Oh! The Places You'll GLOW: Discovery Day

Discovery Day is all about putting the lessons of Camp GLOW into practice and preparing to say goodbye to facilitators, campers, and PCVs. It helps campers process the new ideas they’ve explored and new experiences they’ve encountered before returning home.

For many learners, this is the first they’ve been away from home, outside of their villages or interacted with peers from other tribes and cultures. Finding closure is the easiest way to insure they transition smoothly back to life as usual. We want them to return to their villages with a new sense of confidence and achievement, prepared to overcome obstacles and share the Camp GLOW experience with friends and classmates back home.

Kids began the day by making a spider web of friendship with the people they’d spent the past seven days getting to know. Each team was given a ball of twine and campers and facilitators held tightly to the string as they tossed the ball to someone who’d helped to make their week perfect. After reminding their team why their new friend had been so important, the next person would throw to someone else who’d had an impact on their time at Camp GLOW.

By the end, each team was connected by a spider web. Pieces of it were cut to remind campers of the connections they’d formed with people of different cultures and tribes over the course of camp.


A Web of Connections Made in Just One Week


Aly Cutting One Team's Web


Spider Web BFFs

We reminded kids about the stereotype mountains they’d made on day one. These mountains illustrated all the assumptions and misconceptions that stand in our way when trying to make friends with people outside our tribes. Learners took turns crossing off stereotypes they thought were true at the start of the week, and explained why, just seven days later, they knew those stereotypes were false.

Whether it was the friends they’d made or a new person they’d related to, Camp GLOW showed learners that, no matter our background, our race, our tribe or our religion, we have more in common with one another than we think. It’s only when we move those mountains, and tear the stereotypes down, that we are able to see a person for what they truly are.


Ashley in front of the Stereotype Mountain


One Learner Crossing Out a Stereotype from the Mountain. Once every learner had removed one stereotype, teams worked together to move the mountains by tearing them down.

Learners and facilitators were presented with certificates for their important contributions to Camp GLOW.


My Learner, Rosa, with Her Certificate and Book


The Kids of Khorixas. I've never seen them look happier.

Finally, campers lined up to “pack their backpacks” with the tools and skills they learned during a week of Camp GLOW. From an open mind, to tolerance, to confidence and motivation, every learner had something positive to take with them in the place of the indifference, stereotypes or lack of self-esteem they left behind.


Vincent Working with Learners to Brainstorm What They'd Take with Them from Camp GLOW


Learners Packing Their Back Pack. Each slip of paper has a sentence about what the camper learned at Camp GLOW and what they will take with them to their communities, schools and villages when they leave.

That night, we ended camp with a talent show, complete with songs, Kwaito dancing and some hilarious dramas.


Jeremy and Charisma Singing Lean on Me


Perfect Harmony

It brought to a close what we hope was a memorable week of fun and friendship for these 80 learners from across Namibia.

And for me, it brought to an end a year of planning and preparation for one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my Peace Corps service.