Recap of Camp Creative 2015 part 1

Hello all!

We're back from Belize after an extremely successful week of camp. Some of you may have kept up with us on our facebook page, which is great. We thought we'd use this space to give a slightly more detailed recap of our week in service, along with more photos, including some we did not have the space to post on our facebook mission page. So, if you want to know what we did all week, read on.

Saturday-Sunday

After a lengthy 17 hours of travel to the airport in St. Louis, a layover in Houston, a ride to the bus station in Belize City, and a bus down to Punta Gorda, I (Julie) arrived at 9 pm on Saturday night ready for, well, bed. Bright & early the next morning, at 7:30 am, I attended mass at our old parish which was a great way to feel 'home' again. 7:30 am is the only service offered on Sunday mornings as the local priest has to then travel to say mass at 3 other churches in villages throughout the district. (Those villages are only able to have a full mass once every 6 weeks and each is on a scheduled rotation.) After visiting with the priest and some church members, I had the rest of the day to prepare for camp. I met in the afternoon with my in-country co-director, Faye (aka Teacher Faye), to go over logistics for the week and to review our registration, which was currently at 63 students. For dinner I had my first meeting with the group from Baylor University. We were able to get to know each other a bit better, talk about logistics, and prepare ourselves to be working together for the rest of the week. This was very exciting. We finished up dinner and then I headed over to meet Andy at the bus stop, as he had been traveling all day Sunday. It was at this time I learned that he didn't have the privilege of taking the express bus because they do not run on Sundays. Instead, he had to travel almost an hour longer (for 5 ½ hrs total) on an overcrowded school bus with no a/c, and windows that didn't close properly when it rained. It was at this point, that I became very thankful I had traveled on Saturday's express bus, in the comfort of a/c—it can get hot with 60+ people crammed on to 1 bus.

Monday

We were all ready (bright & early) for the start of camp. The Baylor service group was there early mixing playdoh, getting supplies ready for the day, and getting a feel for how things are run. Faye was handling teacher volunteers and registration (we were up to 85 campers by the start of camp that day) while Andy & I handled a lot of the 'behind the scenes' tasks to make sure camp could get off to a smooth start.

We started off the week with a 3 project rotation which gave the kids an opportunity to work in groups to make our awesome Camp Creative sign, create name tags, and design their own drawstring day packs which they could then use for every day.  At the end of camp each day, the teachers select one camper from their group as Artist of the Day and one camper as Best Behaved.  Those kids receive a certificate and get to pick from the prize pile--back packs, spiderman goggles, and princess tiaras were top choice for most campers. 

We were also visited for the second year in a row by Love FM, a Belize national TV/radio station.  They took pictures and interviewed people.  It's good to spread the news about good programs and happenings in the country and they love what Camp Creative brings to the community.

In the afternoon, Andy stayed back to handle the business side of things. Faye, the Baylor group, and myself drove out to LOL Children's Home to introduce our first ever mini Camp Creative to the kids living there. I think we were a bit surprised by the number of teens living at the home but we worked the projects out to be enjoyable even for them.  The kids took a bit to get going but once they did, they had some really incredible designs on their drawstring bags (to protect the identity of the children living at LOL, we are not allowed to show their faces in photos).

Tuesday

Today the Camp Creative sign the kids painted was all finished and dry.  Andy found a ladder and managed to hang it high up on the front of the building so that it could be seen from the road. We also hung up a few photo collages of last year's camp and took group photos of each class this year in front of the sign.  We get a lot of returnees and they all enjoyed getting to look at their pictures from last year. The kids made pencil holders out of salt dough that the Baylor group mixed up.  They had fun making them but alas, salt dough does NOT dry in 95% humidity.  They also mixed up plaster of paris and put together come fun mosaics & designs.  

The low of today:  learning that one of our campers had tried to climb the soccer goal post during break time and cut his hand down to the bone on a pin sticking out of the post--requiring 15 stitches (which is probably the equivalent to 30 stitches in the states).  This weighed heavily on us, we felt so bad, but thankfully his mom wasn't angry with us and he was able to return to camp by Thursday.  The high of today:  I got to return to LOL Children's Home to teach cake decorating to the teens.  One girl had learned some skills in a recent class at school and was eager to learn more--she helped Andy mix up the icing we were going to use for decorating.  We used this opportunity to encourage her to help some of her peers as we began the instruction.  The confidence & excitement in her was awesome to see.  Despite having little knowledge of cake decorating, Andy was the perfect assistant and he helped to move things along smoothly.  The kids LOVED learning to decorate cakes and even the boys decided to take a stab at it.  I LOVED getting the opportunity to work with the kids.  So much of what I do for Camp Creative is more behind the scenes and this was a real reward for me to be able to get back to working with kids.  

Wednesday

By Wednesday we had 103 campers registered, the most ever to attend Camp Creative!  It was at this point that I was reminded of how incredible it is to be working with the service group from Baylor and to have some great local teachers volunteering in the classrooms.  Camp Creative could not have been so successful with 100+ campers without all of their amazing help and input.  Wednesday turned out to be a hodge podge of activities.  The younger kids beaded necklaces & bracelets while the older kids enjoyed making god's eyes.  Both groups made sock puppets and raced paper airplanes.  The Baylor group brought out some parachutes and the kids LOVED playing with those at break time.  

In the afternoon Andy & I rode out to Big Falls village with the professor from Baylor who volunteers for TFABB (Teachers for a Better Belize).  She and her daughter wanted to visit with some preschool teachers that she knows.  As an added bonus the professor's daughter, who is 10 and on her first trip to Belize, got to meet her penpal, the daughter of one of the preschool teachers.  It was great to see them connect.  In case you were wondering, even 10 year olds can be a big help on service mission trips--she was working right alongside the college students.  Andy & I got to reconnect with the preschool teacher, Cecily, and her husband George while we were there.  Andy had worked with them at teacher workshops and got to get to know George when they traveled together to a conference in northern Belize.  Our family had been to their farm a few times for dinner and visits when we lived there.  Even though George was in the middle of chopping down overgrowth along his property line when we showed up, he didn't mind stopping to say hi and getting to reconnect.  Within minutes we had plates of chips & dip, sodas, and beer offered to us and we stayed for probably a couple of hours.  

It's the little things like this that made a big difference this time around.  Last year, I was working long hours catching up on prep for the next day.  This year, especially with Andy there too, we had a far greater opportunity to work on building relationships, making connections, and even to reflect--what a better experience it makes for.  

In an effort to not drag on too long in one post (if you're even still reading this), we look forward to blogging again with a wrap up of the week.  Thursday, Friday, and the rest of our trip were rewarding and exciting too.