ECWA Camp Youth Alive (ECYA) Update

So this week has had some rather big ups and downs. Wednesday morning, after a very late night downloading clip are at awfully slow speeds, the Morning Watch books were completed. Claudia was excited and so was I. They were a day late for our deadline, but the printer assured us we could still get it done in time for the Edo-Delta camp which we leave for in a week. Meanwhile, one of Claudia’s camp staff, Akim, and I have been working on a promotional video to advertise the camp. Some footage of the camp was shot last year during the 2005 camps, and we went through the video to pull out the different parts of the camp day. Wednesday afternoon, Akim and I went to the house of the missionary who’ll be helping us compile the video as he needed to know the timing of the video. It all went smoothly, and hopefully it’ll only be a short time before we can get the rest of it lined up and ready to compile.

Thursday evening, the camp committee met to discuss business for the coming summer. The primary goal of the agenda was to determine how much to charge campers for a week of camp, and I soon found this to be an extraordinarily frustrating task. Claudia had done a lot of work to narrow down the costs of the camp, and when all was said and done, it came to about $38 for a week of camp. It included $24 for 3 meals a day for 7 days. It included a camp t-shirt. Also included was the craft fee, which was $4.50, and the crafts aren’t the same you’d find in an American camp. Instead, they’re things like sandal making, reed art, and knitting, all of which are things the campers can take home with them and actually make some money off of. They’re skills that empower the campers to try starting a small business. Other fees included were related to other camp activities, as well as maintenance of the campground.

Well, suffice to say the committee was none too happy to see $38 on the bottom of the page. Last year, campers were asked to pay $21, and the actual cost was quite a bit more than that. As a result, the camp is still in debt from subsidizing the extra cost. Not only that, but for a person to make $50 in a month isn’t uncommon here, so paying ¾ that much for a week of camp simply isn’t possible for people. Even at $21 last year, most of the campers were sponsored by other missionaries because they couldn’t afford to come. The 2-hour meeting soon ran to 3 and still the committee was having a hard time. Ask people to pay the full price in order to keep the camp running, or ask a lower price and hope that the extra money will come via donations? It’s awfully tough to understand what to do. The money simply isn’t there, but the camp is such a great place for kids to go. Many of the current staff are former campers, and many have gone on to better places as a result of things they learned at camp. The people involved see the benefits, but it’s so hard to know what to do when money issues come up.

While Claudia and I were frustrated by the committee’s indecision, they did empower her to make a final call on what to charge. In addition, they also called for some fundraising to begin ASAP. As a result, I spent the entire day today working on an ECWA Camp Youth Alive brochure to make available to churches and organizations. It included pictures and a description of the camp’s goals, needs, and program. We feel like it came out really well, and I’ve never done anything like it before so it was rewarding to be able to pull it together in just one day. We really need to have some results come out of it, though, and Claudia needs wisdom in her decision about the finances.