Monday, June 27, 2005
Camp Nikos
It's been several weeks since I've been back, and I'm still trying to figure out how to not write a book about my experience at Camp Nikos, but yet still convey the experience I had to you.
It was incredible. It was exhausting. It was difficult, yet extremely rewarding. It was invigorating and at the same time sucked every ounce of life out of me each day I was there. I can't think of a better way to spend a week (even after having just been through 6 months of legislative session) than to be in the middle of nowhere living with bugs, dust, and sweat, doing everything I could to make that week a memorable one for each of nearly 100 children that attended. If you missed my email before I left, Camp Nikos is a Christian camp for inner city kids from Austin in Rosebud, Texas. It is put on by Mission: Possible!, a mission that serves East Austin in many ways and with which I've worked for the past year in a bi-weekly Awana-like program. If you'd like to learn more about Mission: Possible!, please log onto their website at www.missionpossibleaustin.org. You can also see the daily emails and pictures sent from camp by clicking here and more pictures here.
The theme of camp was the Armor of God - Stand your Ground! We put Ephesians 6:10, 13-18 to music (or a rap), and the kids loved it! The daily lessons and many of the activities and games worked to concrete the lessons in the hearts of the kids - and they had fun doing them.
I was blessed by being staff for the week. That meant that I wasn't a counselor, I didn't have 6-15 children for whom I was directly responsible for, and I didn't have an exact set of responsibilities that I knew I was performing each day. It also meant that I lived in the life of luxury - the staff shared a bunkhouse and slept in old dorm beds. The ultimate luxury was that we had air conditioning. The cabins that the counselors and children stayed in had fans and screens but no air conditioning.
Insert Brodrick (IMG_2161.JPG, day 2)
Our days at camp were pretty uniform. The kids were awakened by 7:15-7:30, and breakfast and a song or two were at 8am. After going back to their tents and cabins to clean up, activities filled the morning. Lunch was directly followed by F.O.B. (Flat On Back or Feet On Bed - the counselor's favorite time of day), and activities kept the kids happy and interested most of the afternoon. We had a Talent time each night before dinner, then dinner, and then full group game time that was directly related to our camp theme. After that, we gathered for night service - a time of singing, games, learning about the Armor of God, and then Light Lady time.
I knew I would be helping lead the singing and with the administrative aspect of camp but didn't know what else would fill my days. The day before we left for camp, I found out that I would also be Light Lady. My role was to be the positive reinforcement for the children. Light Lady encouraged and rewarded GOOD behavior in the children, instead of only the bad behavior getting attention - giving the children motivation for behaving. The kids were nominated by staff and counselors throughout the day for being helpful, kind, or just going out of their way to do something nice for another person. A couple of those nominations were for girls who comforted other campers who were hurt, children who served their entire cabin in specific ways, and several boys who broke up fights or walked away from another more aggressive camper (a HUGE deal for these children who have been taught to NEVER back down).
Before the service, we would call up the children who had been nominated and draw on them with highlighter. We also rewarded every child who could say the memory verse for the day with a yellow fish on their hand. When Light Lady time began, we would turn off all the lights in the room, and turn on black lights. I had used a highlighter to write all over myself, and would run to the front of the room while "Shine" by the Newsboys was playing. As you probably know, highlighter glows under black light, and the kids were mesmerized. We made a poster with Matthew 5:16 (Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and PRAISE GOD!) poster and the kids would help me say it. We reminded them that while I was excited that they had done good things, they shouldn�Ŵt be doing them for my approval, but because it pleased God when they were loving to others. Then I would call out the names of the kids who were nominated, and while I told the group what they had done, they came to the front. When the stage area was full, we would turn up the music and let the kids dance in the black light - seeing themselves glow - and the kids in the audience would determine to get up there the next day. It was incredible.
I was floored by how the kids responded to Light Lady. They worked hard each day to be up in the front, and some of the boys even put together dance steps that they would do together while up in the black lights. These kids do not have much positive reinforcement and ate it up. I was so blessed watching them respond to the love that they felt from the rest of the kids, from their counselors and from Light Lady. They started nominating their counselors, and by the end of the week, every counselor had been nominated for one thing or another, showing us that the kids were as excited about encouraging someone else as they were being nominated (well, ALMOST as excited… 
).
One of the neatest things about camp was to see the difference in the kids between the day they got there and the day they went home. Sunday, everyone was their enemy, they didn't need anyone, and they surely weren't excited about camp. By Friday, the kids were clinging to their counselors, crying, asking to stay longer, and none wanting to go home. The hardest thing about camp was letting the kids go. Most were going back to a home where love isn't the key ingredient, where harsh words are prevalent, and where acceptance isn't the norm. When being taught about how to deal with friends who are mean, many children would turn to their counselors and ask how to deal with those words if it were a parent speaking them. There were many tears on that Friday, and barely a dry eye. One of the most touching I saw was one of the oldest boys (he is about 12) who had been pretty difficult all week. He was standing away from the bus with tears streaks down his face because he didn't want to go home.
As I looked around that day, I realized that lives were affected. Not just the kids, but the counselors and staff as well. Mine definitely was, and I pray that the camp had an effect on every child that was there. I hope that it wasn't just an awesome memory builder for this summer, but a pivotal event that will change the direction of their lives. Many of the older kids will make decisions this next year that will effect and probably decide the course of the rest of their lives. My prayer will be that they will remember the verses from Ephesians 6 and the lessons that they learned at Camp Nikos and use them in making those decisions.
I know this was long, and I appreciate you sticking with me. Thank you for all of all of your prayers as we were there, and for your continued prayers for these special children. I know that some of you have expressed interest in financially supporting this camp, and I know that they have yet to meet their budget this year. Anything you can do would be greatly appreciated. It cost $300 per camper to send them to camp, and we do not charge them a penny to come. I know it makes it harder to give in that this comes to you via email and there�Ŵs no self-addressed stamped envelope. If you'd like to be part of this ministry, I've included the address below, or you can donate online by clicking here. Just put "Camp Nikos" on the memo line of your check and make the check out to "Mission: Possible."
Mission: Possible!
P.O. Box 142076
Austin, TX 78714
I'd be happy to answer any questions and would love any feedback you have for me.
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