Learning to collaborate
Another summer camp in Deir Rafat, this time for children aged 9-11
Last week, a second summer camp of five days (July 22-26) took place at Deir Rafat Monastery for children aged 9-11. The major theme of the camp was "cooperation": how to work together, create together and enjoy together!
On the first day of the camp, the children were divided in small groups and asked to share together in order to choose a name for their own group. According to the instructions, the name had to be related to the theme of the camp: cooperation. The names that were chosen are: Tree of Life, Ascending Together, Honeycomb, Wolves, Rainbow Group. Later in the first day, the children played organized games, swam in the two little pools, had some free time, and watched a movie. (No need to mention the snacks in between ...).
In the following days, apart from the added activities (magic tricks, sport and archery), there was also an activity of dramatization: the children watched a play, related to a story from the New Testament, that was performed by some guides. Afterwards, there was a discussion about the play (what did the children see, what is the connection between the play and the camp? How is it relevant to their life today ...), then the children were asked to prepare a play of their own, related to the story they saw.
In some evenings, the children watched a movie and, in other evenings, they danced, sang and also played board games - together with the guides!
On Thursday, the activities were a little different. In the morning, three people from the ELI organization (Organization for the protection of the child) came and performed a play called "Bad movie" talking about harming the other - a child in a school who was hurt by other children of the school that humiliated him, filming a bad movie about and sending it to all his fellows from the school.
The purpose of the play was to convey to the children that “harming”, in itself, is illegitimate. It emphasized the importance of appealing to the adults in such a situation and not to keep the secret inside yourself. The play brought up many educational contents and was of great importance to our children who are exactly at the age when such things happen at school! The children were fascinated by the play and took an active part in the ensuing discussion with the actors, and with us the day after!!
On that same Thursday, after the play and the discussion, we went to the pool in Tel Aviv - it was a wonderful day full of joy and fun!
On the last day, besides the final mass, the games and the discussion about the ELI’s play, the children had to choose one of the plays performed in the activity of “dramatization” and to present it to all those who were present.
Thanks to all the staff and the children who participated in this summer camp - thanks for every smile on the children’s faces, for the joy and happiness, and for the good atmosphere throughout the camp!
.
