Field Report: Junior Boys’ 2

READ THE FULL REPORT HERE

No one escapes grief. Relationships are what carry us through. Sadly, our campers experience more traumatic losses than most kids, and they have fewer relationships to help them through their grief. They are grieving the loss of parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles. Additionally, there is the loss of friends, loss of pets, and loss of dreams.

One group of four brothers had a 5th brother who had died. Both their mom and dad had been sentenced to prison (another loss). At first they lived with grandparents who abused the boys, and then they moved to foster care (several more losses). The boys longed to just to be back with their mom and dad again. Each boy was dealing with their grief differently.

*Ali, the oldest, never smiled and he just sat. He sat at games and he sat at the pool. His way of coping with the pain was shutting down. Shutting down emotions, hope, evertything. One day I sat with him and we talked. He shared bits and pieces of their story. He was carrying guilt for the times he blamed his brothers for things to avoid his grandparent’s abuse. He was in deep sorrow, yet as the week progressed we watched Ali come to life. During the Thursday Adventure, Ali’s face beamed with the biggest smile. Through the caring relationships at camp, Ali had found joy.

*Ramondo, the youngest, was the opposite. He couldn’t sit at all. He was constantly running. His way of dealing with the pain was to keep running so he didn’t have to feel it. This was fine during games, at the pool, or when we were going places, but it was entirely different when we were in the middle of a Bible story at chapel. Like when I was drawing out a nugget of truth and Ramondo bolted across the room with his counselor on his tail. Ramondo had moments when he connected and grasped some truth about God, but mostly he just ran. At camp, Ramando was loved just as he was.

*Pedro, the middle brother, tried to be invisible. His way of coping was to avoid being noticed. This creates a problem when you have a brother like Ramondo who is always moving. The foster mom sent a note that Pedro and Ramondo shouldn’t be together at camp. However, on Thursday, Pedro asked to be baptized and choose to follow Christ as his Savior.

At the Memorial Wall the next morning, the boys put out rocks in memory of their brother who had died.

This stirred up the most pain in *Javior, the last brother who was closest to the brother who had died. As the other boys left for the next activity, Javior sat on the stone bench crying, with two staff comforting him. Understanding the need to talk, I asked Javior for his brother’s name and if he was older or younger. I kept asking and Javior told me about playing games together, riding bikes, and sleeping on the top bunk over his brother. As we talked, Javior moved through his sadness to hope once again.

At camp we help campers embrace their losses and find hope once again. We still have 38 campers who need sponsors. If you would like to sponsor a camper and get a picture of a child you can pray for throughout the year, click the link below. If you sponsored a child this summer, thank you so much for your gift of hope. You should be getting your cards and pictures within the next couple of weeks.

*Names changed for confidentiality

Gratefully,
Ben Smith
Founder/Executive Director
Camp David International