Tag: success

Monday in a Picture – It’s a Wrap

by Kirby P., posted in Monday in a Picture, pictures, Readjustment, Reflections

Today is the 31st day of December, which also means that it’s the 365th and last day of the year. As I think about the year that is passing and the one on the horizon, I’m reminded of the new year being a wonderful time for reflection. As I was listening to Culture Kings, which is one of my favorite podcasts, last week, Edgar (one of the hosts) mentioned an awesome reflective way to close out the year. He suggested that you make a list of everything that you’ve accomplished this year. Since January 1st. No matter how big or small. Write it down. He said that most people are amazed at the massive list that results when time is put into the effort. He spoke of how we tend to forget some (or many) of the things that we do accomplish. Or, we tend to downplay the things that we did accomplish in favor of dwelling on the marks that we missed. I decided to give this a try.

Some of the accomplishments on my list were:
– Survived in Victoria Falls after forgetting my debit card, and was only able to use my credit card and some cash on hand,
– Wrote a curriculum for Wikipedia Offline using Kiwix,
– Ran a 10k,
– Snorkeled in open water.

As I was writing my list, more and more things started to come up. Sure I might not have hit every target on my list. But I noticed that I accomplished a bit, often without realizing it. I invite you to make your own list and be amazed at yourself. The above picture of me with my host mother and sister was taken at the beginning of my last week in eSwatini.

Be kind to yourself.
Onward.

Monday in a Picture – The G3 Summit, or eSwatini Scratch Day

by Kirby P., posted in Monday in a Picture, Peace Corps Swaziland, pictures

In December 2017, fellow eSwatini PCV Deacon hosted a camp to teach girls and young women how to code using Scratch, the visual programming language. This past Saturday, he hosted a Scratch Day competition. The students returned to central eSwatini to showcase their cartoons and video games in competition. The theme given for the competition was solving a problem in eSwatini.

More than thirty students represented GLOW clubs from all over the country. While the cartoons and video games weren’t being judged by panels from Women in Engineering (of eSwatini), students participated in discussions about women and girls in STEM after watching a TED talk from Dr. Knatokie Ford. In another room, students were invited to explore electric circuits in unconventional ways among other things. The students also has the opportunity to participate in a typing competition.

I am happy to report that our students placed third in cartoon design, and won the video game design competition. Their video game featured a girl catching falling good advice and avoiding falling bad advice. Catching good advice granted the player one point while catching bad advice subtracted a point from the player’s score. For their efforts, they won a tablet, backpacks, and a laptop. The above picture shows Deacon (the man behind G3 and Scratch Day), my Scratch-coding students (from our local high school), Mike (the Deputy Chief of Mission to eSwatini), and me.

Be kind to yourself.
Onward.

Monday in a Picture – Swazi Girls Believe

by Kirby P., posted in Monday in a Picture, Peace Corps Swaziland, pictures

Last Wednesday, we celebrated International Day of the Girl Child. All around the world, girls live with varying degrees of inequality. Peace Corps volunteers try combat this inequality in various ways. One of the Peace Corps initiatives supporting girls’ empowerment is Girls Leading Our World (GLOW), which are community or school based clubs with curriculums on issues surrounding girls’ empowerment. Today, I’d like to highlight a fellow Swaziland PCV who took girls’ empowerment to new levels. 

Dawnita organized and hosted the inaugural Swazi Girls Believe conference to celebrate International Day of the Girl Child. More than 90 girls from a primary school in her community took part in the day’s activities. The activities included a reflection exercise on mind, body, and soul well-being, as well as panel discussions and other speakers. 

There was a photo booth and giveaways. The day ended with a hands-on workshop teaching the girls how to make reusable menstrual pads. 

The girls enjoyed themselves. Knowledge and wisdom was shared, and hopefully the girls feel more empowered because Swazi girls who believe are those who achieve. Congratulations Dawnita! The picture above was taken during the panel discussion. 

Be kind to yourself. 
Onward.