Volunteer Travel Grant-Katelyn

 

To receive the award, interested people completed an application found on our website explaining their background and detailing at least
one of the ways they would contribute to the annual camp curriculum in Kenya.  They were required to attend all or most of the four camp programs in August, and be ready to share their experiences with donors after their return to the USA.

 

The program is the brainchild of two of our first camp volunteers, Emily Gleason and Turner Cobden (photo at right).  Both attended their first camp in August 2008.  They realized what a unique opportunity camp presented for two-way education through the camp volunteer experience with the volunteer educating the kids and the kids and staff educating the volunteer about Kenya and life in the slums.

 

 

After attending several camps, it became clear to Emily and Turner, just how important non-Kenyan volunteer staff members were to the camp curriculum.  Our Kenyan staff has now attended as many as eight camps, and run Saturday Program activities since 2007.  Fresh ideas for education, games, and other activities are hard to come by after that many sessions.  In fact, we inventoried all the activities we have run in the camps since 2007 and reached an astounding 180 different activities, many running more than once.  To Emily and Turner, it was obvious that new ideas from new volunteers were vital to keeping a fresh curriculum in our camp.

 

 

Additionally, the people with the time to attend camp in Kenya are often either college students, teachers, or retirees, not folks who necessarily have the financial resources to not only give up the time to be in camp but also pay the costs for travel to Kenya.

 

Thus, Emily and Turner started the Camp Volunteer Travel Grant program this year.  The grant, worth $1000, is used to help defray the cost of travel to Kenya to be a camp volunteer.

 

 

The program was a wonderful success this year.  Without the grant in 2013, we had one volunteer able to attend camp.  This year with the
grant we had five excellent applicants.

Katelyn, our first-ever award winner spent 21 days in Kenya and attended all four camps.  Katelyn ran the science education sessions, building and erupting volcanoes in Senior Camp an exciting interactive learning session involving arts, geology, and chemistry.  She also contributed several “crazy games” ideas to the camps, assisted with the essay writing instructions, helped with team support and all the myriad of duties “behind the scenes” to run a camp, a job which starts at 6 am and ends at midnight for 17 camping days. Katelyn was very excited of her experience and has an essay about it.

 

 

Equally as good, our runner-up applicant, Megan Fischer, a senior studying to be an elementary school teacher at St. Thomas University in St. Paul, was so well qualified that additional funding was found to provide assistance for her to attend Senior and Grammar camps.  Megan ran the “My Friend, Inspiration, Teacher” essay-writing exercise in both camps, added additional game ideas, and helped run the camp side by side with Katelyn.

 

 

If you or someone you know has something to contribute to the camp curriculum or has a strong desire to attend Camp 2015 as a volunteer, encourage them to apply for the 2015 Camp Volunteer Travel Award grant.

The entire board of Friends of Ngong Road thanks Emily, Turner, Katelyn, and Megan for their fantastic contributions.

 

 

Camp 2014 was blessed with the return of Margaret Pfeffer to our camp volunteer staff.  This is the fourth camp that Margaret has attended and the kids were all so glad to see her.

 

 

Margaret is a retired schoolteacher from Edina.  She is very interested in Arts and Crafts, making jewelry, and weaving rugs at home.  She brings all these skills to make the camp arts and crafts program one of the favorite camp activities for boys and girls alike.

 

Margaret not only figures out the projects which will be taught at camp but provides most of the materials required to make not only a special project for 400 campers but also about 500 bracelets, necklaces, or anklets during free time activities.

 

This year, Margaret was joined by her daughter, Karen, for Senior Camp.  Together, they taught the campers how to decorate and make kites, constructing over 200 different kites in our scheduled arts and crafts time at Senior Camp. Then they helped the kids make all kinds of individual projects during their free time.  It is a common sight to see grinning campers displaying a special “handmade by themselves” jewelry item as they wave goodbye at the end of camp.

 

The contribution to the joy and memories of camp as well as the dedication and financial and personal time donated to this effort is truly astounding.  The kids all eagerly await the arrival of Ms. Arts and Crafts at our Ngong Road camp each year.

 

 

Asante was the first Swahili word I learned at Camp and is something I want to say to all of you with utmost sincerity. Thank you.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to meet some of the best dancers, owners of the most beautiful smiles, the sweetest and strongest hearts, the loudest cheerers, the fastest runners, and the best Katie (a much-loved game similar to dodgeball) players that I have, and may ever, meet.

Rather than write a camp report I would like to share my gratitude… this short piece is not enough. These children have taught me so much, inspired me, have loved me. And because of your donations, I was able to spend the time at camp with them, each an individual and unique gift.

 

Music seemed to always be playing, as the Kenyan sky echoed with cheers and joyful squeals as the kids ran, jumped, and danced.

 

 

As I drove away with the other volunteers at the end of Grammar Camp Maria, Karisa, and Boniface wished us farewell, mouthing the words “remember me”. I do not think I could ever forget and  I hope I never forget these children that continue to pull on my heart.

 

When I see the color pink I think about how I made pink friendship bracelets (an extremely popular activity in Senior Camp) for Sheila and Jackie because their favorite color is pink, or how the first day I met Freshia she was wearing an outfit consisting of only the color pink. When I wash the dishes I think of the first time I met Maria and recall our friendship that started at the sink at Grammar Camp, or when I hear a song with a good beat I think about the dance moves Karisa would be sure to proudly share or the fun I had boogieing with Selena around the campfire.

 

 

No, I will not forget. My days are continuously blessed by the memories of all the smiles. When I think of Africa, I think of your children… Asante for that.

 

On the first Wednesday in August, I had the privilege to embark on a life journey to Nairobi, Kenya for Friends of Ngong Road’s annual Summer Camp.  It was not a trip meant to evangelize or alter the beliefs of those we met and became friends/acquaintances with but was a trip to create the best, most fun camp experience for nearly four hundred 9-20-year-olds.

 

Being able to see firsthand the environment in which the students of the program live and the obstacles they have overcome and are overcoming each and every day during the two home visits I completed was astonishing.

 

 

What was even more impressive was how the students rallied together to support each other as a cohesive community and family. One of the most memorable moments of camp that illustrated this was during Senior Camp. After several team games were played and a winner announced, the winning team began to dance and cheer. Within only a matter of seconds, all the other teams joined in the cheer. Watching all eight teams crowd the field and combine in their different colored t-shirts to form a rainbow of joy and spirit for nearly ten straight minutes was awe-inspiring and breathtaking.

 

The team and squad leaders of camp were never directly instructed to cheer for opposing teams, but the fact that they all did so willingly and readily, to me, speaks volumes about the students sponsored by Friends of Ngong Road.

 

 

I can readily say that the students sponsored by Friends of Ngong Road are without a doubt some of the most disciplined, talented, and inspiring individuals I have ever had the privilege to work alongside and learn from.

 

Watching teams in Leadership Camp try to construct the tallest balloon castle utilizing every resource available, or teams in Grammar Camp enthusiastically write pages upon pages about their best friends, inspirations or favorite teachers, or even the kids from Little Kids Camp eagerly ask questions about the different animals from the day trip to the Animal Orphanage, are all memories that I will live with and cherish for the rest of my life.

 

 

As the recipient of the first-ever travel grant, I cannot express my gratitude or thanks enough for this opportunity. To me, not only was a camp full of fun activities/games, with a couple of Swahili lessons thrown in, but it was also an incredible and eye-opening learning experience, one that I will never forget. Katelyn and Megan thank you all.