Are You ABLE?

Forgive me, this is a long one.

The last few months—really the past year, but more so the last few months—have been dedicated primarily to one project: ABLE, the Azerbaijan Boys Leadership Experience Camp.  It hasn’t been just myself, of course.  ABLE is planned and run by a group of Peace Corps and Azerbaijani volunteers.  Without each and every one of us, the camp would not have been possible.  Not everyone could attend the camp, as opposed to last year when there was more than enough money, and to the PCVs that were involved and played a vital role in the planning, but sacrificed their spots at camp for others, I thank you. 

Last year, I was only peripherally involved during the planning stages of camp, becoming more involved in June at Training of Trainers and then at camp in July.  I kind of lucked into it, since I went to Christmas at the home of one of the AZ7s leading the camp.  The rest sort of followed from there, and while at camp, we AZ8s gathered to create a plan for the next year. 

The past year of planning the camp has not been easy, but has been valuable experience for all of us.  For the past several years, a large portion of the project has been funded by a single organization, and when it came time to hear back, we were shocked to find that instead of a deduction as we suspected might happen, we were turned down outright.  As a result, we had to seek alternative funding from local and international sources.  In the end, we were not able to fund the camp to the same price we were accustomed to, but after lowering the number of students to 33 and finding a cheaper site, as well as requiring Peace Corps Volunteers to pay for some of their meals, we were able to fund the camp.  Of course, there was some wonderful drama at the end about whether the money would arrive in time; we had all the money we needed by the end of camp.

I had the pleasure of attending camp all week this year as one of the leaders.  As soon as I returned from Greece, I turned around and rushed off to the Training of Trainers, a two night conference at the camp site at which we prepared the Azeri counterparts to be leaders at the camp and conduct the lessons of the camp on topics such as teamwork, community, leadership and volunteerism.  Four days later, camp began.  The first day was spent getting to know each other, and the boys were split into four teams, which they named the Black Eagles, the Grey Wolves, the Last ALBEGA (referring to Alpha-Beta-Gamma Rays) and the Best Crazies.  They also designed emblems and wrote team cheers.

Each full day of camp this year was built around a theme.  Day 2 (first full day): Leadership.  We started with one of the (to me) more interesting new activities we added this year.  We split the boys into three groups, and assigned each group a governmental model (democracy, anarchy and dictatorship), and under that system, they had to build a bridge out of paper, cardboard, and tape.  We were a little worried that the dictatorship group would be the best, thus invalidating our argument that democracy is best, but it worked out all right, if not perfectly.  Actually the dictatorship group was my favorite, as the smallest boy at camp was chosen to be dictator, and he promptly had everyone bow down to him. 

Later, we broke the camp into two and sent two groups on Nature Scavenger Hunts and two to do Team Building Challenge Activities.  The boys had a lot of fun with the Trust Falls, and were definitely challenged by the 3-D Spider Web.

The only downside to the camp so far came as one of the boys was particularly homesick.  A really interesting boy who is particularly interested in technology, this boy’s homesickness would be a recurring issue at camp, though when we started including him in filming and photography, and by the end of camp, he was smiling more and more.

Day 3: Environment

Today started off rough, with rain pouring into the early afternoon.  We were able to plan around it and use the pavilion and sheltered tables for activities, though.  This proved to be a big day.  We painted t-shirts, using stencils and spray paint for each team.  The boys then styled their new shirts and wore then throughout the week. 

Today was pretty much the day of the Guest Speakers.  First up were the Ganja Green Bicycles Club and Environment Clubs.  These were the two most highly reviewed speakers, and they had the boys interested and active through the talk.  Almost unanimously the favorite guest, they were even better than last year. 

That would have been enough for any day, but they were topped that evening when Adam Sterling, the Charges d’Affairs of the US Embassy visited with Farah Xan, an embassy employee.  Together, they spoke about gender and human rights issues, drawing on personal experience to explain their views.  Sterling, for instance, explained how he grew up in a home with a strong female role model, which has helped him prepare for his current line of work where he is working for a strong woman, Hilary Clinton.

After dinner, Mr. Sterling, an avid Mets fan, played wiffleball with the boys.  Despite some unlucky at bats, he seemed to have a good time, and was active in the field.

Day 4: Human Rights

This was one of the hardest days for the boys.  Today was the day we handicapped them.  For both breakfast and lunch, we blindfolded or tied the hands of half the boys, while the other half had to assist them in eating.  Many of the boys did not take to this easily and resisted to the point where they refused to eat.  Others found it more interesting or fun, and tried getting into feeling for their glass and silverware.  When we finally allowed them to take the blindfolds off at the end, there was a huge gasp of relief.

That night, though, was the biggest event of camp.  Not the most informative or educational, but definitely the most fun.  At Training of Trainers, we devised an elaborate nighttime challenge run, based on the scenario that the boys had crashed on an alien planet and had to find a way back home.  Along the way, they had to complete challenges while being attacked by PCVs wielding water balloons.  We were a little worried the boys would be scared (last year’s campfire ghost stories resulted in some long nights), but they all came back to the starting point with huge grins and shouted explanations of what they did and how they did everything.

Day 5: Health

Somehow the boys were still waking up before us today.  Their bodies are just different at that age, I guess.  We were mostly all zombies this morning, with large portions of coffee to get us going. 

 One of the normal highlights for PCVs, Capture the Flag, backfired a bit.  I mean that we didn't dominate the boys the way we normally do.  How disappointing!  This isn't just a big deal us, but the boys are also often big fans.  We start by having the kids play against each other and then pit them against us, forcing them to use more strategy.  Our surprise attack failed this year when they saw it coming and beat us to the flag, winning out by their larger numbers.

Really the best part of the day wasn’t until the evening, when we had our annual end of camp talent show.  This year, each team had to perform together, and were judged by a combination of PCV and Azeri leader judges.  They channeled their inner Simon’s and Paula’s and the boys got a huge kick out of their antics.  In the end we also got in on the act.  We had planned to do a human pyramid, but a group of boys beat us to it, so we felt we had to one up them.  So, we made the human pyramid…while singing the US National Anthem.  I talked my way into being the top (thank you PC Azerbaijan for helping me be the lightest!), so I can only imagine how the guys at the bottom got through to the last few lines.  But we all made it through!  USA! USA!  The evening ended in chants of USA, Azerbaijan, and ABLE. 

Maybe there’s something to this 33 boys thing.  Maybe 50 kids are too many.  I do know that more so than last year, the boys came up to me and told me they didn’t want to go home.  They wanted camp to go on and on.  That’s how camp should end.  That’s how I know we did a good job.  It’s how I know that even if we didn’t get to each and every one of the boys (and you can’t get to them all), we started the ball rolling for most of them, put new ideas in their heads, and made a difference in their lives.  That’s what ABLE is, and what it will be even after Peace Corps leaves.