What is Children Summer Camp?

Eight International Volunteers and one local volunteer arrived in Okhaldhunga at 4:00 PM on 10 July 2019.  3 from Taiwan, 2 from Spain, 1 from France, 1 from Macao, and 1 from Thailand arrived in Okhaldhunga for Children Summer Camp project.

The next day, All the Volunteers were taken to the school called Raktamala Basic School which is 15 minutes by walk from the Host Family. Most of the Dalit community children study at this school. All the volunteers had a scheduled to arrive school at 10:00 AM. The very First Day: All volunteers Interacted with the school teacher, students and did some activities (Like playing indoor games, drawing, singing and dancing program) until 2:00 PM. There was a group discussion at 6:00 PM with the volunteers and made a plan according to their interest.

The Activities include Quiz contests, Arts and crafts, Health, Cleanliness and Sanitation, Teaching (History, Science, Geography, language, and Mathematics, etc.), Indoor and outdoor games, singing and dancing programs, Yoga, meditation or physical training, etc.

Details on Children Summer Camp

Each volunteer was divided into 4 groups with 2 each in the group. Each group were requested to attend the class for one hour and then move to another class. Each group’s activities were rotated every day according to their interest but one group activities were not similar to the other group’s in Children Summer Camp.

Group 1 teaches English vocabulary, geography, history, Spanish language, indoor games and some lessons on Health (First Aid and other Health Related activities, etc.) became one of the effective activities in the school.

Group 2 had created a beautiful impact on the students by teaching them with Arts and crafts. The students were very excited to make different crafts and arts by papers and other educational materials.

Similarly, Group 3 was interested and chooses the activities of Yoga/Meditation and singing and dancing.  The students learned some steps in physical training and got to learn some beautiful steps of dancing.

Group 4 organized a Quiz contest and teaches the importance of cleanliness and Sanitation (like using soap after using the toilet, use of dustbins in the classroom and waste management.

The last session was Indoor and Outdoor activities for at least 90 minutes every day. All the groups and the students gather to do indoor and outdoor activities together.

There was a continuous rain since Thursday for almost 4 days. Despite weather challenges, the VIN Okhaldhunga team manages all the activities in the given time frame in the Children’s Summer Camp. The camp started with 25 to 30 students approx. but the number of students increased up to 75 until the last day of the camp. There was a problem of electricity since day 2 until their departure.

Day 6 (Tuesday), it was scheduled to go for hiking to Januka Gadi which is south west of Nisankhe (Thulachhap). It took almost one and half hour to reach the point. It was a very wonderful time together with the students and the volunteers. The students interacted with the volunteers about the importance of this historic place and had clicked some beautiful photos, enjoyed the weather and landscape of this place.

Day 7 (Wednesday), It was scheduled to have a farewell ceremony to the volunteers for Children Summer Camp by the school administration. In the presence of Head master the appreciation certificates were distributed to the volunteers for their hard work and their activities that had put a great impact to the students.

Conclusion:  

Overall, the Children Summer Camp has become successful at Okhaldhunga. The Children were well behaved, good and active throughout the time. Most of the students doesn’t need translator. The girls are shyer than the boy and hesitate to speak in front of the volunteers. In the beginning the camp started with approx. with 25 to 30 students and ended up with 75 students approx. These sorts of camp need to be organized in rest of the schools of Taluwa, Thulachhap and Bhadaure. It has become one of the most memorable experiences in Children Summer Camp for the students and the volunteers.