summer camp 09

It has been days since the youth camp ended. I missed the campers, their laughter, the noise they made, their songs, their queries, etc. I missed the staff, our bonding, our understood glances, our encouraging smiles, the brotherhood we fostered and shared, etc. It has been a week of working together in unity for the same purpose and drive, that is to serve the youths in our annual summer camp. To give them a memorable summer and give them lessons as well.

As one camper puts it, it may only be a few days but those were the days wherein the campers feels alive. Why? Because it is in this camp that a camper make friends, foster it through sharing and activities that calls for unity and continues it through constant communication after the camp is commenced. Believe me. I had friends from my first camp more than a decade ago that remains as my close and trusted friends. It is also in this camp that they get to experience life simulations on situations common to their life outside the camp. They’d get to feel what it is like to be in a situation, what it really meant and what they could get out of it. It is like a training ground. We, the staffs may be rude to them with the activities we prepared for them but it is nothing compared to the challenges that awaited them outside of our set parameters in camp. We may discipline them but His discipline is much more painful, unbearable and confusing compared to what we did to them during the camp days. It may just be a 4 or 5 day event but it is significant and meaningful for a youths’ life.

At the end of the camp, we hope that the youths would bring the lesson, the experiences they got from camp into their respective places. They may struggle with their studies, their family, their friends, combat peer pressure, other personal issues in their lives, etc. Through all that, we hope and pray that in our little way, we had made a difference in their lives. It may not be big and obvious, planting a seed of lessons, of discipline, of friendship in their young hearts may be enough. Fostering friendship and bond that would last for years.

Kudos to the staffs who helped and made the camp possible. They sacrificed their time, money, strength for this young people. Some, like me, didn’t mind being absent from work just to be there at the camp. The campers deserve the thanks as well for being there, for giving us the opportunity to serve and be part of their life even just for a short 4-days. Looking forward to next years camp once again.