CHILDREN`S CAMP August 2012
Venue: Peniel Centre # of Children who participated: 35: 14 boys and 21 girls Age group: 8-‐ 15years.
The camp was attended by 35 children between the ages, 8-‐ 15, from the community of Mthombothemba. The main aim of this camp was to make these children know God as well as to provide comfort and
counsel to some of them who are living positively with the HIV virus. We had a number of children who are HIV positive who attended this camp, who had a lot of questions about their status. With the grace of God we managed to talk and provide counsel and hope to these children. One boy Prince who is 14 years old was at one time on tears when he could not play with others because his body was very much weak , he blamed everyone for this condition , his parents, his grandmother who is staying with him and as well as God. Our
team managed to minister to him and at the end of the camp he was able to understand and accept God`s love for him. We also realized that this is going to be a process for him to fully understand God`s love, so we made a commitment that we will keep on following him and some of these children to give further explanation on God`s love for mankind. We are however so much grateful that all these children
made a decision to follow Jesus.
Games
We had a very amazing moment of playing games with these children with the aim of uniting, motivating, inspiring and educating them. Apart from that the games were to encourage them find peaceful solutions to their problems as well as to teach them essential values such as cooperation and respect for one another. Games were also used to help them to open up concerning the difficulties they encounter in life and were the door way to counselling sessions. Most of the children were assisted through the time of playing games.
WHAT DO THEY HOPE FOR?
We had a wonderful time of brainstorming with these children on their specific needs, other than food, clothing, shelter and school fees, they expressed the following needs: To be accepted and loved like other children To be given opportunities to play and recreate To be able to attend Church every Sunday and be given an opportunity to encourage one another
To go to school like other children Not to be laughed at or discriminated because of their condition To be protected by guardians and members of the community To be listened to and for the guardians to respond to their concerns and to involve them in decisions that affect their lives To be called by their names and not be called an orphan child etc. To be given the opportunity to choose and buy clothes they want to wear Not to be robbed of their belongings by aunts, uncles etc. To be taken to hospital and cared for when they are sick
This camp did not only provide a learning curve to the children but also assisted us to understand the needs of children. Due to the needs and the plight of children we decided to come up with community based Fathers and Mothers support groups which will help our volunteers to provide care, life-‐skills and guidance to these children. We have already started meeting with boys to talk about different issues that affect them and on this picture Gideon met with the boys who were recently circumcised to talk about life after circumcision.
We are so much grateful to you for partnering with us in brightening the future of orphans and vulnerable children.
Blessings,
Gideon & Jennifer Chishamba