playing football at the Summer English Camp
Summer Camp Fun
Summer in Macedonia is the season for odmor, a time to rest, relax,
and if you’re a Peace Corps Volunteer, a time to realize the plans of
the last few months and carry out a variety of camps. This season
was no exception. Here are some highlights from 2007’s busy camp
schedule.
Summer English Camp
A
lot of work goes into planning and having a summer camp
in a foreign country. In fact, I still have to pay the bus driver.
That is one of the many things I admire about this country: the
level that people rely on credit and trust.
On the first day of camp, which ran from August 1-3, we waited
at the semaphore (stoplight) for the kids. I met a lot of parents
that day. We arrived at camp and called the contact, who sent
someone over to check us in.
After an introduction and rule-making session, we played the
first activity; it was hilarious and stressed the importance of just
playing for fun. The kids take water from one bucket to another
with different sized cups and at different distances to see who
can transfer the most water. By the end, they are outraged by the
unfairne ss and excited to win. Then you ask who they think won
and dump the water out of the containers simultaneously. After
getting to know each other via the human knot and a blindfolded
trust walk, they were ready for some English.
The entire camp focused on English as well as education. A local
Dr. came to do the AIDS talk on the last day. The kids responded
positively and told us that they had never been exposed to that information before. Dimche, the Husband of my counterpart Daniella, talked about Alexander the Great and added information to
Tory’s talk on Trafficking. He has inside info from being a border
police officer. Scrabble was well received, as was Twister (There
are some flexible kids in The Delch). American football had been
played by some before but was still exciting. As was traditional
Macedonian football—especially when played in the hallway.
Other popular games included kickball and capture the flag.
As for meals, it was all traditional Macedonian food, which I
missed from my Kumanovo training days. Dave Whitford, Tory
Tompkins, and Anna Berlinski were great counselors (as reflected in their evaluations). A great big thanks to them!
I forgot to mention that we had a big bonfire with s’mores.
by Rachel Whitford
Friendship Camp – Kosovo Kids
J
ust when I thought I was finished participating in summer
camps for the year, I found out about another opportunity.
Molly Staeheli, a US English Language Fellow in Kosovo designed and orchestrated this camp (funded through the US office
in Kosovo) from August 19-26 at Detska Odmoralishte in Pelister
National Park. The staff included two Peace Corps Albania Volunteers, a vacationing employee of UNDP Kosovo, and myself,
the lone Macedonia representative. The five of us couldn’t have
come together more accidentally, but melded together beautifully
in the six hours before the kids arrived as well as throughout the
week.
The camp had two primary goals. One was to train Kosovar
teachers in English teaching methodologies that promote multiethnic understanding (which was Molly’s job). The other goal
toward which the volunteers worked was to bring together Kosovar youth (age 12-14) from four different ethnic groups (Albanian, Serbian, Bosniak, Turkish) for a week of friendship, capture
the flag, an Ohrid excursion, and marshmallow roasting. Each
ethnic group brought one teacher and six kids.
fall 2007 -