Kids Camp

So, this past week was the camp and over 100 kids showed up. It started Monday afternoon and just finished up today. I was a hut leader and camp nurse. We had the opportunity to stay over night but I only did once since my apartment was only 20 minutes away. Plus, tomorrow I'm headed for a week long medical outreach trip near Abuja. Anyways, I was really impressed with how well put together things were and on such a small budget. There was morning praise & worship, Bible time, craft time, sports in the afternoon, and programs at night. Even the food was impressive, at least I thought so. I remember what camp food was like when I went as a kid, rubbery eggs and questionable casseroles. The meals here were basic dishes- a starch with some type of sauce- but it had to be made from scratch every day so it was always fresh. Nigerians really love spicy foods and I could only handle so much. Plus, they gave out huge portions. I usually gave at least half my meal away.
My part in camp was basically to stick with my hut of girls unless someone got hurt or sick. There was a pretty even split in my time between the two things. I cleaned a fair amount of scraped knees and gave out meds for stomach and headaches, both of which seem to be fairly common here. Probably due to the fact that they don't drink enough water and if they do, it's not filtered. Camp having fallen during my time in Jos turned out to be sort of a blessing because it really helped me get connected with the kids. Going to Gyero to paint brought me to where they lived but didn't necessarily help me build relationships. I think I may have said this before but the kids here really are confident. The first day I got out of the car they come running up to you saying, "Aunty, Aunty! What is your name?". And pretty much anytime I sat down there was someone messing with my hair or grabbing whatever I had in my hands. You get to know them pretty fast although that doesn't mean I could remember all their names. There were so many repeated or similar names. In my hut I had two Mercy
I got fairly close with some of the girls in my hut. It doesn't take much, though; if you spin them around a couple times they'll love you for life. There were a lot of strong personalities and energy in my group, which made for some interesting times, but we came out of it without major issues. With a group of about 15 middle school/junior high girls, I feel like that's an accomplishment. One of the girls from my group, Joy, had a collision the first day in morning exercises and cut her face. I cleaned it for her and we were buddies ever since. I'm sure she has parents but if I could take her home with me I would! Her face would light up every time she laughed and you couldn't help but smile with her. I made friends with a couple of the boy as well. Daweng taught me some soccer tricks which I failed miserably at. Everyone here is good at soccer. Even if they've never played before they pick it up fast. It's in their blood or something...same with dancing. These kids, and the adults too, all have incredible rhythm. The first night I stayed over they had some of the Aunties and Uncles (adult leaders) come up in front of the kids and dance to some songs. I was called up a couple times, one where it was just me and older Nigerian woman dancing. Originally it made me a little nervous to get up there but once you started dancing you were having to much fun to even worry about it. I tried to take some pictures at camp but it was a struggle for a couple reasons. First, I just don't care much for taking pictures. Second, if you take out a camera you will have kids all over you trying to take the camera or asking you to "snap" them.
Each hut split up everyday to discuss the Bible lesson that one of the Uncles had given in the morning. I really liked the way they had the lessons progress. There were ones about forgiveness or being a faithful servant. Each day kind of set the stage for today's final Bible lesson which was geared toward salvation. A fair amount of kids accepted Christ today, and I truly believe that most understood and meant it. A lot of these kids come from difficult backgrounds and none of them have cushy lives. Some have lost their parents from sickness and others have 3 sets of torn clothing. It's no doubt God's hand in their lives that they aren't given over to the anger and hardness that would come so easily with their situations.