Baby, you got SOL

Things here are rapidly coming to a close.  I officially have less than 20 days until I leave site for good, and I won’t even be in site for all of those days.  It suddenly seems like days are slipping through my fingers while I desperately try to squeeze every moment possible out of them.  I can hardly believe that I am writing a blog about my last activities with teens.  But here it is.

I’ve written about Pasos Adelante before.  It is a Peace Corps-Peru program focused on sexual and reproductive health for teens.  It is also one of the most rewarding and fun parts of my job in Peru.  Last year, my Pasos group was only 5 kids or less.  This year, I had an average of 9 youths at each class who were motivated, curious, and enthusiastic.  I also had the help of a wonderful teacher, Prof. Dina Tovar Cullanco, who was at every class, eager to help.  I am proud to say that 7 youths graduated the program, and will hopefully work with my replacement volunteer to train other youths in life skills and sexual health.

In addition to my Pasos class, I also taught a School for Parents once a month in the secondary school.  Again with the help of Prof. Dina (didn’t I say she was great?), we got together with parents and talked about communication, adolescence, teenage pregnancy, alcoholism, and effective parenting.  There is nothing more encouraging than parents taking time out of their evenings to come learn about how to better support their adolescents.  We had some phenomenal, open, and frank conversations and they hopefully have some more tools to communicate with their adolescents moving forward.

Finally, last weekend, the LIcaH region held a youth camp called Camp SOL (Solidaridad, Orgullo, Liderazgo… Solidarity, Pride, Leadership).  We had 22 adolescents come from three departments (Huancavelica, Lima, Ica) for two nights at La Tinguiña, Ica.  From Tantará, I brought two adolescents: Milagros and Guillermo.  They have been the superstars of my Pasos group for the last two years.  At camp we had workshops on personal health (sexual health, anti-violence, etc.) and on leadership (communication, listening, problem solving, etc.).  Then, they created work plans for their communities so that they can go back and begin to confront some of the problems that youths encounter in their lives.  I couldn’t be prouder of Milagros and Guillermo, as well as all of the young leaders who came to camp.  We were lucky to have an enthusiastic and interested group of kids, as well as motivated and helpful Volunteers and Peruvian counterparts.

To the people who donated to our grant to make Camp SOL possible, I can’t thank you enough times.  I am also incredibly grateful to Prof. Dina for always coming to classes and helping me no matter what, and to Taylor Warren for being the other half of the youth camp planning committee (arguably the much more important half).

Coming next week to a blog near you: pictures on this post and another post about working with mothers.