Camp ALMA are a girls camps that Peace Corps puts on in all of it's departments here in Peru. The camps are focused on supporting and training young female leaders from rural communities to go back to their community to perform mini-projects. It's three day camp that teaches leadership skills, problem solving, career and college planning, and health topics to teenage girls that have been identified as leaders in their communities. I've been apart of a few of these camps since joining Peace Corps (we do a boy's camp each year as well), and they're always a lot of work but very rewarding. This year's camp was different though, as the Peace Corps volunteers didn't go at it alone. To promote project sustainability, Peace Corps invited various local organizations and branches of government to participate. This made it a lot more work in the organization aspect, but also allowed us to grow the camp from the typical 20 girls to 40 girls, and insure the host-country's involvement, making it much more likely to be sustainable. Here are a few highlights from the camp:
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| The sunset on our first night at the camp. |
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| Our lodge was right next to the Banos del Inca Hot springs. |
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| Brad welcoming the girls as they arrive. |
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| Campfire night with s'mores. |
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| First time s'more eater. |
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| Brad, Dylan and I bought that wood for 6 soles. |
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| Studies show that marshmallow blobs in you wilderness beard reduces your manliness by almost 100%. |
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| One of the last charlas after 3 days of camp. |
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| Two girls taking a thank you picture for their local municipality in front of Inca Statue. Their municipality paid for their transportation cost. In previous camps, volunteers paid these expenses, now other organizations are stepping up. |
