CAMP!!!!

As I write this I am in a plane above Arizona heading towards NYC, and camp seems so far away. I am imagining the kids playing there now, a week of their lives spent carefree just being kids.



I volunteered last week at a camp for medically fragile children in the mountains north of Los Angeles. It is difficult to put into words how special that place is, but I will try!

The week I volunteered for was for children with a range of diagnoses, from needing complete care and wheelchair dependent, to being ambulatory with high medical needs that require a visit to the nurses office several times per day. This camp is staffed during the summer with counselors from all over the US and the world. It was fantastic to arrive and discover 6 counselors from Ireland. There is a full medical staff there including, doctors, nurses, a respiratory therapist, and physical therapists. For many kids this was their first time at camp and for many of them they never thought there was a place like this that they could go due to their medical needs.

It was so wonderful to watch these kids go from shy and unsure evolve into energetic, and outgoing kiddos as their confidence grew and they became more comfortable with camp. For some of our campers they couldn’t remember the last time they went swimming, we even had one that hadn’t been in a pool in 3 years, she spent 3 hours one day in the pool, and did not want to leave! Apparently there are not a lot of wheelchair accessible pools in Southern California for these kiddos to access. The range of activities were astounding; woodshop, arts & crafts, ropes course, horseback riding, and drama to name a few. We went to the orchard one day and picked vegetables that were in the salad bar at lunch, some of these kids have little to no experience with growing their own vegetables. During our meal we do songs and chants, and at the end of the meal we end with songs and dances as well. I may try this next Thanksgiving… (:

We had a carnival, stage night, and this crazy thing called silly Olympics. This consists of the campers pouring all manner of gross things on their counselors, and then we do it to them! I never thought I would experience the feeling of having maple syrup, lemonade, worsteshire sauce with pineapple bits, paint, shaving cream, and hair mousse poured on me. It was so gross and so silly. The kids had a ball and I must say that I highly enjoyed reconnecting with my inner child.

Every evening when the campers were in their beds we would turn off all the lights and do a “cabin chat.” This is a time when the campers can talk about their day and hopes for the future. One of the counselors posited the question “What is your favorite part about camp?” A 16 year old female camper responded “I love that here at camp we can be ourselves; act silly and goofy. In the real world we have to act cool and try to be cool, and here it is just about being ourselves. I am not looking forward to having to act cool again.” As she spoke I was transported back to high school, when I was self conscious of my moles and glasses, and generally overall uncomfortable in my skin trying to figure out my place in the world. I cannot imagine what that is like for a child who before she opens her mouth has people judging her due to her medical condition. My heart broke a little bit when she said that and it just solidified within me how special places like this are. And through me spending my time there all the little things in life that drive me bananas, like LA traffic, are really not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. We are helping these kids to have amazing memories of a place where they can come as they are, where they are accepted and supported as they are. Wouldn’t it be nice if the world was like this?

What if we looked at people and instead of focusing on how much they weigh, what they look like, or what they are saying, we choose instead to recognize their inner humanity and that we are all connected. Think of the change that could make.