COUNTRY: Canada
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Work Placement
WRITTEN BY: Maddison Kowal
It's our second week of volunteering and I am finally diving into the deep end as this week I have no co-counsellor and 9 girls to myself! I was in the River Clan with Kasper and his group of boys as well as having to put the voyager canoes in the water down at Hector Waterfront. After coming back from the waterfront the bus with our kids arrived and ‘Bubbles’, ‘Gravity’, ‘Crocus’ and I collected our kids and played some name games before lunch.
After lunch we had our first proper session of tipi building where we got the kids to build small tipis out of sticks. Myself and the other counsellors then tested how waterproof, wind-proof and earthquake-proof they were, during which we saw a deer, which the kids loved. The rest of the day consisted of playing team-building games, eating dinner and then organising the campfire singing. At the end of teacher time (the hour we get to ourselves) the kids eagerly lined up to see us again and receive their snack.
At the campfire Rainbow, Chipmunk and I sang ‘Rock the Boat’. It started off with just Ripple singing, but then the counsellors, boys, girls, and eventually everybody joined in. My kids had no idea that I was going to sing at campfire and the look of excitement on their faces when they saw me get up was really quite cool because they love it when their counsellor gets up to sing. Trying to get the energetic kids to bed afterwards was always going to be a challenge though!
It's our second week of volunteering and I am finally diving into the deep end as this week I have no co-counsellor and 9 girls to myself! I was in the River Clan with Kasper and his group of boys as well as having to put the voyager canoes in the water down at Hector Waterfront. After coming back from the waterfront the bus with our kids arrived and ‘Bubbles’, ‘Gravity’, ‘Crocus’ and I collected our kids and played some name games before lunch.
After lunch we had our first proper session of tipi building where we got the kids to build small tipis out of sticks. Myself and the other counsellors then tested how waterproof, wind-proof and earthquake-proof they were, during which we saw a deer, which the kids loved. The rest of the day consisted of playing team-building games, eating dinner and then organising the campfire singing. At the end of teacher time (the hour we get to ourselves) the kids eagerly lined up to see us again and receive their snack.
At the campfire Rainbow, Chipmunk and I sang ‘Rock the Boat’. It started off with just Ripple singing, but then the counsellors, boys, girls, and eventually everybody joined in. My kids had no idea that I was going to sing at campfire and the look of excitement on their faces when they saw me get up was really quite cool because they love it when their counsellor gets up to sing. Trying to get the energetic kids to bed afterwards was always going to be a challenge though!
The next morning I woke up at 6.30am to find my kids getting dressed and ready for the day even though I had told them the previous night that I would get them up at 7.30am. Getting the kids ready in the morning is a lot easier than putting them to bed as the kids are always excited and ready to get stuck into camp. My Girls also decided that they wanted to make an ‘Atora’ song, which turned out to be really cool! It went like this…
Atora A-T-O-R-A
We try out best to get our way,
We’re strong, brave and we behave,
Atora A-T-O-R-A
We ask a lot of questions too,
One for me and one for you,
Atora A-T-O-R-A
Atora A-T-O-R-A
Sound off!
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,
ATORA!
That morning we headed down to the Hector Waterfront for voyager canoeing, games and another round of singing 'Rock the Boat', which the girls had absolutely loved from campfire the night before. After lunch was the challenge course, where all the girls were sent through a vigorous ninja training course before walking on a tight rope between mountains (poles) to the hideout for all ninjas before graduating into the secret ninja society. Our next activity was Predator Prey which all the girls were looking forward to as the last year 6’s had told them all about it. This was a nice break for the counsellors and was really funny to watch. One of the teachers (who I later found out had worked at the camp the previous summer) acted as ‘human impact’ and chased and threw beanbags at the kids. It was then dinner, teacher time and campfire as usual, where this time I sang ‘Ba-na-nas’ with Ripple, Merlin and Maple.
Wednesday was hike day, which we started by going through Scout’s Field, where the kids loved hearing about the Mount Yumnaska legend. We then made our way around Buffalo Bill Pond where we stopped for lunch and a game of 'camouflage' before continuing on to Trails Rocks and back to camp. We walked 4.2km where I just sang songs the whole way; I was surprised the kids weren’t sick of hearing my voice by the end because I definitely was! The girls asked me many questions about the fauna and flora around us and I enjoyed answering them, as I have come to love learning about the environment around me.
On Thursday morning we moved all the bags from my tipi back to the luggage bins before breakfast and the raising of the flag. However, this time when the kids arrived at the table they found a stick, a green headband, a Sacred Tipi bundle, a map and letter saying welcome to the Nation of the Earth. To keep the suspense I didn’t reveal anything till after breakfast where the explaining of ‘Forts and Furs’ happened. Forts and furs is a massive game the whole camp plays on the last day where the kids have to run around getting animal punches in order to trade them for tools, blankets and rifle permits. While the kids are playing the game, us counsellors sit on the backpack pile that we made with the sacred tipi bundle and protect it from other nation kids. Following this we had tipi time, where we opened the sacred tipi bundle and gave the girls their camp bead bracelet to remember camp by. When the kids had to leave I ended up being crushed by my kids in the group hug before sending them on the bus and waving goodbye. As soon as the kids are gone, us counsellors go wild and have our weekly ritual of ‘little sally walker’, which is always good fun.
Friday was a staff development day, where we had our 'in-services' for high ropes and horse riding. After learning all the necessary safety rules and techniques we made our way down to the arena for a ride. As much as I’m not a horse person at home, I absolutely loved the little ride we had and was so disappointed when I had to get off my horse ‘Buck’. It was then on to the high ropes, where this time I actually got to try the dangler maze. It was a lot harder than I first thought, but knowing some of the handy tricks certainly helped.
The weekend was spent in Calgary having fun hanging out with people and going to the zoo where we got to see the bears and cougars from behind the safety of a cage. In saying that, I am looking forward to the possibility of seeing a bear at camp! All in all, it was another great week here in Canada!
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