A Day in the Life of Camp

Many of you know that the area of ministry of JV that I went overseas for this summer was to help with summer camps.  These camps are called KECY – [K]conversational English Camps for Youth.  All of the promotion we had done earlier in the summer, paired with word-of-mouth and (of course) God’s pure grace, brought the students in from all walks of life.  This is what I’m most excited to share with you!

I wanted to share what a typical day at camp looks like.

7 am – Morning meeting for staff… our daily devotions, sharing and prayer time, and basically getting ready for our day.

8 am – Breakfast!  Get our campers up and share some čaj (tea) and Slovak breakfast – bread/meat/cheese.

9 am – Morning program… CAMP DANCE!, announcements, general fun things.

9:15-11 am – English class… students were placed in a class and they stayed in the same one all week.  The teachers are all Americans, coming over for a week to teach English and share God’s love.  Class consists of lots of fun and games, all conversational (not very much written content).

11:15-12:15 – Initiatives.  This is the hardest to explain.  It’s kind of a low-ropes course/team building time.  The teams (English classes = teams) are given a task and the tools to complete it.  For instance, one of our tasks was getting a cup of water out from a chalked square with using only the supplies given to us.  It actually reminded me a lot of RA interviews.  Afterward, they would have time to de-brief their time together, all in Slovak.  Many times, it led to deeper discussions about their personal lives and their thoughts/opinions on things.

12:30 – LUNCH! … and a really long, much needed, break.

2:15-4:30 – Activity time… this was all planned and executed by the Slovak team.  These activities were always so varied so it is hard for me to explain them to you, but they were always so much fun!  One of the favorite activities was Hu-tu-tu.  I will probably explain this in another blog… it deserves a post devoted to it.  Sometimes this consisted of a “small” hike, an obstacle course, or water games.

4:30-6 pm – US Sports/Crafts time… The Americans would teach sports like baseball, American football, ultimate Frisbee, dodgeball, etc.  If you weren’t into sports (ahem, sound like anyone you know?) you could craft!  The Slovaks and Americans shared this responsibility and we always had really fun crafts – journals, wooden crosses, silk painting, bracelets, etc.

6 – Dinner!!!

7-8 – Break… again, much needed.  This is also when we would have a short production meeting for the night.

8-10 – Evening program… CAMP DANCE!, announcements, some videos, the band would play and we would sing and dance, ice breakers, a talk (it was the story of the Prodigal Son, unfolding throughout the week), and transitional stories (personal stories that related to the theme of the day).  After this, we would have time for discussion groups – all in Slovak – when students could discuss what they heard, expressing their opinions was encouraged, even if their opinions did not align with God’s truth.  It was a time for them to open up, to be heard, and to hear out their peers.

10-midnight – E-night… this stands for Environment Night.  Each night had a theme and the idea is to carry conversation into another part of the night, in a less intrusive environment.  We had nights such as Slovak (Špekáčky (read: a large sausage) over a fire), American (s’mores), Casino, etc.  We got to hang out, have fun, and get to know the students on a deeper level.

Midnight – lights out… yeah… right…

Every day followed this schedule except for Day 4 (halfway through camp) when we would take a camp-wide break and do an all-day activity.  It varied by camp.  I did something different at every camp.  I heard of things such as: hikes, Survival, playing an all-day game, scavenger hunts, etc.  It was always intriguing!

KECY 2012: Greater Th>n

One last thing I wanted to touch on… themes!  These were essential to each day and many camps centered everything around these themes each day – games, activities, everything!

Day 1 - > Good Life
Day 2 - > Wild Freedom
Day 3 - > Chaos
Day 4 - > Hope
Day 5 - > Me
Day 6 - > Rules and Expectations
Day  7 - > Goodbye

Clearly, Greater Than > was our theme.  J

This was a pretty general overview of what camp looked like for me this summer.  Like I said, each camp was different and really, this is just hoe Slovakia organized their camps.  JV is in many countries and it looks different in each one! 

If you have any questions about a day in the life of camp… let me know!  I’m going to give specific stories from each of my three camps in future posts!  I’m excited to tell you about how God is moving!  J

Until then,
xx