Steph in Peru: ALMA

ALMA stands for “Actividades Liderazgos para Mujeres Adolescentes” and basically a Peace Corps run leadership camp for high-achieving girls in between the ages of 14 and 18 in Peru. Every region more or less puts on one ALMA and one VALOR (the boys’ equivalent) every year. We recently held our ALMA camp for the region of Piura in La Union – a town about 10 minutes from my house. Every volunteer who participates has the option of bringing a girl or two or three to the camp which lasts about 3 days. Although I didn’t have to travel far, some of the other volunteers had to travel 6 hours or more in order to get to the retreat center. The camp lasted from Thursday afternoon to Sunday morning included games, leadership and teamwork simulations, talks from various professionals, and small group breakdown sessions.
I worked the camp as a small group leader and didn’t bring a participant this year. After seeing the camp first hand though, I will definitely be bringing one next year. We played field games like the sack race, 3 legged race, volleyball with water balloons and sheets, etc. There was a competition for the team with the most points at the end of camp and although we didn’t win, we had a lot of fun! The sessions we held were interesting and it was a great opportunity for the girls to hear professional women speak about their experiences. We had a woman doctor and business owner talk about feminism and what it means to be a pioneer. Our own Peace Corps doctor, Suni, came in to talk about women’s health (her speech was my favorite). Suni talked about some common myths in Peru about women’s health that we, the volunteers, didn’t know about. For example, the girls thought that when they were on their period they couldn’t eat lime, bathe, hold a baby, or make dessert because it was mad for your health. They debated these facts with Suni (who has a medical degree) and gave some pretty ridiculous reasons for them being true. We had to tell them that the volunteers had been doing these things our whole lives and nothing had happened. I still don’t know if they were convinced. We talked about domestic violence entrepreneurship and what it means to be a volunteer and leader in their communities. The last day we had a career panel for the girls – a psychologist, NGO owner, police officer, artisan, and local government official (all women from the department of Piura) answered questions and told them girls their own stories.I know for a fact that a lot of these girls would never have had an opportunity like this had it not been for camp ALMA. Some of them had never left their departments before and had never met anyone from outside their communities. It was so rewarding by the end of the 3 days to see a group of girls from 4 different communities laughing together like they had been friends forever. Maybe it wouldn’t have surprised me so much had it been a camp of American girls, but having lived in the Peruvian culture where the women and girls are so timid it can be painful, it was a huge difference. There were some girls who had never really considered college because their moms wanted them to stay home and by the end of camp, after talking to other girls, had made up their minds to find a way to go. They saw men and women volunteers working together and learned about working in teams. They got the chance to talk to inspiring women professionals and learn about experiences of girls from all over the region. I don’t think I did a whole lot to contribute to their experiences. My job was to be there and facilitate conversations and answer questions. I did teach them a few English phrases that typical teenage girls would want to know… “I love you,” “How YOU doin’,” etc. But really, the girls made the camp themselves and I think that was what made it so special and such a great experience for me.