A Day in the Life: BRO Camp

The slideshow I made for the certificate ceremony

I just finished a week at BRO camp and it is by far the best experience I have had since arriving in Armenia and I would count it among one of the best experiences I have ever had. When I think back to what I wanted from my Peace Corps experience, this past week is exactly what I was looking for. I can't believe how quickly the time went by and am so grateful to have had such an unforgettable experience with some young men who I feel confident in saying, will be leaders here in Armenia. After coming back from vacation, I was feeling excited about my next year, but this last week made me fall back in love with this country.

BRO stands for Boys Reaching Out and was a leadership development summer school conducted by the New Generation Humanitarian NGO in collaboration with the US Peace Corps Armenia with support from the Democracy Commission Small Grants program of the US Embassy in Yerevan, Armenia. The goal of the camp is to foster leadership development skills among young men of Armenia by non-formal education methods. When I applied to be a counselor for camp several months ago, I was excited about the opportunity to work with young men as I had never worked with this population before. I expected it to be a good experience, but had no idea how incredible it would be. Over the course of the week, we had several lessons on environment, health and nutrition, cultural identity, healthy relationships, gender, sexual health, human rights, a debate on what can be gained from volunteerism, lots of UNO games, the boys loved playing, though they were pretty flexible about the rules:) (side note, for anyone interested in sending me something, I would be more than happy to receive UNO games so I can hand them out to my Armenian friends, it's amazing how much they love to play), and so much more.

We had a total of 21 boys from many different areas of Central and Northern Armenia, most of whom didn't know each other, but by the end of the week, the brotherhood and friendships which they had formed was really cool to watch. During the lessons, we had a lot of group work and I was blown away with how dedicated and engaged the boys were with each activity we did. They were open with their opinions about certain issues and topics, were supportive of each other, and I truly feel like this week made a significant difference in their lives. But it wasn't only their lives that were affected, this week changed my Peace Corps experience and in talking with the other PCV's, it appears the same happened for them. We also had a few Armenian counterpart counselors who were just as committed as we were and who I also believe gained more from this past week than any of us can put into words.

I have had my struggles with cultural differences here at times, but seeing these boys, getting to know them, seeing their leadership skills, witnessing the bonds they formed with each other and with us gave me such a different view of Armenia in a way that has changed the whole outlook I have for this country and its people. It's not to say that I won't continue to have struggles here, but the Armenia high I am experiencing right now is something I want to remember when I am having a tough day or moment. I laughed a lot, learned a lot, and was genuinely happy all week. And beyond all of the significant moments that happened, it's the little ones that I appreciate the most, teaching the boys how to shuffle cards and seeing the excitement they had when they finally got it down, seeing more and more boys carrying around water bottles and drinking water all day long after their lesson on hydration, receiving flowers after morning exercise, how happy they were to share their opinion and be respected by everyone in the group, witnessing the boys really come out of their shells and seeing their confidence being raised throughout the week, listening to one of the boys and one of the Armenian counselors sing the whole bus ride back to Yerevan and getting the whole bus singing and clapping, not only knowing each of the boy's names but having had enough time with every one of them to know something special about each one, the pride they had when they received their certificates at the end of camp, how much they cheered each other on when their names were called to get their certificates, and the crazy amount of pictures taken and hugs received after the ceremony, and just how much I grew to care about all of them in such a short period of time.

I know I still have a year of my service left, but I think it's safe to say that this experience will be one of the defining projects of my Peace Corps service. To me, what I got to be a part of this last week is what Peace Corps is all about and at this moment, I couldn't be more proud to be serving in Armenia.