3rd Bethesda Summer Camp

The 3rd Bethesda Summer Camp: 27 to 30 June 2018

This year we chose to return to Bicăjel, a resort in the Carpathian Mountains about three hours from our farm in Rebricea, where we held the 1st Bethesda Summer Camp in 2016. The 33 kids, Mihaela, Crina, Onisim, Dana and her husband Cristi were divided between two minibuses, while the Bethesda staff (Luca, Claudio, Davide, Giacomo and Orazio) instead went on the minivan just bought by the association. In this way, we reached Bicăjel early afternoon on 27 June. Almost half of the kids invited to the camp come from Pădureni, the village in which we’re most involved with the monthly distribution of food, and from which the 6 siblings at the farm also come.

The other half come from the village of Rebricea and are kids who regularly attend activities at the farm (ora felice). This year there were some new things at the camp, the most striking of which was definitely the yellow T-shirt with the Bethesda logo and the Romanian text “Iubeste-ți aproapele” Love your neighbour. Quickly, immediately after handing them over actually, we saw yellow blobs running everywhere, filling us with affection. The staff opted for a nice red T-shirt instead, so we could be easily identified by the kids.

In addition to the T-shirt, each child had a kit consisting of a folder filled with coloured pencils, plain paper, song lyrics and badges with their own name. This made them feel super important! Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t on our side this year. Only God knows why. There was lots of rain at Bicăjel, which didn’t let up during our three-day stay apart from a few hours. Fortunately, the site offered several indoor spaces to run all the activities that we’d planned (even if we had to give up on many of those outdoors). We have to say that the kids dealt with the situation by responding with total naturalness to the pouring rain, permanently wet feet and mud that hounded us throughout our stay. These conditions were probably quite normal for them! What’s more, seeing their smiles and enthusiasm while taking part in the activities filled us with joy and encouraged us, taking away any worries we had. Like last year, we divided the tasks more-or-less equally. Every day was interspersed with songs by Orazio and Onisim (a talented guy from Suceava who came to help us with the Romanian language); the Bible teaching was given to Luca; the recreational and sports activities entrusted to Claudio; the kitchen to our Chef Davide, who had to masterfully find his way around in the tiny camp kitchen. Giacomo was our factotum, juggling music, cooking, games, and entertaining the kids. Mihaela (main translator), Crina, Dana and Cristi did a great job of watching the kids and supporting us throughout the trip. From day one, to ensure order in the camp we started an award/vote system with rankings for the most well-behaved and orderly, and we were pleasantly surprised by almost never having to give out negative votes. These kids surprise us more and more with their cooperation and discipline. On the other hand, some of them are entering adolescence, and were showing the signs. It was great to see how the division into 3 teams of 11 was a good move for bringing about harmony among the kids, with the oldest having been appointed “captains” with more responsibility. We hope they’ll become the great leaders of tomorrow. Each team had the task of choosing a name, designing their own flag and thinking of their own motto, in which their creative and inventive talents pleasantly surprised us. For each lesson, the kids had the task of representing the Bible story artistically, and the staff were asked to give votes to these “masterpieces” (this was one of the funniest parts). Luca also put together quiz questions on the lessons, to help them remember what was taught better. The sum of the votes from all of the activities would determine the winning team of the camp.

There was no shortage of music. With Orazio and Onisim on guitars, Giacomo on cajón and Claudio on tambourine, the kids had a proper band to themselves. Onisim being there meant that the kids could learn new songs, such as DOMNUL OȘTIRII (a Romanian folk ballad with Christian lyrics) that got them excited straight away and had them singing loudly from the first go: it was easy to guess that it would become our camp anthem. In the few hours of respite from the rain we had the kids try the thrill of the zipwire that was on the site. The kids, and also the adults, were more than enthusiastic about testing this “in the void” experience (just over a metre from the ground). The rest of the entertainment was instead based on imitation games, ball games like prisonball, guess who etc. On the final evening, all three teams performed a song they’d picked from a selection and prepared. Each song was then judged by us, with the score obviously taken into account for the rankings for the “best team”. The days passed quickly for the kids, they never wanted to rest, they woke up early in the morning and had inexhaustible energy that kept them awake until late in the evening. We, on the other hand, were visibly tired, and exhausted by the lack of sleep, the humidity, the constantly wet feet, and the rain that got through our summer clothes (unsuitable for the weather). On Saturday morning, we reluctantly loaded everything and everyone into the minibuses and minivan, because the weather was getting worse and it’d be better to leave the camp as soon as possible. The road back was unpredictable from the off, and the 10km of dirt roads didn’t help. The road was a river of mud and we were praying that nothing would happen, especially to the kids. Thank God we reached the tarmac, but we saw that the rains had dramatically increased the level of the torrents in the area, which almost touched the road where we passed them. Further down the road, we realised that there’d been proper flooding, with brown rivers of mud and debris being brought downstream. We thank God that he protected us during this journey, and acknowledge the fact that he’s sovereign even over events of nature like these. The final part of the camp took place at the farm. The winning team was rewarded with medals, sweets and of course their certificates for attending the camp. The kids were sad: they’d spent 3 happy and carefree days away from the grey reality of their daily lives, they wanted to take photos with us and were hugging us. Everyone was returning to normality: us to dry feet and clean and comfortable beds, them to roads and houses of mud and beds shared with many siblings. Totally contrasting situations.

Spending a few days with these kids helped us to get to know them better, and to dig a bit into their lives. They heard about the wonders of creation and the message of hope in the gospel, they learned some verses by heart, and they sang, drew, played and laughed. We were really touched to hear them pray spontaneously on the last night, reward for our exhaustion and the difficulties we had to deal with. By the end of the camp, we could remember their names almost by heart, and match them to the right faces. What was difficult to accept, and what we’ll never forget, is the often lost, low, and sometimes sorrowful look of some of them. Getting them to smile was often a tough task. Sometimes these kids have very sad stories, as told to us by Mihaela, who knows the situation of the families from which they come better than us. This thought makes us reflect, and ask God to put us in the position to be able to give them that smile, which every child at that age should have. On the other hand, our prayer is really this: to be guided in helping these kids and giving them the hope of a new life founded on the gospel. We have many reasons to give thanks for this experience. We definitely have many ideas for new initiatives to be put in place both for these kids, as well as for the new ones who’ll join us, and we’re sure that the Lord will take care of them too. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. 1 John 2:14

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