Trip to Tovuz

Tovuz (sounds like: Toe-vooz) is another region that is about 30 minutes south of Qazax (sounds like: Gaz-akh). The two girls I brought to GLOW camp this year, Salmi (Zeynab's daughter) and Lala, made good friends with the GLOW girls from Tovuz. So another PCV, Jess, who happens to live with one of the Tovuz girls, and I planned a little "party" for our GLOW campers to see each other again! I brought both of my girls down to Jess's village in Tovuz! It is a pretty big deal that these girls' parents let me take them down there. They are both 15 and becoming young women, making the men in their lives even more protective, plus it is not typical for Azeri people to simply make friends in other regions and then go and visit them, especially without an (Azeri) escort. So it says a great deal that Salmi and Lala's parents trusted me and felt that this trip was a good idea. We went down for lunch, took a couple walks and used fabric markers to decorate white bandanas- just a normal day in a young girls life I think. But for these girls it was a first. Next month Jess and her GLOW camper, Nurana, will hopefully be making the trip up to Zeynab's house for the same kind of little party :). Yesterday was fabulous and I feel proud that after being here for 2 years the work I am doing and the person that I am is making some sort of difference that I can actually experience through days like this one.