Summer Camp

I'll be honest, I don't get the thrill of summer camp.  I went to 4H camp when I was a kid and hated it. Being forced to eat yucky, lumpy oatmeal or worse, eggs for breakfast, swimming in a cold, murky lake with leeches and constant bug bites were not for me.  Arts and crafts were boring, camp uniforms ugly, and singing songs around a camp fire was queer. So when my friend Neal started to talk about his Refugees To Camp Program and how much he had loved going to summer camp when he was a kid,  I thought back to that summer and didn't quite understand his enthusiasm.  What was the big deal about going away to camp?

Three weekends in a row (I'm working this weekend or it would have been four) I helped transport kids to camp and took lots of pictures.  And on the long car rides back and forth to a variety of summer camps and listening to Neal talk more about it, meeting camp directors and counselors, and seeing the excitement on the kids faces, I am starting to get it.  At Camp they get three healthy meals a day (including protein, fruits and vegetables), are away from the city where they have nothing to do, become immersed in an English only speaking environment, have their minds and bodies stimulated everyday, make friends outside of their community and are away from the daily hardships and worries that go along with living in poverty. They do not have to watch their siblings or translate and help their parents navigate through daily tasks in a new country. They get to be kids and have fun. Something most of us took for granted growing up and something our kids still do.  But for these refugee kids.........this is a new experience.

Ei Say and Shaw Paw

Neal has offered to bring me around and meet some of the families, an education that will tug at my heart, but even without visiting the families, I am starting to get it. It's not just about going to camp, it's so much more.  Refugees To Camp is sending over eighty kids this year, a monumental undertaking.  The goals of the program are simple;  send each child away to sleep away camp for a minimum of two weeks, more if possible. With the help of sponsors who have opened their wallets, camps who have opened their doors, volunteers who have packed them up and brought them to camp, and Neal, who started it all and has opened up his heart to the program, refugee kids will have a chance to experience summer fun.  What could be better?

To learn more, visit the following sites:
https://www.facebook.com/refugeestocamp.albany?fref=ts

http://www.volunteersforrefugees.org/

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Capital-Profile-Neal-Andrews-3467678.php