Oh! The Places You'll GLOW: Leadership Day

Camp GLOW is all about leadership, which is why we have an entire day dedicated to helping these 80 promising learners become leaders in their schools and in their communities.

Leadership Day focuses on identifying the qualities of a good leader, using teachers, friends, relatives and community members as examples. This year’s learners came up with a long list of impressive character traits—like good listener, ability to admit when wrong, organized, kind, enthusiastic—without much trouble. I think that may have been because so many of our campers embodied these qualities already.

Much of the morning was spent emphasizing the importance of good public speaking and practicing a passage from Nelson Mandela with team members. Facilitators read the paragraph a variety of different ways—too fast, too slow, no eye contact, too much movement—to illustrate the wrong approach to public speaking before showing them the right one. It made the kids aware. But it also made them laugh. (A good thing, considering how nervous some of them were to perform!)


Robert Practicing Nelson Mandela's Speech


Clinton Giving it a Go

Afterwards, campers joined up into tiny teams and practiced the passage in front of a small audience. They provided positive feedback, as well as points to improve upon. We were all impressed by the learners’ ability to take Nelson Mandela’s speech and read it as if it were their own. With pride in their voices. With perfect eye contact. And without much hesitation.


More Practice!!

Once they had practiced the speech of someone else, they were asked to write one all their own. Learners stood before their teams and told the story of their future. Where they would be in ten years, how they got there, and the challenges they faced.


Peter Telling His Life Story to His Team

Two representatives from every team (a boy and a girl), stood before the entire camp and told their stories in perfect form.


Charisma Volunteering to Tell Her Story to the Camp

We were especially impressed with one learner, Raymond, a tiny Nama boy from the south. He’d been silent all week. He’d barely spoken to his team and hadn’t really talked to us. But on Leadership Day, he stood before the camp, and in a booming voice, told everyone how he’d attend university, work as an accountant, and when he retired, open two shops in neighboring towns in the south. We were all amazed by his composure, his projection, and his pride.


Raymond

But being a good leader is about more than public speaking. It’s about being a good example. That’s why outstanding learners from last year’s Camp GLOW were invited back to discuss what they’d done with the skills they gained, and how they’d improved their own communities with their new knowledge. Speechless, a facilitator in 2007, talked about how GLOW had given him the confidence to seek out new opportunities in volunteering. He went from working in his own community, to working in Windhoek, where he helps young kids learn about self-confidence, health and character through sports.

Jeremy, an outstanding learner from last year’s camp (who can be seen on the Camp GLOW video), discussed how it’s up to learners—not just adults—to identify problems in their communities and solve them. He’s started work at the orphanage in Khorixas, teaching kids there to read. He also taught himself a new language so he could communicate with two of the kids there. He charged GLOW campers with making their world a better place, and the power of his speech made us volunteers want to do the same.


Jeremy, Richel and the Khorixas Learners Discuss How They'll Take Camp GLOW Home to Improve Their Community and Schools


Kim Helps the Kids from Okongwati Plan Their Post-Camp GLOW Projects