valor

The Peace Corps volunteers of Piura organize leadership camps for youth two times a year. In February, we organized a camp for adolescent women and in June we organized a camp for adoloscent men. The three day camp aims to strengthen leadership abilities, community awareness in the youth to prevent machismo, alcoholism, domestic abuse, etc, as well as explore options for the future after high school. Each volunteer brings young leaders from his or her community so that they can meet other kids from around the area. The camps are definitely one of my favorite projects that I work on here because I get to see real changes in the kids that I work with. I took Deyvi and Andy, two kids that I have worked with in past projects. Neither of them had thought much about career options or university options after high school. On the way home from the camp, all they were talking about was how much fun they had at the camp and how they actually do want to succeed after high school, rather than stay in their community for the rest of their lives, get married at 18, and work on the farm.