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CHALLENGE CAMP 2004 CAMP CHIEF'S REPORT I must start by thanking everybody who contributed in any way towards our new wet-weather shelter. Although, of course, this multifunctional building is by no means finished, the first stage is almost complete. So we were able to use it when the rains came during the early weeks of the camp. We used it as a dining room, the serving hatch and plate-wash worked better than I expected. It also enabled us to carry on, in comfort, activities far too numerous to list. I can remember one morning seeing one group doing face-painting while another was making friendship bracelets and another was moulding papier-mâché around balloons to make masks. yet another were printing the cards we hope to send to sponsors. All this while the rain was pouring down and we were siphoning umpteen gallons of water off the roof!. When it is all finished the rainwater will be collected and pumped up to the tank at the top of the hill to be used for washing and the toilets. Waste not a drop !! Each year the regulations seem to get more and more complicated (or is it me who is getting older?). This year we found that we could not take children from the orphanages we have been working with for years because of changes in the standards for accommodation for “institutionalised” children which are far too complex to be gone into in this report. So we took a lot more “special needs” adults because they come under a more relaxed set of regulations. We also asked for some children from families in deprived circumstances because, as “non institutionalised” children their regulations are even more relaxed. Confused? Welcome to the club. The first week we had a group of twenty or so children, with their carers, from “Save the Children”. They came to see what we had to offer with a view to future use of the site for themselves. As we had been expecting far more, this was an easy week as we were almost one to one. The children really enjoyed their stay and we found their enthusiastic carers a joy to work with, some of them staying on to help us in the later weeks. So I am fairly confident they will be back. For the past few years the hospital at Sasca have brought about ten of their special needs adults to the camp. This year on our second week they brought over thirty. This group really enjoyed having us and the campsite to themselves for the first time. Their carers are of course old friends, as are some of the young men in their party and their week certainly was not spoiled by the fact that they caught the worst of the weather. They will be back next year, probably in larger numbers. The third week it was our old friends from the hospital at Siret. They are those who were “left behind” when the big Neuro Hospital that was shown being renovated on British television “Challenge Aneka” at Christmas 1990, was closed, the children being sent to smaller hospitals in parts of the country nearer their birthplaces. These adults were too old to fit in to the plans so they now live in the building which used to be the Boys Home. Some of them I have known since our first camp in 1991. I am afraid their level of disability was a bit of a shock to some of our “first-timers” in spite of pre-warning: but they quickly realised what loving, friendly people they are and how much they enjoy their day in the freedom and open space of the campsite. The hospital Director used to only let them come for half a day, claiming that they had not got the stamina for longer. This year he let them come for a full day. They managed quite nicely. It was us who were flagging by “bus-time”. This week the weather began to improve and we were able to use the field more. You should see how high a parachute can throw about one hundred plastic balls. And picking them up for the next “go” is very good for the hips, I was told, but I cannot claim any great improvement myself. In total we had over two hundred day-visitors, though some managed a second visit. At the weekend a “maxi-taxi” took most of the team to visit the orphanage at Gura Humorului to see the children we usually have on camp and the hospital at Sasca. We are pretty confident that we will be able to get everything sorted out for next year, and have them back again. The children and the team enjoyed this “second best” option and I think the fruit and sweets helped a bit. For our final week we were sent over fifty “deprived” children. They came from the nearby city of Suceava and a remote village about 60k the other side of Suceava, the Mayor of the village sponsoring their transport. (He also sent his own children and I suppose it was a nice gesture of his to trust us with them!!!!. To be fair to him, it would have seemed a bit odd if he was sending other children where he would not send his own.) It is very hard to tell just how “deprived” these children are. It is made harder by the fact they they come in their best clothes and their parents will borrow money to ensure that the children have “spends”. It is a problem that we have had, on and off, since 1992. Maybe one day we will find the answer. We did wonder how these two groups would blend, but we had no difficulty in mixing and matching. The sun shone every day and the new building became a haven of cool shade. The older group went off on an overnight hiking trip for a “mini-camp” on the edge of the forest and found the experience of backwoods cooking etc, very exciting. While they were away we had a fun-day fair for the younger ones, with stalls ranging from Giant Twisters to Hit-the-Leader in-the -face, with a wet sponge. (Thank you Bungle, Mihi and Vovo) This was so successful that we put it on again on our final Saturday for the children from our local village of Zamostea, and if anything, it was better. So that is it for another year. Our Romanian Camp Warden, Alex, will continue the development of the site. Toilets, showers and bunk beds are to be installed to complete the first stage of the new building. The new water filtration system must have been a success because we got no complaints from the eight samples taken for test. Alex, who is also President of Challenge Camp Romania, our sister charity over there, hopes to dig more wells to cope with our steadily increasing water consumption. The more powerful generator means we now have hot running water in the kitchen and medical centre. When the sound-reducing measures are complete, it will be much appreciated. Challenge Camp Romania, will distribute the things we sent over, ranging from knitted blankets to computers (but no wheelchairs). I said earlier that the rules sometimes baffle me, How Helen copes I do not know. In case anybody heard about the bit train crash while we were in Romania, I am happy to say that our only involvement was that four of the team who were travelling home were severely delayed on their journey to Bucharest and only just made it to the airport on time, instead of having seven hours to look around the city. My thanks to our friend Ileana for managing to sort out their train arrival time and deliver them safely if a little breathless. Thanks to all my staff. As the Scots say “Haste ye back”. Thank you to everybody who worked so hard throughout the year to make the camp possible and tyhose who contributed towards easing the financial burden. I am lucky enough to be able to see for myself the happiness that the Camp brings to so many people and hope that this report lets you share in it. Or makes you want to come with us to Challenge Camp 2005. Application forms available soon. Get raising the money. Watch the Web Site.
Roy Lennie Camp Chief 2004 |