We had full camp attendance this time: 43 students attended, and we were 7 facilitators including 1 student who had just graduated from high school.
The theme of the camp was: “Youth Transformation Through Christ”.
The Key Scriptures portions were:
1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NIV)
“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Romans 12:2 (NIV)
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
We planned the December camp to have an emphasis on “Christian Leadership”. This is because of the need to cultivate authentic Christian leadership qualities in the youth. This was a valuable change in the program for the students who had attended the previous CML camps. The last 3 days had 4 sessions on leadership: Basic Leadership Qualities, The Heart of a Leader, Vision and Leadership and Decision Making & Leadership. We borrowed mostly from John Maxwell’s materials on Leadership.
Elishah Otewa, a Form 4 graduate student of Kanyawanga Boys High School facilitated the session on Basic Leadership Qualities. We give such opportunities to students who have participated in previous CML Camps. With time we are able to observe the students and encourage them to exercise their emerging leadership qualities. Soon, we hope to post a video clip of Elishah facilitating this session.
The program catered for the students’ spiritual formation: There were sessions on basic Christian Foundations like Who is God?/ His Qualities and names, Who we are in Christ/ A Healthy Self Esteem, The Trichotomy of Man(Spirit, Soul and Body), Salvation, Justification and Sanctification.
Other sessions were: Media/Music, Moral Purity, Peer Pressure, Sexuality, Relationships and Drug & Substance Abuse. To emphasize the importance of good use of media, we showed three movies: The Gospel of John (on the 1st day), Mary Goretty and Hitch.
There were sessions for both indoor and outdoor games. Apart from physical exercise and social time, the games were aimed at emphasizing the importance of, and encouraging the students to embrace teamwork, trust in relationships, co-ordination, flexibility and respect for the leadership.
We also provided time for open question forum, one-on-one counseling, Praise and Worship, Workshop & Presentations, Talent Presentations and Riddles.
One of the remarkable additions into the December Camp Program was the Community Outreach/ Service. On Friday morning before lunch, we dedicated 5 hours of reaching out and serving in the surrounding community. This part of the program provides the students with the opportunity to practically witness the challenges and problems encountered by the people in the community, empathize with them and have a hands on experience in serving the needy in the society. They get to emulate Christ, who is our role model in Christian Leadership, by exercising some of the qualities they learned during the leadership sessions.
On this day we all visited Mama Benta at her home. The lady is a widow with 3 surviving children below the age of 10. Benta is handicapped in the left hand, and therefore unable to perform most of her domestic chores. She fellowships at Kitere Glory Community Church, one of the local churches that CML partners with in Community ministry. We divided ourselves in to small groups and helped Benta with any domestic work that was available.
The team assisted Benta with fetching water from the nearby stream, cleaning her house, washing the clothing, beating & sifting the beans, digging holes for planting bananas, started building the outdoor toilet, cleaning the compound and washing the kids. All this time Benta did not just sit down just because she had over 50 people helping her, she was working with us. We encouraged her and finally prayed with her. When all was done, Benta had only this to say at the end- “I have seen the hand of God”. Amen!
Bellow are some December 2008 Camp Attendance Statistical Data:
Gender:
Male Students: - 26 Students
Female Students: - 17 Students
Schools Represented:
Primary Schools: - 10
High Schools: - 11
Total: - 21
17 Schools within Rongo District
4 Schools outside Rongo District
First-time attendees: - 22 Students
Returning Students: - 21 Students
Grade Levels Represented:
Primary Class/Grade 5: - 2 Students
Primary Class/Grade 7: - 2 Students
Primary Class/Grade 8: - 5 Students
High School Form 1/Grade 9: - 5 Students
High School Form 2/Grade 10: - 4 Students
High School Form 3/Grade 11: - 14 Students
High School Form 4/Grade 12 - 5 Students
High School Form 4/ Grade 12 Graduates: - 6 Students
Age Distribution:
10 Yrs old: - 1 Student
13 Yrs old: - 4 Students
14 Yrs old: - 3 Students
15 Yrs old: - 3 Students
16 Yrs old: - 3 Students
17 Yrs old: - 8 Students
18 Yrs old: - 13 Students
19 Yrs old: - 3 Students
20 Yrs old: - 4 Students
23 Yrs old: -1 Student
We thank all the CML partners for their continued prayers and financial support that facilitated the success of this camp. Thanks also to the facilitators for their passion to work with the youth. All Glory belongs to God Almighty for all that He has accomplished through the CML Ministry.
May His will be done even in 2009 and beyond.
Amen.
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