We were very excited to kick off our second weekend at the WiSci Camp! On Friday, all of the campers wrapped up their training with Intel, completing their remote control car projects and racing them against each other. Next week, the Intel trainers will be staying with us to facilitate all of the campers’ final projects. The final project work will officially begin on Monday, but all of the campers will get in to teams over the weekend and have a project idea ready for Monday morning. Campers also had the opportunity to practice their networking skills and “elevator speeches” with camp staff. On Friday evening after dinner, we all enjoyed the final culture night with Uganda and the United States before heading to bed for an early wake-up call on Saturday.
Akagera National Park welcomed us on Saturday for a day of safari and fun! We left camp early in the morning to make the most of our day, and saw many beautiful animals. Impala, buffalo, giraffes, and even an elephant! We stopped for lunch and enjoyed a traditional Rwandan treat, sambusas, while overlooking the lake. We returned to camp right in time for dinner, and some campers stayed up to enjoy the DisneyNature film, “Chimpanzee.” The campers were delighted to infuse some natural science in to their STEAM curriculum.
WiSci had the honor of welcoming trainers from UNESCO to camp on Sunday. They presented two sessions: Social Entrepreneurship and a YouthMobile Workshop. The campers separated into groups to think of a problem they wanted to solve, design a social enterprise, and also consider the potential profits. During the YouthMobile session, two representatives from Her2Voice discussed the use and relevance of mobile applications for social projects.
To round out a full weekend, campers enjoyed time for sports, recreation, and arts and crafts. The Indego Africa artisans, representatives of an organization dedicated to providing women artisans with tools and business opportunities, joined us on Sunday. They spoke about traditional Rwandan handicrafts and art as well as how their organization works to empower women in Rwanda. Campers were able to make their own bracelets and the artisans even set up a crafts fair for shopping!
On Sunday evening after dinner, the campers enjoyed some time to sit back and relax after a rather hectic weekend. We put on a movie, but many chose to spend time with their friends, work on their upcoming projects, or call home.