Camp Hyanto: Favourite Place 2009
Hyanto means “We who sleep beneath the pines sleep well”. I have been sleeping beneath those pines since I was 10 years old. The camp has become a part of my life, a summer ritual of swimming, canoeing, campfires, and songs; a place of fellowship and fun.
I returned to Camp Hyanto, a small Anglican Church camp, summer after summer, eventually getting work as a counsellor and lifeguard, then finally working as the waterfront director. Working at a camp is not an easy job at all, but it has been a very rewarding job for me. I had the opportunity to meet many children and teens, and help them to gain confidence in themselves, the new skills they are learning, and in their ability to survive a week away from home. Many of the skills learned, and empathy developed while working at camp have come in handy on a day to day basis for me as an adult.
These campers are special campers–the philosophy of the camp is to make each camper feel like a valued member of the camp community, and the greater Christian community. Some campers are sponsored through the Children’s Aid Society, and have difficult home lives. Some are a part of the Reach for the Rainbow program, and are experiencing an integrated camping experience for the first time. Many children are away from home for the first time, and suffer from tremendous homesickness for the first few nights. Although there are many challenges to working at Hyanto, through all the trials and triumphs, the camp staff bonds together, forming a close knit community by the end of the summer. Friends made at camp know you better than any other friends. Even after 10 years apart, these friendships can be revisited or rekindled as if no time has passed.
As a camp volunteer, I am able to participate in camp activities, sing songs, make campfires, read stories, and view life through the eyes of the children for a week in my busy summer. Many of my youngest campers back when I worked at camp have now risen through the ranks to become staff, and are now senior staff. I return summer after summer, to one of the most important communities I knew as a teenager, to help out with the program, to provide support to the staff, to help teach and mentor the campers, and to wander through the camp grounds chasing my memories of summers gone by.
photo credit: M.Green
I returned to camp this summer, as I have for several summers, to be a volunteer for a week. I value the opportunity for me to give back to a community that has given me so much over the years. I am who I am, partially due to this place, for which I am truly thankful.
Tags: best of 2009
