ROPES® Camp 2015
This year Mawewa School introduced the Rites Of Passage ExperienceS (ROPES®) program. The program ended with an end-of-year camp for Class 8 students - ROPES® Camp – designed to bring the classroom lessons into practice. The rules of the camp were simple and clear – respect the counselors, participate in every activity, and follow instructions. In addition, students had to gather for every meal. Boys and girls took part in similar activities, but they were in separate camps and came together for several events.
The camp was held at the Athi River Campus of the Daystar University, about 33 miles from of Nairobi. The camp counselors were eduKenya and Mawewa School staff, plus two Tanari Trust counselors to help guide the experience.
CAMP HIGHLIGHTS: DAYS 1-3
Learning Sessions
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Maturity Breakout Session.[/caption]
Team Building Exercises
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Boys and girls were taken several miles into the wilderness, in opposite directions, and had to work together to navigate back to camp.[/caption][caption id="attachment_2850" align="aligncenter" width="565"]
Obstacle Course.[/caption][caption id="attachment_2851" align="aligncenter" width="565"]
Trust Exercise.[/caption][caption id="attachment_2852" align="aligncenter" width="565"]
Meal Preparation - rumor has it the girl's meal was cooked to perfection, but the boy's was said to be "slightly undercooked!"[/caption]
Picnicking
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Boys enjoy a top-of-the-world view.[/caption][caption id="attachment_2855" align="aligncenter" width="565"]
Girls relax lakeside.[/caption]
CAMP HIGHLIGHTS: DAYS 4-5
Day of Fasting
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Fasting & Reflection Tents.[/caption]
On Day 4, campers participated in a 24-hour fast. Campers spent the day in solitude, reading assigned Bible passages, journaling, and reflecting. A lesson in overcoming temptation involved each camper spending 24 hours with an apple to be presented to the counselors the following morning. All but one apple made it through the day!
On this day, Pastor Bob made a surprise visit to camp and had individual discussion sessions with each camper. Another surprise was letters from home handed out in the wee hours of the morning when all campers were awake because of hunger pangs!
Campus Tour
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Visit to the Radio Station.[/caption]
Campers broke their fast on Day 5 with a filling breakfast and then left camp for the day to enjoy a campus tour at Daystar University, which included a visit to the university radio station – Shine FM – where they watched an ongoing broadcast.
Surprise Visit from Parents
When the teens arrived back at camp, they entered their cabins to find parents and guardians hidden within. Mothers joined their daughters and fathers joined sons. If a parent was not available, a gender-specific family representative came in their place – there was 100% representation! The children were jubilant to be joined by their loved ones and to learn that they would be staying overnight.
Parents participated in games with their children.[caption id="attachment_2860" align="aligncenter" width="565"]
Mothers taught daughters how to prepare a chicken for dinner – from scratch![/caption]
The parents experienced camp by participating with their children in one-on-one sessions, team building activities, and play.
CAMP HIGHLIGHTS: FINAL DAY / STUDENT COMMISSIONING
On the last day at camp, the students were commissioned to go live as responsible young people. Each adult was given a chance to speak into their child’s life and to pray over them.
The boys were presented with a Maasai Blanket and a rungu, a short staff, a symbol of authority. These two items symbolize a leader and a protector.
The girls received a white sheet, and a gourd inscribed with their name. The sheet is a symbol of purity. The gourd, a delicate vessel traditionally used to carry water from the river, is a symbol that the girls are nurturers, providers, and worthy of respect.
The day and camping experience ended with a nyama choma (barbecue), featuring a goat, prepared by the boys – from scratch! – under the instruction of their fathers. After the feast, everyone traveled back to Nairobi in one bus.
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. Ephesians 4:14-15