In addition to myself and Sarah, two new community economic development (CED) volunteers decided to help out, Karen (Sarah's sitemate) and Marsha, who lives 18km away (also from Seattle!). Before the camp started on Monday, a meeting was held in Dakar on Saturday (when I was at the mangrove reforestation in Toubacouta) with all the participating teachers and at least one PCV participating at each camp to sort out a few administrative details and talk about the upcoming week. Sunday evening, the three of us in Louga met up to chose a song to play for the campers and explain the lyrics as well as discuss potential "Jeopardy" questions for another activity later in the week. Each day the camp is from 9am-1pm with a half an hour break in the middle.
Day 1: After breakfast on the street (cafe tuba, and a pea, bean and onion sandwich), the three of us walked to the school where the camp was held. Marsha met us via taxi. This is when I met the teachers and director who would be helping us out, Babacar and Moussa. After everyone did introductions (including the students) we split the 48 students into four groups. They made team names (Lions, Fighters, Dreamteam, and Kings) and flags and then we divided into two rooms to play a semi-final round of Jeopardy. The Lions (my team!) and the Dreamteam won with the categories of: music, famous people, geography, food, and history. After a short break, we went outside and played musical chairs. After that, we went inside, the students practiced "If You're Happy and You Know It," (the media came for video and interview for the local television), and then we went over the lyrics to Rihanna's "Don't Stop the Music."
All and all, it was a good day, but I am amazed at our little we accomplished in the given time! It's all about giving them an opportunity to be in an English speaking environment. Nevertheless, the teaching style in Senegal is drastically different than the States and it is apparent even in this camp style learning environment. This is the second year of the camp happening in Louga (there were 30 participants last year, and were supposed to be 60 this year), so there are different English levels (these camps are supplementary to English classes that are given throughout the school year) and some people who attended the camp last year. It is great to see how confident some are, whereas others are much more timid. It is really inspiring and something I do not see much in my village.
Day 2: Having modified the schedule for the week a bit, we started the day with "Simon Says." Then rather than having the students write what they want to be when they grow up, we split up into twelve groups of four and handed out scenarios to each group to come up with a skit (i.e. You are going to the market to pick up supplies for rice and fish but forgot your money...You have a visitor in Louga, tell them what to do and what to avoid...A friend is going out of town and you agreed to feed his/her cat although you hate cats...You and your three best friends get in a fight, what is it about and how do you resolve the situation). Watching what the students came up with was great! After a break, we explained how to play baseball and the importance of it in America. We split up into teams, differentiated by red and blue bandanas we handed out, and played a few (very short) games in the courtyard. Some people were REALLY enthusiastic about it, although a lot of Wolof was used to cheer people on. We finished the day by teaching a couple more verses of Rihanna.
Day 3: We started the day with doing a human knot (failure since it it very much a team building exercise rather than a speaking exercise), and playing "Never Have I Ever." It was really interesting to hear some of the things that came up (swam, ate pizza, made maffe, been on a boat, been to the beach, cut onions). Afterwards, we had the final found of Jeopardy with the Lions verses the Dream Team with questions in the following categories: music, grammar, sports, politics, and careers. They did really well only being stumped on a few questions in politics, careers, and grammar, although the Dream Team ended up winning. Then, we handed out papers and had them draw a picture of something that represents America and share when they were done (a few of the drawings were: hamburgers, watches, city streets & buildings, sports fields, a pumpkin, turkey, etc). We started teaching Chris Brown's "Forever," and gave them homework to come up with questions pertaining to America that we will answer tomorrow.
Day 4: We started the day off with a round of Pictionary. We put together 24 nouns, and had two teams guessing. It was a really great activity! Again, occasionally, it was shocking the words they did not know. After, we opened up the floor for questions they had about America. Then, we finished presenting pictures they drew the previous day that represent America. After break, we set up and did two rounds of a "Mini Olympics." They loved it! It was a really fun day.
Day 5:After a short feedback session in the morning (what did you think about camp, etc etc), the rest of the day was dedicated to a celebration for the completion of camp and the time we spent together that week. The second year campers prepared a song for us, which was great! It is amazing how talented these individuals are (they even brought in a keyboard for musical accompaniment, it was so cool! Definitely would not have happened in village). Then, a DJ came, we had food and enjoyed a morning of dancing.
Not only was camp a really rewarding experience, but overall, Louga was wonderful! Such a nice scaled, developed, and wealthy area. I got to see where Sarah works and meet one of her work partners, get a button on a pair of pants, and bought a game for my host siblings. I enjoyed lots of good food, met easy going enough people (for Wolofs, often considered "aggressive," granted I had limited interactions with them). Most days I went to Sarah's family's house for lunch (one day we went to the cultural center), where I had a spectacular variety of traditional Senegalese food. It was very enjoyable! It is so different than my usual lunch environment (a different meal every day! Also, there were many more people! Usually I share a bowl with 3 others, here, 11!) Grabbing an assortment of food for dinner (fish plate with salad and fries, hamburger, or chawarma), one night we did make fajitas! As a reward for the week (an to celebrate our one year in country), we decided to go to St. Louis and treat ourselves to a day at the beach.
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