Rise and shine started at 7:00 am for the WiSci Camp! With breakfast from 7:30 am–8:30 am, our bellies were filled with an assortment of omelets, bananas, sweet bread, and various jams. The second day of camp was a continuation of training with Microsoft on how to use the computer software system, Kodu. Here, our campers were able to create a computer game based on just simple technology on laptops.
During lunch, we had three representatives come to camp from Sustainable Health Enterprises (S.H.E.). The organization, located and founded in Kigali, creates sanitary napkins for women out of banana fibers, which will soon be available in local stores. Campers learned about girls’ health education.
To test their creativity and ability, Microsoft had the girls do the marshmallow challenge where they stacked spaghetti and marshmallows together to try to create the strongest and tallest project.
The afternoon was filled with office hours by some of our staff, including U.S. Department of State, Girl Up, and Meridian International Center, as well as an interactive group activity that explored self-esteem and both negative and positive stereotypes.
The evening ended with our first culture night! All 20 girls from Rwanda hosted the evening through a presentation focusing on local language, fashion, dance, and history. The Rwandan girls even brought in local tools used for cooking and cleaning.
While the excellent presentation made all of our other girls excited to prep for their culture nights, we kindly reminded all campers lights are out by 10:00pm.