During the first week of February I held a young girls soccer and development camp in my regional capital. With the help of 9 other female Peace Corps volunteers and the spirited participation of 30, 10-14 year old girls from all around the Ngäbe Buglé reservation we had a successful pilot camp. With several Panamanian invitees including, the governmental health agency, the mayoress, Association for women Ngäbe Buglé, and Peace Corps Panama’s youth development coordinator, the girls learned many topics both in the classroom and on the field. This camp was the first of hopefully many program sponsored by Let Girls Learn in Panama, a Michelle Obama initiative to expand access to education for girls around the world. So here is the Sports Center Top 10 from the week!
10. Busting open the door on the dead bolted and pad locked dormitories so we would have somewhere to sleep the first night. Still weren’t enough beds so it lead to extra quick bonding!
9. Nutrition charla: seeing the reaction of some of the girls when we demonstrated how much sugar is in soda, cookies, etc. and how it adds up in a day! Hopefully that stuck a bit…
8. Presentation from the Association for Women Ngäbe Bugle on women’s rights, abuse, and violence. The facilitator had all the participants divide into groups and present on each of these topics. The girls did an excellent job and provoked some good questions.
7. Wonderful cooking crew! We had some awesome locals helping out with cooking and security. All the meals were wonderful and on time. Kept the girls active and in high spirits all week! Nun bule kri (we had big bellies, or in other words were full all week 🙂 )
6. One World Play Project: we did a campaign to fund-raise a special type of soccer ball designed to last on rugged terrain. An average ball only lasts a few weeks here! The excitement on their faces when they found out they each got to take a ball home was unforgettable!
5. Circle of Support: this is an activity we did to build trust and promote teamwork. Each team formed a circle, holding hands and then laid down on their backs. A circle was drawn on the ground just inside their heels and then a stick was laid above each of their heads. Then they all got up and had to stay inside the circle and reach their own stick. It is impossible to do on your own and you need your teammates to help lift you. It was super cool seeing each team problem solve and little by little trust their teammates not to drop them to reach their goal. Lots of laughter and smiles!
4. Spirit of the game. At the end of the day, we would form a circle and each girl had to say something nice about the girl on their left. The first day was very challenging but by the last day they were congratulating and supporting each other and the facilitators on their own!
3. During the final game one of the girls got hit in the face and her teammates, took her in their arms and walked her off the field. Learning sportsmanship!
2. Gusanito: this is an interactive song about a little worm. Here is how it would go in English:
I am walking, I see a worm, I grab the worm, I lift up the worm, I throw the worm, I step in the worm, I grab the worm, I eat the worm, I vomit the worm, I feel relaxed, relaxed, relaxed. Complete with gestures and in fast and slow motion. Always gets everyone energized!
1. Openness and participation:it was awesome seeing how much all the girls opened up during the week. Answering and asking questions during the lectures, throwing away the shyness on the soccer field and passing to their teammates (well a few times at least), and all the new friendships formed!
What an excellent week! Hope to be able to do a follow up camp and will be seeking your support. In the mean time if you wan to learn more about Let Girls Learn or would like to donate to the program, follow this link! Panama is new Let Girls Learn country, so the Panama bio is not yet up on the website.
https://letgirlslearn.peacecorps.gov/countries.html
Erin Storck 
Nice work! So much disparity in Panama. With so much to offer there is still so much to do.