Things are going great. I have just over 4 months of service left. I cannot believe that. I am, however, spending my time wisely. This week I have started two new clubs! I am now teaching a fitness course and a spanish class. So, now there are boys limping around Balaken sore from the previous days workout and students reciting the alphabet and counting to ten on the streets in Spanish! I couldn't be happier!
Camp was a huge success. We had 60+ kids attend this year and the camp was 100% locally funded! This camp has, by far and away, been the highlight of my service. Although I will not be there next year, the older kids are already making plans to run their own summer camp in my absence and have started asking newer volunteers to return to Balaken to help out!
We had different themes for each day: environment, leadership, Olympics, and move-making. Instead of writing about it, I'll just post the 3 short videos made during camp. The kids were divided into 3 teams, and each team had only 1 hour to produce an entire movie. The scripts are completely original and were created by the kids. Enjoy!
On the last day of camp, we held Balaken's first My Mic event, an open mic night meant to encourage originality, confidence, and creativity. Although all of the videos are not online yet, this one is. The last day of camp was also my sitemate Stephanie's last day in Balaken. Her and Matt sang Azerbaijan's Eurovision winner from last year, "Running Scared". Without telling them to, all of our students stormed the stage to sing it with her. Clearly, she'll be missed!
