Exhausted
from playing so much, freezing and shaking from staying in the swimming pool
too long, and having no more space in our bellies because the food was too
yummy. Those are some ways to describe the camp we had with the 9-11 age group,
the SemearKids. We had never before organized a camp for them, but we thought
that this would give them a good opportunity to experience something different from
the jammed, dark and dirty environment they live in. Camps also create a good atmosphere
for them to learn and for us to create a stronger attachment with them. All of
that, definitely, happened during the 3 days we spent with them at a ranch one
hour far from São Paulo.
By looking at the pictures you can easily see how happy the kids were, but there are some things that you just can´t capture in a photograph. For example, how these kids feel safe when they are around us. Many of us were probably quite afraid of the dark when we were kids, especially if it´s a combination of darkness and some scary night games. But these kids showed us that they were not afraid at all of any of the night games we did in the dark forest, with some “uncles” running around to scare them. To them, it was just a fun and relaxing time! Just as if, as long as they were with the “aunts” & “uncles” from Casa Semear, nothing bad could happen.
Besides
the fact that such behavior shows how they look at us, it also reveals a sad
reality about the place where they live. During one of the bible studies, which
we planned to talk about how it is God’s plan to establish a community of
justice, love and peace, one of the “uncles” asked the seven kids in his small
group, who had ever met someone that had already killed another person. Five
out of the seven answered confirmatively. Of course darkness, forest, and scary
“uncles” are no threat at all when you live in such a harsh reality.
In face of that, we tried to inculcate two important things in their little
minds: their responsibility to transform their community into a place of more
security and justice; and the hope that God’s plan, revealed in Jesus, of a
just society living in full relationship with Him, will certainly come true.
The Casa Semear Team
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| The whole group |
