I realize that some of my tips are only applicable to those
living in West Africa, so this week, I'm making my best effort to widen the appeal. I'm reaching out to youth pastors, senior
pastors, church leaders, parents, and camping enthusiasts of all stripes.
This past weekend, I attended an international youth
gathering here. In addition to being a
big encouragement and a great time with friends, it gave me some excellent
ideas on camp possibilities for all you folks back in the States (or in
Europe). How about a West African theme
camp? Let's take camp to the next level
with this Tip of the Week.
For the skeptics among the readership, allow me to lay out
some of the advantages for you. First,
while camps these days are sky-rocketing in price, this camp can be run for
under $40 per week, and possibly cheaper.
Do you really need to spend $400 on little Johnny's camp
experience? Second, we all know that
youth are looking for the next best, new thing.
I guarantee that your kids have never experienced something like
this. Lastly, though we'll be using the
youth camp model, this same description serves well for woman's and men's camp
(with the possible exception that the conditions can be a bit more austere for
the adults, as they are so much tougher than the youth).
TIME OF YEAR
This is where most Americans get it wrong. If left to our own devices, we'd pick the
equivalent of January and February West African weather-- days with a nice dry
heat in the 80s, nights in the 60s, no rain, few mosquitoes. The actual, preferred times for a camp are
either in April, when West African temperatures are hot, hot, hot both day and
night since people can sleep outside--you don't even have to provide
lodging--or in the heart of rainy season when youth are on vacation from school
and the fields are just in the wait-and-grow phase. (It is recommended, by the way, that youth be
sent to work in the fields for a couple months before camp, as it will give
them a much greater appreciation for the amenities and leisure of camp
life.) So adjusting for American weather
patterns, we recommend holding camp in the middle of April with frequent rain,
muddy ground everywhere, and nights just cool enough to make things
interesting.
VENUE
This is the easiest part.
Find some very rustic cabins with concrete floors. An old, abandoned school could also
work. Remove all furniture. No need to find beds, we all know that youth
don't really want to sleep during camp anyway.
Why go to all the trouble to find beds?
The kids will be provided with thin plastic mats on which to sleep. As these style mats are probably difficult to
come by in the States, large pieces of cardboard could be seen as the
equivalent, though they might actually be more comfortable. Kids can bring their own blankets if they
want. If not, they can sleep fully
clothed; that never killed anyone and actually might keep them warmer.
To make this as realistic as possible, you are going to want
to ensure a sufficient mosquito population, which might take some advanced
planning. You might need to build some
pools of stagnant water around the site ahead of time, just to be sure. (Due to legal concerns, we cannot recommend
introducing malaria into your mosquito population. An unfortunate detraction
from the authenticity.) As none of your
rooms will have screens, these mosquitoes are welcomed guests among your
campers. Campers are, of course,
permitted to bring mosquito nets to sleep under, if they want. We find that the majority don't.
Toileting and showering will take place in a bank of
latrines that you'll need to construct, as such things don't exist in the
States presently. This should not be a
costly project as a latrine is nothing more than 4 walls about shoulder height
with a hole in the center. Showers are
actually bucket baths in these same latrines. (Please refer students to my
earlier tip on bucket baths.) If you've
planned well, someone will have heated massive amounts of water over a fire so
that people can at least have a lukewarm bucket bath. Otherwise, cold water baths never killed
anyone and actually speed up the process.
Yes, students will need to be quick about things, as there will be lines
forming at the latrines.
There is no need to hire a cleaning or maintenance crew as
the students will be responsible for
cleaning their own areas. Brooms made of stiff grass will be provided.
FOOD
You'll need to hire some church ladies to prepare massive
amounts of food. Before you start
thinking about all the catering dishes, chafing pans, etc that you'll need, let
me assure you-- you only need several giant pots that can be set on open
fires. Every meal consists of a single
menu and a single course, for example rice and sauce. Students pick up their large bowl and spoon
and pass through the serving line. They
can eat standing up, or go find some area to sit down; no tables need be
provided. If a student finds that they
don't enjoy what is being served, they are welcome to fast for the meal. Again, this never killed anyone and will
likely make them more enthusiastic for the next meal.
Snacks such as peanuts and bread are available for
purchase. There is no dessert, but we do
prepare special treats for the campers.
For example, sometimes a farmer will donate a whole pig for a meal. The students should be extremely excited
about this. When the camp butchers come
dancing onto the main platform with a pork shoulder and the skin and fat of the
recently slaughtered pig, the audience should go wild with joy. (I'm so not even making this up.)
SCHEDULE
We prefer a pretty rigorous schedule. Wake up call is between 5 and 5:30am. Morning devotions start promptly at 6am. Though not mandatory, they do help you to
distinguish between who is a serious camper and who isn't. From 7 to 8, we allow time for preparing for
the day. The morning has two sessions,
each lasting 1.5 hours, with a 30 minute pause between. Of course, in the likely event that a speaker
goes long, that pause will need to be cut short. A two hour pause over lunch is followed by a
two hour afternoon program. In the late
afternoon there is personal time, as well as time for sports, i.e. soccer. The evening session restarts at 8pm and goes
to 10:30 or 11, depending on momentum.
For those wishing to participate in the choir, rehearsal takes place
after evening session dismissal.
All the sessions include about 20 minutes of worship and a
speaker who gives detailed teaching during the remaining hour. The evening session is reserved for special
presentations, for example the youth group that received a $50,000 grant to do
ebola education in their country. Don't
worry, I'm sure your youth groups have done some pretty awesome things too.
CAMPER ATTITUDE
We like our campers to be indefatigable, as full of joy and
pep on the last session of the day as the first. During the long morning and afternoon
sessions, a deacon walks the aisle to "help" anyone who might be
getting sleepy by gently shaking them awake.
Dancing and clapping are encouraged during worship. Giving the speakers feedback with loud
"Amens" and "Hallelujahs" is also the norm.
So, youth leader, how many of your youth are you
bringing? Our camps usually have a few
hundred. This recent large gathering was
over 450. Oh... you don't see your youth
wanting to participate? Too hard? Too much teaching? Sounds like your youth are a mile wide and
only an inch deep. Perhaps you should
send them over here to learn something. ;-)
Prayer Requests
1. Praise the Lord for an excellent youth conference. There was some incredible teaching that took
place. Pray that the youth that were in
attendance go home and continue to reflect on what was taught, and then
passionately put it into practice.
2. Continue to pray for the requests listed earlier this
week: Peace in the Sahel zone, health for our whole hospital staff in malaria season, and
for a meeting next week to plan strategy for outreach in a new area.
3. Pray for a young man Djakari. He is a young believer, but lives with a
family that is opposed to that. Though
he has been mostly flying under the radar, recent events make us believe that
his host family is preparing to put pressure on him. Pray that he would remain firm in the face of
this persecution and that we'd navigate it in a way that changes the heart of
his host family.
4. One of the young believers from the town of TaraHouse (we've prayed for them a lot in the past few months) moved here and is
currently living with one of the pastors.
He was escaping family persecution.
Pray that he would grow in his faith and that he'd also be able to find
a job.
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