Spassk Camp: A Report

26th July
Spassk is just how I remember it; still a huge oppressive building with a never-ending maze of corridors. Not an ideal place for children. First thing Sunday morning we meet the children and then it is non-stop until we leave again the following weekend. It is hard to describe the week however the following extracts from the journal I kept may give you an idea of a Love Russia summer camp.

27th July
The first job I was given was to sort out the resource room. I can’t believe the amount of stuff we have. It took almost two hours. I’ve never seen so many glitter pens in my life. The children are already up and about. Tanya spotted me and ran up to give me a big hug.
My morning activity was bandana making. One of the lads spent ever such a long time decorating his. In the afternoon I sat outside making friendship bracelets. Soon I had a group of children surrounding me all wanting to learn - even a number of teenage boys insisted I show them what to do.

28th July
The theme for this year is Explorers. In the morning meeting myself and two of the other team members acted out a sketch showing the importance of teamwork. We were dressed as explorers and tied together with a rope. At first we argued and all tried going in different directions. We then realised if we wanted to get to the mountains we’d have to all be in agreement and finally got on our way.

29th July
In addition to working with the children we are developing the courtyard further from last year. After spending a lot of yesterday afternoon weeding it we’ve decided to build something less labour intensive ... so begins the adventure playground. I spent the morning helping to lay out the border. There is to be a swing set, a set of stepping stones and a see-saw and a bridge into the area.

30th July
In quiet games this evening I was playing snap with the children. It went on for almost an hour as every time anyone was running out of cards the children give you more. I think this is a generous gesture to say how little they have in life. While we were playing I asked the children to tell me the names of the animals on the cards in Russian so I could learn them. They took great delight in this - especially when I got the pronunciation of some of the animals wrong or forgot!!!

31st July
Today has been insanely busy. After my explorer role it was back out to the courtyard. I mixed concrete until almost lunch time then finished sewing the friendship blanket together. All the leaders and all the orphans have decorated a colour square with a picture and their name. It looks awesome and will be so nice to leave for them.

1st August
I didn’t think today could be more manic than yesterday. I was wrong. The courtyard had to be finished and the resource room packed and sorted before the concert that afternoon. The children were awesome in the concert - some of the girls did a cheerleader routine and others a dance. Some of the older lads have been working on a short stunt movie through the week and that was premiered - it was fantastic. There were songs we’ve been learning all through the week and a ‘stomp’ routine from some of the lads who have been helping in the courtyard. It was then the BBQ - I was helping with the cooking and spent the next hour cutting veg, cooking it, handing out burgers and re-filling drinks. At one point I stopped for a minute just to look at what was going on around me. A couple of girls were playing on the see-saw and another group of kids were tackling the stepping-stones and balancing beams. Some of the children had a mouth full of burger and others were running around laughing. It was such a heartening sight to see, and a perfect end to the trip.