- The staff. The people here at camp are just amazing. They have so much love and passion that they bring to this camp, and it truly shows. We might all be here from different corners of the globe, from different backgrounds, different ages but...we're all here for the same reason, to do the same thing - bring joy to the lives of children. They're all a bunch a crazy, energetic people thrown together for one purpose, and I have to say...I love them all! We go through so much together here at camp, and we're together 24/7, so you can't help bonding with them. I feel closer to my camp friends than I do some of my friends from home that I've known for years. Cheesey, but oh so true!
- The children. The kids at my camp can be a bit of a handful sometimes, but they're absolutely worth it. We're here for the inner-city children, the under-privileged children and the ones with mild special needs. Some days that can be an interesting combination. Other days it brings you so much more joy that I can't even begin to describe it. Last week I had a girl in my cabin group who had some pretty obvious special needs. Her motor skills weren't very good, and her mental age was a lot younger than her biological one. The other girls (12-13 years old) could have rejected her, could have been irritated her, could have been cruel to her. Instead she brought the whole group together. They adored that girl, and did everything they could to help us help her. If anyone on camp had messed with her, they would have had 6 very angry teenage girls to deal with!
- The little things. Things as simple as one of the children in your activity bringing you a flower. Or giving you one of the things they'd made in Art Expressions. Or a girl coming back the next week to drop off her sister, and bringing you a picture she'd drawn especially for you - with a letter inside saying how much she missed you. Or a child spending their "money" (points they'd earned by reading) on candy...then giving half their candy to their counsellors. Or the catch in a child's voice when they say they don't want camp to EVER end. Or the hope in their eyes when they ask if you'll be back next year.
- The growth. This is my first year at this camp, but some of the counsellors or youth leaders have gone through the whole programme. The youth leader who assisted me in Journalism first came to camp when he was 6 years old. He's now 17 and will be a cabin counsellor next year. He hasn't missed a single summer in 11 years. I might not have seen him grow up, but I can see him, and the others like him, in the determined faces of the children. The ones who tell me "I want to be a counsellor when I grow up", or "I want to be just like my brother when I grow up" (the little sister of a counsellor who has also been through the entire programme). I already hope to be here year after year, so I can see these compassionate children, turn into wonderful counsellors.
- The hugs. This week I didn't think I'd connected to my girls as much as I had in previous weeks. Maybe I connected to them the same, but I felt since they were older it should have been a better connection? I'm not sure. But either way, I didn't think I'd done too well. Then when it came time for them to go I had endless children (whether they were in my cabin group, or activity, or not) come up to me, give me a hug and take special care to say goodbye. I know I won't see a lot of these children again, so I treasure each and every hug (3-second, side hug!) as being absolutely precious.
- The kindness. Some of these children have very little. That's the sad fact of this camp. Some of them can barely cover the costs of coming here, despite most of their fees being heavily subsidised. Yet they are the sweetest, most giving children I've ever met. One girl told me "when I grow up, I want to start a charity to give homeless people homes". She was 13 years old. Another girl told me "It must be sad to not have an arm. If I saw someone like that, I'd help them pick things up". She was also only 13. They were all so thoughtful and compassionate. They looked out for each other. They looked out for the staff. If they thought we were tired, or stressed, they'd come up to us and ask us if we were ok, and what could they do to help? They marveled in the kindness and patience we showed to them, not realising it was their due, yet selflessly would give the same to us without expecting anything in return. These children are beautiful, both inside and out, and I am honoured to have met them.
I love this camp, I love the children, and I love the people I get to work with every day. I am already making plans to be back here next year! It's hard, exhausting work, but without a doubt - it is worth it.
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