Camp BRO (Boys Respecting Others)
Now that I'm back at site and trying to get work done before I COS (Close of Service) in six months, I'm rapidly trying to make stuff happen, tie up loose ends, and work on some side passion projects of mine that I've been wanting to do for some time.
Several other PCVs and myself are working on a camp BRO here in the Philippines. We initially intended to go through the Peace Corps website to raise money through a PCPP (Peace Corps Partnership Program) grant, but realized our timeline was too short and our planned activities too imminent, so we are fundraising ourselves.
I wrote a short narrative about our project to give you all a better perspective on what it entails. I'm asking anyone to please donate and help out in any way that you can. This is a project that we hope to continue for years to come with incoming Peace Corps Volunteers all across the Philippines. Any support is fully appreciated. Thanks!
Link for fundraising site: https://fundly.com/gender-development-in-the-philippines
The BRO (Boys Respecting Others) Camp idea began with Peace Corps Volunteers in Jordan. It grew out of the need to have a counterpart to the Peace Corps-wide success of Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World), a female gender development camp that has been a PC backed initiative in all countries for quite some time.
After spending enough time in the Philippines, it became apparent that 1. This country is full of children and 2. While these children may come from tight-knit, loving families, there is a lack of male role models for young men in the provinces, especially since many men work abroad or away in the cities in order to make a high enough salary to provide for their families.
This frequent lack of male role models for young boys slows the sort of emotional intelligence growth that is needed for boys to look deeper into themselves. Without this ability, many young men have trouble developing the self-awareness that fosters a healthy, non-violent masculinity, positive socialization, interpersonal skills, as well as attitudes and relationships towards women based on respect and understanding. We want to stress that even though healthy relationships are mostly loving, they can also be challenging and painful, and that building strength within yourself helps you overcome those hard times.
The 5 day/4 night camp will encompass group-based workshops on leadership, character, gender stereotypes, healthy relationships, adolescent health, and stewardship - particularly aimed towards protecting the rapidly degrading coastal environment.
The big picture idea for this Camp BRO is to initiate it as an annual Peace Corps Philippines project with the development of the Camp BRO module, so BRO Camps can be replicated with different PCVs across the Philippine islands. A future goal is sustainability of the camps, with trainings on facilitation to Filipino peer educators and teachers, to keep the BRO camps alive.
Two separate BRO camps will be held- one in Sagay City, Negros Oriental and one in Sorsogon City, Bicol. The camp in Sagay City, at Sagay National High School, is in direct counterpart to the highly successful GLOW camp conducted there last year by Peace Corps Volunteers. The school administrators were so impressed with GLOW that they had specifically asked if there would be a similar camp for the male students. The Camp GLOW also predicates itself on leadership, gender stereotypes, healthy relationships, and self-esteem and body issues.
My fellow Peace Corps BROs feel that men tend to be socialized to push past pain. The message we want to bring to these young men is that if you can’t recognize your own pain, how can you handle someone else’s? We feel that attitudes towards women need to change specifically among young men, and that type of change, even if impossibly small, seems most possible when awareness and protest comes from within the group that holds the most power. Boys can be the solution, not the problem.
We want this call for alternative role models to rewrite and redefine what men in modern society are- and aren't, who they can be, and what they can become.
