Summer Camp Part 1: TOT and Sheki

There have been times when I haven’t been sure I’m particularly qualified for the work I’m supposed to do here. Other PCVs have worked with at-risk children or been teachers or helped with NGOs in the United States or abroad. Me? I’ve worked a couple summers as a lifeguard at a summer camp. Only the last year was I trained to be a counselor. So when summer comes rolling around, I finally feel like I’m doing what I was nominated to do with Peace Corps. The moment I heard about ABLE, the Azerbaijani Boys Leadership Experience, during PST, I knew I wanted to be involved. ABLE is a weeklong summer camp for boys from all over the country, in which we work with Azeri counterparts, invite Azeri guest speakers, and of course, play tons of games with the boys.

Looking for a hiking trail with Khayal and Elvin

For Christmas, I went to Kurdamir, and met Todd, one of the leaders of the camp this year, and we talked about ways I could be involved in the camp. Then, at New Year’s, we had a meeting for all the volunteers interested in helping with the camp. I signed up to run the challenge course, and to work on site selection and organizing supplies. As summer neared, I got a call asking if I would like to help with the training of trainers session. The TOT is intended to help prepare the Azeri counterparts, usually a group of FLEX alums, for their presentations on topics such as volunteerism, leadership and community involvement. For TOT, we spent a couple days at the rest area where the camp would be, and was a great opportunity to figure out exactly what we needed.

With the Bravehearts on the group hike.

After TOT, I went to Sheki, a larger town several hours north of Ismayilli, to help out with their summer camp. A three-week camp for Sheki students organized by PCVs, our week’s theme was Life Skills. All of the visiting volunteers, mostly TEFLs aside for myself, were assigned to be team counselors, aided by an Azeri student who spoke English. I ended up with Red Team, which had decided to call themselves the Bravehearts. The camp was well organized, a half day of camp each day, with games and team-building activities, such as human pyramid, hiking, blanket volleyball, relay races, and human knot, as well as lessons about nutrition and FLEX. We ended the camp with an egg drop contest, and kids had time to wrap up their eggs in surprisingly complex and impressive padding.

With only one day off between Sheki Camp and ABLE, we rushed back to Ismayilli to finalize packing and supplies. I also had to wrangle the boys that would be attending from Ismayilli. We were supposed to have three boys come, but one of the boys disappeared (presumably to the village with his family) and was out of contact. So with two boys, we set off for camp, a grueling 35 minutes away.