Day 6 - One Day Spring Camp!
Well, the fun is now really starting! We spent the whole day eating and playing with all our new found friends. This year we could not get the kids to come to camp for an extended time because we're interrupting school. So we really tried to fill today (saturday) with as much activity as possible! With the beach literally 100 steps away it was going to be very hard to keep them dry during the "organized activity".
After the art contest the sports team headed to the beach. There were soccer balls, beach balls, badmiton and other goodies but it was a guarantee that most of the kids would end up in the water! The obstacle course was fun with everything silly...the kids were a great sport! And the arts and crafts area was definitely a hit - thanks to all that worked on the craft bags and all the great donations! We had drawings, origami, craft bags, and even a table to do nails and temporary tattoos! This year there was even an organized way to to Polaroid pictures (WOW!). We filled three hours of fun and games and then after lunch there was nothing left to do but jump in!
The ocean water was as warm as bath water and the waves and current minimal. The kids had a great time - even if they were dressed in all their clothes it didn't matter. It was by far the most fun that our team had had and some of us even had our own fan club following us around! All we did for the rest of the afternoon was play - the smiles were immense - the gratitude unending. The children could not get over that strangers had come this far just to play with them!
In the evening we had a Music Show with peformances from the children of all three groups. They had all practiced hard and sang and danced so well! Our team had to of course join in on the fun, beginning with the children who tumbled and Claire and John sang a tune from West Side Story. A small group of us performed the tune from Gilligan's Island. The teenagers sang a great song from "Rent", and then we finished with "If You're happy and you know it". It was my goal not to embarass ourselves and we didn't so i definitely call it a success! There was no more chicken dance, bunny hop and hokey pokey's though!
As the children left that evening we stood by the bus to say good bye. It was not so sad and the children were very thankful. Many of them will remember this as a once in a lifetime moment so we were the lucky ones to be a part of that for them. And of course none of it was possible without your generous donations! Cam on rat nhieu thank you very much!!!
After the art contest the sports team headed to the beach. There were soccer balls, beach balls, badmiton and other goodies but it was a guarantee that most of the kids would end up in the water! The obstacle course was fun with everything silly...the kids were a great sport! And the arts and crafts area was definitely a hit - thanks to all that worked on the craft bags and all the great donations! We had drawings, origami, craft bags, and even a table to do nails and temporary tattoos! This year there was even an organized way to to Polaroid pictures (WOW!). We filled three hours of fun and games and then after lunch there was nothing left to do but jump in!
The ocean water was as warm as bath water and the waves and current minimal. The kids had a great time - even if they were dressed in all their clothes it didn't matter. It was by far the most fun that our team had had and some of us even had our own fan club following us around! All we did for the rest of the afternoon was play - the smiles were immense - the gratitude unending. The children could not get over that strangers had come this far just to play with them!
In the evening we had a Music Show with peformances from the children of all three groups. They had all practiced hard and sang and danced so well! Our team had to of course join in on the fun, beginning with the children who tumbled and Claire and John sang a tune from West Side Story. A small group of us performed the tune from Gilligan's Island. The teenagers sang a great song from "Rent", and then we finished with "If You're happy and you know it". It was my goal not to embarass ourselves and we didn't so i definitely call it a success! There was no more chicken dance, bunny hop and hokey pokey's though!
As the children left that evening we stood by the bus to say good bye. It was not so sad and the children were very thankful. Many of them will remember this as a once in a lifetime moment so we were the lucky ones to be a part of that for them. And of course none of it was possible without your generous donations! Cam on rat nhieu thank you very much!!!
posted by Catalyst Foundation at
Sunday, March 26, 2006
