The Children’s Day Camp was a huge success

The day was finally here, the day that many of the older children had been waiting for…. it was Camp Day. 

The day camp was held on the land adjacent to the village, on a plot of land owned by a teacher called Norma and her husband. They kindly took the children out for the day, to experience some fun activities in the jungle.

The children, aged between 8-12 years old all assembled outside the GSF office bright and early. After a brief talk from Norma about the rules – the do’s and the don’ts, they excitedly marched off to the camp. 

The children were split up into four groups for the day; Yellow Team, Red Team, White Team and Blue Team. Then each group began their activities for the day. 

The first activity was, how to cook an egg in the jungle using the vegetation around you. They were shown how banana leaves can be used for this as they are big enough to hold an egg and will withstand the heat long enough to cook the egg but not burn the leaf too much.  

The children all took turns in cooking their eggs and then eating them. What a great way to have breakfast!

The next activity was a bit trickier. The children had to put a barbecue stick through the egg, piercing the shell. There were a few mishaps but they finally cracked it… or not! (excuse the pun). They then held it over the fire until it was cooked. Delicious – one that we may have to try here next time the barbecue is lit! 

Before lunch, the children had a team activity, putting together a puzzle in the fastest time. The pictures were of Greg so it didn’t take long too long to work out which way around it should be.  The children all adore him and proudly held their finished pictures up for a photo. 

It was time for lunch, and whilst the fires were still hot, everyone was given hotdogs to grill. This was the first time many of the children had experienced anything like this and they were just loving it.  What I love is that every child was asked to bring their own lunch – just look at the pictures – not a fizzy drink or bag of crisps in site.  A much healthier packed lunch than many I have seen here!

 

After lunch it was time for the Scavenger hunt – every team had to find the following items and whoever returned to base first with them all … won.

Items to find:

5 round stones, 2 earthworms, 1 feather, 3 spoons, 1 pair slippers, 1 hanky, 1 t-shirt, 1 headband, 1 backpack and 5 live ants.

It didn’t take long for the Yellow Team to arrive back at base … the winners. Well done Yellows. 

Next on the agenda was …. “Find your Footwear”.  What a great game – all the children were asked to take off their shoes and mix them up into one area. They then all took it in turns to find their own shoes – a lot of laughter as they grabbed each others shoes.

Camp day was a hot day so what better excuse than to have a snack and a juice followed by….. the finale of the day – being soaked by ice cold water. The land that the camp is based has the main source of water on it, so what better way to cool down.  We have been told that before Norma and her husband owned the land, the site was sometimes used as a picnic area for locals. When the weather was hot, families came and spent the weekends here – camping and relaxing in this beautiful spot. 

One thing is for sure, the children absolutely loved it.  Once they were cooled off and refreshed it was now time for the children to return back to the village. They were tired, but a very happy tired. 

Thank you to Norma and her husband for allowing the children to spend the day with you, and treating them to such a wonderful experience.