Camp Sizanani - Sept.-Oct. 2009 Camp

The session went well. We had a coed session, with 136 campers. 130 were from a single, very poor area in Soweto, where teachers were supposed to select students based on need. The other 6 were from a poor area of Krugersdorp where we have had campers before.

One of the interesting things was that all of the 130 had been through a peer education course given by many of our staff before they arrived. Thus, their life skills course was at a different level, including things life self-empowerment and decision-making.

As I mentioned, we have many things revealed during every camp. The stories below are some that came out during the session that just ended.

The items below the line are what happened when the campers got to the pick up point in Soweto at the end of camp. I thought it would be of some interest.

  1. 25 of 69 girls have advised us that they have been raped. 5 of the perpetrators were arrested and are now back on the street. Their families have told them to get over it and have not encouraged counseling. For most, camp is their first disclosure of the violence.

  2. A 15-year old boy was upset by continuing abusive behavior and remarks on both sides between his parents. In despair, he took to the street to hang out with "friends." 4 of them-a 20 year old, a 10 year old, and another 15 year old started robbing people for fun. They learned of a supermarket owner (the father of our camper's girl friend) who kept the day's proceeds, about $5500, in his desk drawer each night and deposited it the next morning. The 4 worked out a plan, broke in and were opening the drawer when the owner, unexpectedly to the burglars, walked in. All had guns, but our camper was the only one who shot. That happened the day before he came to camp.

    Haunted by the horror of that night, he wants to see if the man died, speak to him and ask forgiveness if he didn't, and turn himself in to the police. He wants to put that life behind him and is also fearful of violence from the other gang members if he voluntarily talks to the police.

  3. A camper's father was a known serial killer. The community moved when the police were slow and killed him, burning the killer/victim in front of his family.

    Since then, the son has been treated as suspect as fruit of the poisonous tree. No one will be friends or allow their friends to deal with him. He is too poor to move.

  4. A camper gets her one meal a day at school and has to put part of her food in her pockets to feed the other 3 in her family who have nothing at home.

Mbali, our 24-year old director, decided that she would go back on the bus with the campers and then get come back to camp for the debriefing with the counselors. She wanted a chance to meet with the parents at the bus and to let them know what had happened at camp and to have the campers there as examples.
It turned out to be a great idea and one that we might have to work in to our regular pattern.

She said the bus ride was great as the kids were all singing and keeping the excitement from camp going. Often it is quiet and they sleep.

At Bara (Baragwanath, the hospital), more than half the campers were met by family members. She spoke to the parents about what happened at camp and the campers sang and danced and some of them spoke to the parents.

One who spoke was the boy who had shot his girl friend's father during the burglary. The father was at Bara. The boy saw him and was at once relieved that he was alive but scared of facing him. He took Mbali's hand and went to him and apologized. The man accepted the boy's apology, said he wouldn't press charges, but that the boy would have to give up the names of his accomplices. Then the boy spoke to the group and publicly told them what had happened.

Another one who spoke was the boy whose father had been the serial killer and who had been burned to death by the community. He told how his father had been a good father to him and had made him a better person than the father. Despite the father's horrible actions, the boy loved him and would not renounce him as a father. He said that he was not his father and that he greatly sympathized with those who had lost family members at his father's hands, but that he had lost a father by their hands. He asked to be accepted on his own as a person and not be stigmatized because of his father's actions.

Three of the mothers whose children had been murdered came up to him and gave him hugs and forgave him.

Pretty dramatic and immediate results from camp.

Phil
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 06 October 2009 07:15