Hot off the Press!

Its been a very exciting few days! I got a call a few weeks ago asking if I would be willing to bring a few of the most active girls in my GLOW club down to Lusaka (8hours away) for an event. I was only told that there were VERY important people coming from America and the event would showcase what we do as a GLOW club at school and what we do at our GLOW camps. At first I declined the offer (although I was very honored to be asked to do the event) since I was waiting to hear about the grant money I applied for to do an World AIDS Day(WAD) event. A week later, I still hadnt recived any word or money regarding the grant for WAD so I decided to see if the offer still stood. I was then told who was coming to Zambia...President George W. Bush and his family. I immediatly started getting in touch with the girls and their parents. The grade 7 and 9 girls had already finished their exams and were preparing to take their holiday. I picked four of the most active girls and my GLOW counterpart to come Lusaka with me. All the girls were excited, except one. 3 of the girls had just completed grade 9 while one had just completed grade 7. The grade 7 girl was nervous about her English. She's the only one in her family that knows any English and the only time she gets to practice her English outside of school is with me. She was afraid that people in Lusaka would laugh at her. She had also never left the village at all let alone gone to the capital. I assured her that things would be fine and she should speak in whatever language she is comfortable with. So we all travelled in the Lusaka as a big group. Along the way we stopped for shawarma and got two flat tires. Eventfull day indeed. The girls got some time to rest then it was all practice for the important visit that was going to take place. The girls also met up with 14 other GLOW girls from differnet schools and different provinces. There were 5 groups in total. We decided to do three activites: a girl empowerment song, a self-esteem activity, and a sugar daddy skit. The girls practiced so hard and it all paid off. They did an AMAZING job! The Bush family was so impressed with what the girl preformed for them today. My girl who was afraid of going to Lusaka even lead the girl empowerment song in her local language!!! I was so proud! We took lots of pictures and this is something the girls will remember for the rest of their lives. They had so much condfidence in themselves by the end of the week. This is why I love GLOW and my job. I feel like I get the opportunity to change people's. These girls experienced new things, met new people and had fun and I got to play a part in that. If feels good. The Today Show came to interview the girls and film the day. There should be a showing of the event on December 12th. Check us out if you can!