Arts and Crafts Camp 2023 – Our 13th Camp

From January 9-11 we had our first camp for kids post covid lockdowns (since January 2020).

We kept it small due to orphanages still being very cautious and only had nine girls attend, each paired with a volunteer. It was a good restart for us with half of the girls having attended before and the other half being brand new to our camp. The returning girls were overjoyed that they could attend one more camp (they are all middle school students now). As for the new girls (all elementary school students), they were fearful, insecure, and too cool for school at the start. We trained our volunteers to be ready for this and they all remained smiling, welcoming, and loving to the girls despite some of them being very cold in the beginning.

One of the girls who was as cold as ice early on expressed to the camp director Jee in flippant way, “I want to go home.” She likely expected Jee and her volunteer to coax her to stay but instead Jee responded with a simple, “Okay, we can take you home if that is what you want.” The girl immediately responded with, “No,” as she was truly enjoying the camp but didn’t know how to express it other than being negative about it. Despite her icy and insecure demeanor, deep down she was loving the atmosphere at the camp. Her volunteer did not give up and before long the girl couldn’t hide how happy she was. She and two other girls even performed a dance routine for all of us (Koreans love their K-Pop). Here is a picture of the girls performing…

It is so rare for these kids to get one on one loving attention. That is a big part in what makes our camps for the kids so special. Growing up in the children’s home they rarely have any adult’s attention unless it is regarding homework, chores, or something else they need to get done. They also rarely get compliments, so they often reject our volunteers initially because they’ve never heard such loving language before. But soon they are soaking up the affirmation.

The volunteer on the right in the picture above is one of our Oak Tree Project students. She grew up in a children’s home and attended our camps from 3rd thru 6th grade. She loved the camps so much back then that she cried at the end of them. Now she is a third year in college. She accepted Christ during her first year in college and has changed so much. She used to have a dark, distant demeanor but now she is bright and lovely. She hit it off with her paired girl. Soon all the girls learned of our volunteer’s background and they were inspired and encouraged that she has turned out the way she has. The girls expressed they hope to also come back in the future as volunteers. Here is one more picture of her with her student…

We start each camp day by greeting the girls one by one as they enter and then by having a prayer after everyone is seated….

Then we make a morning craft, have lunch, play a game, and then make an afternoon craft. Crafts at this camp included: Designing a tote bag, making a tic tac toe board and painting figures to use for the game, making a gingerbread house, making perler bead keychains, making a sensory bottle, and making a photo album (like a yearbook) along with writing cards. The girls kept very busy during the camp and enjoyed all the crafts.

The sensory bottles were a surprise hit as the girls had never seen or made something like that before.

Here is a picture of Sky, Ria, and I with the girls from the children’s home I began serving at over 17 years ago. Sky and I have known both sets of twins since they were in the baby room.

Game time was a big hit at this camp. Jee did a great job leading the girls and volunteers through different group games.

Our volunteers were amazing, all of them. The volunteer below was in her 8th month of pregnancy but still wanted to do the camp (she has served a number of times in the past). Due to her experience Jee paired her with a girl who she knew would be one of the toughest to connect with at the camp. The girl is usually by herself at her children’s home and is underdeveloped socially. She definitely was a challenge but our very pregnant volunteer was up for it and her consistent love and joy broke through. By the last day the girl was all smiles and wanting to be in pictures (she had rejected pictures previously). The loving atmosphere at the camp was so strong that even other girls were reaching out to her and encouraging her. God is good!

Happy girls…

We are so thankful to have been able to hold this camp. Thank you to every volunteer who served, including our amazing helpers on the side. Thank you to New Philadelphia Church for allowing us to use your space. Thank you to Second Hand Rose Thrift Shop, KKOOM, Julie Won, and James and Sophie Park for helping sponsor this camp. And thank you to Michael Lee for taking these wonderful pictures.

As a bonus, here is a group picture from our basketball camp that we held this past Monday. 16 kids participated and we had a lot of fun together.