Camp V: Kapedzera FPS

Kapedzera school was a great success! Working with the teachers was really interesting. We felt as though they taught us a lot more than we were able to teach them! Topics like teaching resources, translation issues, absenteeism, and sex ed were among some of the more interesting things we talked about. We discussed the pros and cons of using explicit and frank language when teaching about sex or anatomy and were interested to hear the teachers divided on the issue. We struggled a bit to explain to the teachers that we were not able to bring in as many tangible resources as they might like and that World Camp’s goal was to bring education, not material items. We feel as though this kind of gift keeps on giving. One of the teachers created an incredible picture box, which he presented to the entire school on the third day of camp during presentations. The box depicted the proper use of condoms, statistics about HIV, and other interesting information. We were really impressed with his hard work and creativity and excited to see his dedication to the issues. In addition, this same teacher worked throughout the three days to motivate his colleagues to organize a day where all the teachers would get tested for HIV and encourage students and villagers to join them. We talked about effective ways to publicize this event and why it was important for the teachers to set such a strong example. These teachers were definitely prepared to act as strong role models and we are hopeful they will implement many of the ideas we discussed during our time there. The World Camp staff was excited to be teaching at a school with such cooperative and eager students. We barely had any glitches throughout the three days…including no rain!! Hopefully this trend will continue throughout our last couple of camps.

-Sara Ramsey and Steph Henderson