaining, I think we are getting along a little better. I don’t think girls here are the same as girls back at home. Girls back at home seem to have way less interest in boys than they do here. I think because I’m an American boy it makes a difference but still at home if there was an Armenian boy in my school, he would be treated the same way as everyone else by the girls. . I expect one day I might see some of these girls in their future doing something that’s important for the world, because they came to this camp. I think a camp like this is important for girls in Armenia so they can feel more powerful.

For snack, Fruit

For so many of these girls, the novelty of this camp is having a safe space for their ideas, opinions, and feelings to matter. Each day they come away with new strategies and lessons learned about how to be a powerful young woman in society. Their questions are so earnest and expressions so sincere. It’s such an honor to be with them this week, to learn a little about their lives and situations, and to draw connections back to our own homes. I have no doubt that if I were to stay in Armenia, I would only do work that was about empowering and developing the youth. Like in Berkeley, it’s this nation’s best hope for change.

Some photos from the day...note when they got a hold of my camera!!