Easter Holiday Camp Report 2011

In the community my son is known for all the bad things. Most people would say he will never be like others: they would go as far as saying like father like son, because I have also served time in jail and had done a number of things that I am not proud of. My community has not given my child to make his own mistakes but has forever said he will grow up and be like me. Yesterday he told me that at camp they taught him how to dream with his eyes open. I don’t know what that means but the look on his face showed me that he knows exactly what he is talking about. Sizanani has given me hope. Thank you.

(This was said by a father of one of the children attending the camp during the Easter holidays)

For our first camp this year, we piloted a day camp model which was a change from our residential setting. The results were beyond our expectations!

We held the 8-day day camp at the Thusa-Setjhaba Secondary School in Poortjie, about 40 km from Soweto. There are some 4,000 homes and a population of 25,000-30,000 people. There is very high unemployment, high crime and drug use, and no apparent infrastructure for job creation or economic growth. Most people live in squatter-type housing, although there were about 100 units of government housing built near the school. This is the only Secondary School that caters for over a thousand students, more than 50 children in each of the classrooms.

Camp

We modified our usual daily schedule to accommodate shorter hours while still trying to incorporate the critical life skills and HIV/AIDS education. A typical schedule of camp (8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m.) included:

• Nutrition: Teaching participants the importance of personal and kitchen hygiene; the importance of eating a balance meal; identifying fruit salad using fruits that they can easily access; how a healthy lifestyle plays a big role when HIV positive.
• Arts and Crafts: Encouraging self-expression, creativity, income generating projects; listening to the inner voice.
• Theater: Promoting self-awareness and self-realization; developing confidence/stage presence and creativity.
• Adventure/Sports: Teaching teamwork, trust, communication.
• Life Skills: HIV/AIDS related sessions (distinct classroom units), sexuality, abusive behaviors, leadership, participation, and self-confidence woven into all activities.

After each activity, there was a debriefing session where everything learned is referred to life in general. For example, how working as a team in adventure is the same as working hand in hand with family, friends or community to better the world or each other.

Each day we had a surprise visitor designed to offer new perspectives and encouragement.

One of the teachers watched us for quite a while and couldn’t believe that the students were behaving so well and cooperating so fully. The Deputy Principal came and met with our director, Mbali. He said it was a nice demonstration that she was putting on, but what did the kids do when he wasn’t there. She told him there was no special demonstration. He didn’t believe her and went to the second floor and observed, out of sight. Of course, the same activities went on. He was incredulous. He said these were some of the worst kids at school and their behavior at camp was unbelievable.

Joining us for camp were two professors from the University of Georgia who started a five-year longitudinal evaluation of camp and Kids Clubs to measure the effectiveness and degree of behavior change in our children.

Parents and Campers Reactions

One of the benefits of holding a day camp in the community where the children live is the opportunity for the parents to become part of the dialogue. We had a Parent Visiting Day on the 5th day of camp. About 17 families visited, mostly to thank us. One father (the only man in the group) came because he was fed up with his son lying to him and wanted to catch him in his lies. The son had been telling him of all the great things happening at camp and the father was truly astonished that they were all true.

The story that best sums up the impact camp had on a camper came from a 23-year old 11th grader. She is an orphan and the youngest in her family. She had been passed around from family members over the years and had suffered abuses from rape, beatings, and food deprivation. She was quite sullen and sad the first day of camp. On the second day, she reported that her brother had woken her up early. She asked why and he said that he hadn’t seen her smile in 3 years and when she came home from her first day at camp she was happy and smiling. He wanted to make sure she wasn’t late for the next day.

It continued in that vein. The counselors, most of whom were veterans of residential camps were impressed by the level of confidence and expressiveness that the campers achieved in the 8 days. While the pre and post-camp evaluation reports are still being analyzed, the talk during camp was amazement at how much could be achieved in what we considered to be a less valuable setting with limited hours.

It made all of us think about what the impact of camp can be when done as a day camp. We love the idea of being able to pass the day camp approach on to other NGOs that might be better able to integrate what we taught into a day camp setting, rather than the more difficult residential camp program.