The following blog post I have borrowed from my friend and fellow PCV Arianna’s blog. Although the project is not my own, I am one of the PCVs who has been invited to participate by bringing a female teacher and two girls from my school to Camp GLOW. Please read the following post to learn more about it. This is a newly revised version, if you logged in and tried to donate and could not locate the link it is because we have recieved all the funding! Thank you all for your prayerful and financial support! I will make another post and of course put up any pictures I take when the camp happens in August and also keep my faithful bloggers informed as to the progress at my school when we bring back the things we learn as a team and implement them at my school.

“It is not my right to speak up. And, if I did, no one would listen… I would only be punished.”
- A. Phiri

In rural Zambia, women are the foundation of the economic, social, and productive fabrics of the community. They cook, they clean, they collect water, they care for the children, they represent their families in church, they control the health care of their families, and they frequently manage family income generating enterprises. However in Zambia, as in many developing countries (and though rarely recognized, even in developed countries), women are considered intellectually and socially inferior as compared to men. Zambian women marry young, usually between the ages of 15 to 20. They are encouraged to bear children immediately following marriage, which has resulted in high rates of obstetric fistula and even maternal death amongst young mothers. Because female education is not generally valued, most rural Zambian girls rarely complete their primary schooling.

Traditionally, Zambian women don’t discuss issues of gender inequity with men, especially their husbands. They are encouraged to be sexually subservient and cannot negotiate condom use. It is widely accepted for men to openly have multiple concurrent sexual partnerships; in the face of one of the highest HIV/AIDS rates in the world (around 14.5%), women are being infected with HIV at a startling pace. If a women protests it is legitimate grounds for a divorce. Domestic violence is also widely accepted in the community.

As a Peace Corps Volunteer facilitating health development in the community, gender inequity is without a doubt the biggest impediment to my work here. [It plays an essential role in schools as well and is a similar challenge for education volunteers, as well as many areas of interest nationwide.]

As a result, two of my PCV friends and I are planning a Peace Corps Camp GLOW event to take place in Eastern Province from 9 August through 15 August. Camp GLOW, or Girls Leading Our World, is a camp facilitated by Peace Corps Volunteers in multiple countries throughout the world that focuses upon female empowerment, gender awareness, and youth skills development. Thirty girls from 15 schools throughout Eastern Province will be selected by their schools to attend the camp accompanied by 15 teacher counterparts. The camp will highlight: self-esteem building exercises, body image awareness, art education, sports, health education, guidance from Zambian female role models and advisors, and leadership and communication skills development. Camp GLOW will also provide the opportunity for the female students to share ideas and experiences with each other ranging from encounters with sexual abuse to the potential for community advocacy. With the assistance of community-based Peace Corps Volunteers, the teachers will return to their schools to begin implementing gender awareness into school-wide curriculum. The PCVs will also support the girls in creating local GLOW clubs that will continue working on gender equity focused activities and promoting dialogue in village communities. Eventually, we hope future GLOW events will also include young male campers and counterparts as well.

We have received numerous donations from the business community of Eastern Province. Individuals have stepped forward to donate food, conference space, and materials. Thank you to those who helped provide funding to our Peace Corps Grant to help make this a reality for the girls and communities who will benefit!

Gender inequity and the oppression of women in Zambia is preventing development in all sectors, from the economy to the health care system. By reaching out to young women and their teachers, we hope to not only impact the lives of the 60 Camp GLOW participants, but to also start a movement of awareness and dialogue concerning positive and negative gender norms in Zambia. We hope to provide young women with a support system that would help them, if they so choose, to live and think differently than those before them. We hope to prove that the problem isn’t that women don’t have a voice, but that no one is listening….yet.