On friday and saturday we held day camps in a place called Likoni. Likoni is a difficult area. It's a poverty-stricken area where drugs and prostitution reign. It has a lot of traffic going through it as it is where the ferry docks to take people across to Mombasa. It is a very dangerous area. I have missionary friends who have been robbed, mugged, threatened many times just for living in the area. Let's just say it's not the easiest area to be in.
We had no end of struggles facilitating this camp. As I mentioned in a previous post, the space that we had booked (and paid for) was given away to another group who came in with a bigger cheque. We started setting up two days before the camp when we were told that we could no longer use the space. So we sat and brainstormed on what to do. Across the street was a guesthouse that has a beautiful hall that would be perfect for our camp. So we went to check it out. We looked around and thought it was perfect. As we went to book it for the two days, they said, "Oops sorry it is already booked for these days." Thanks, alot. We resorted to pitching a tent on another property just hoping that it wouldn't rain.
The night before camp, we got a phone call from the guesthouse saying that it had suddenly become available! That was a miracle!
We arrived the next morning to set all our stuff up thanking God for opening up this hall for us to use since it was cold and rainy. Our camp was to start at 9am. However, 10am came around then 11am then 11:30am and still NO campers. Huh? Didn't they know that we were giving a FREE camp with FREE lunch???? We weren't responsible for marketing the camp. We had partnered with a local pastor to do that for us. As the pastor was making phone calls we realized a few things: 1.) Kids were still in school (that would make it hard for them to come) 2.) It wasn't explained well enough who Word of Life was so many people thought we were a new church trying to get members and pastors were advising their youth NOT to come. 3.) They thought they had to pay for our FREE camp. 4.) They wouldn't leave their houses since it was raining.
After a few phone calls, we finally started our camp at 11:30am with 8 campers. The day turned out surprisingly well. We had few more arrive in the afternoon when we played touch rugby.
We debated whether or not to even continue the camp on Saturday since we were using so many resources. But by faith we continued on and to our surprise, we had 45 campers come on saturday! We had a full day of bible teaching, group discussions, games, music, dancing, food and, to top it off, we had a great bonfire in the evening where we drank chai, sang songs and listened to the Word of God. So after all the obstacles and many temptations to pull our hair out, it all worked out well.
Alice, one of our counsellors, was helping a camper set up for a new game where we make an elevator of sorts with our ears and pull candy to our mouth.
Two of my favs: Senior and Joshua. They are apart of my team here at Word of Life. Joshua is full of energy and is a great MC and Senior is our music and sound guy. They are two very talented dudes.
We always have a session for group discussions where we discuss what we have learned that day. I sat in on one group discussion and loved listening to their thoughts, ideas, personal views, and what they had learnt. We had one character who didn't appreciate women at all and I couldn't help but giggling with everything he said. He pretty much blamed women for all the earth's problems saying, "The Eve's of this generation are bringing the Adam's down." The thing I loved about him was that he was passionate about God and doing what was right. I know his ideas concerning women will soften as he seeks God more.
These were our youngest campers who presented a few songs for us. It was a hoot!
"And we know that ALL things work together for GOOD to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28
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