After an overwhelming response to my plea for help from you all in the United States my attempts at having a girls camp have hit many of the road blocks that are normal here in Madagascar and has yet to occur, but the girls camp is still in the works so don't despair.

The original plan to have the camp at Andasibe National park the first week of September quickly became impossible as the girls were on still on summer vacation and many were helping their families on their land or simply had other plans. I also realized that I had set the date of the camp too early and had not given myself enough time to deal with the bureaucracy that one so frequently runs into here in Madagascar. So after discussing the issues with my fellow PCVs who were going to be participating in the camp we decided to move the date to the 5-10 of November. While students were on break for All Saints Vacation. Everything was arranged; we had reserved the space at Park Ivoliona (we had decided to change venues to make access easier, Park Ivoliona is close to Tamatave and ideally set up for such camps) I had identified PCVs who would teach sessions and had identified the girls in my community that I would like to take to the camp. We were also prepared to have two special visitors from the United States join us for our camp (my mom and step dad) when the two PCVs other than myself who were the main organizers of the camp collectively pulled the rug out from under my feet, they both had to cancel at the last minuet for understandable reasons but their canceling brought my carefully stacked house of cards tumbling down and girls camp had to be canceled.

So I am once again working on making arrangements for girls camp. The most difficult part is finding a time when students will be off of school and my fellow PCVs can also participate. At the moment we are looking at Easter vacation. While there have been many delays (this is Madagascar after all) Girls camp is still in the works and is looking to be a wonderful event.