DIOCESE OF KAMPALA CHURCH OF UGANDA
KARIS FAMILY LINK MINISTRY REPORT OF THE CHILDREN’S CAMP HELD
ON 16TH AUGUST TO 19TH AUGUST 2011 AT SEROMA CHRSITIAN HIGH
SCHOOL, MUKONO.
The children’s camp took place from Tuesday 16th to Friday 19th August 2011 at Seroma
Christian High School Mukono and the theme was, “ God knows my name” based on Isaiah
43:1b.
In preparation for the camp a preparatory meeting was held on 5th August 2011 with the
Scripture Union facilitators, Karis staff and Parish Community Mobilisers. Details of the
camp programme and activities were discussed and adjustments made.
Facilitators at a Camp preparatory meeting
In total there were 232 campers and these included; 194 children from 5 linked parishes of
the Diocese of Kampala (St. John’s Kamwokya 44, St. Nicholas Kalerwe 54, St. Luke’s
Ntinda 9, St. Peter’s Naguru 37 and St. Peter’s Wandegeya 50), 3 Karis staff, 1 Karis
Volunteer, 3 Karis Parish Community Mobilisers, a team of 12 from UK Link Churches and
19 Scripture Union facilitators. Children between the ages of 9-19 years were considered for
camp and these were categorised into three age groups; 9-12, 13-15 and 16-19 years for
effective communication and sharing.
Facilitators after saying farewell to the children
1
All the camp planned activities did take place and the upshots were as follows;
 Facilitators’ Devotion
This took place daily in the mornings and was participatory. During this time facilitators read
and shared the word of God. Evaluated the previous day’s activities and went through the
new day’s activities.
 Cleaning
This was done in the mornings by the children in their respective houses and supervised by
the facilitators who also awarded marks daily.
 Quiet time
This was done in small groups guided by the facilitators. Those in primary were using ‘God
and me’ and those in secondary ‘Daily power’.
In their respective groups they were engaged in praying, bible reading, meditating on what
they had read and then writing lessons learnt. In the programme booklet were the questions
which each child had to answer after thorough understanding of the day’s passage.
This was quite a challenge to the children especially age group 9-12 years because many
would not read on their own and many were also not very familiar with the location of the
bible books. However, facilitators read with them through the passage before each would do
it on their own.
The other challenge was the bibles which were not enough for all the children to do their
quiet time and even though 80% of the total number of children had received bibles at
previous camps, they had either lost them or got spoilt by the heavy floods especially those
who came from Kalerwe and Katanga.
However, many children enjoyed the quiet time and even answered the questions in the
programme booklets. This session also greatly helped children to know more about the word
of God and how to read their bibles on their own.
Facilitators & Children reading ‘God & me’
Children reading their bibles & daily power
2
Children with their facilitators during the quiet time
 Bible time
This was based on the theme “God knows my name” from Isaiah 43:1b. This theme
emphasized one’s personal relationship with God and how each one of them was unique and
God’s own. Different methodologies were used i.e. memory verses, stories, skits and
drawings for the two different groups (primary & secondary going students).
An illustration during bible time
A skit during the bible time
About 33 children gave their lives to Christ during the bible time session and the facilitators
prayed with them. A list of names of the children who got saved will be sent to the respective
parishes for follow up by the Parish Community Mobilisers.
Becky praying for some of the newly born again
3
Facilitators with the newly born again
 Praise and worship
Children learnt a number of new songs from scripture Union and the UK team. These songs
always ushered them into prayers.
Children praising and worshiping
The UK team leading praise & worship
 Life skills discussion
The topic for life skills discussion was “Who am I and where am I going?” The ultimate goal
was to help children appreciate their differences and begin to plan for their future.
This was one of the major camp activities and was age graded. This was also based on the
camp theme ‘God knows my name’ and different stories and illustrations for different age
groups were used to communicate clearly to the children.
The objectives for this discussion were;
- To help teenagers know their position in God
- To help them understand who they are and where they are heading in life
- To help them understand their personalities and open their eyes to the opportunities around
them that can benefit them
- To help them understand the challenges that life brings and how to make decisions
Life skills discussion group for 9-12yrs
Life skills discussion group for 13-15yrs
4
Life skills discussion group for 16-19yrs
 Practise for drama and dance
This was time for the various groups to practise for presentation where each group was to
perform on stage and be awarded marks. The UK team spear headed this activity by teaching
children songs and dances.
A music group practising
A dance group practising
 Crafts
Children painted art cloth pieces, made beaded bangles, necklaces and painted photoframes
for their own photos.
Martin working on his art cloth piece
Children painting their photo frames
5
 Games and Sports
There was a variety of games and sports such as netball, football, skipping rope, parachute,
baseball, volleyball, Dodge ball and flying disks (Frisbees). The choice of the game or sport
was entirely the children’s. However, it was compulsory for each one of them to get involved
in a particular game or sport.
Campers playing baseball
The boys playing football
 Movie and cultural night
These were so much enjoyed by the children as they both had a lot of lessons to learn from.
The movie was about life skills focusing more on building children’s self-esteem and
confidence.
The cultural night was all about the different Ugandan cultures and their uniqueness. This
was a celebration night as well for campers to enjoy and interact with others as the camp was
coming to an end. All the children and the team leaders put on their cultural attires and a
number of activities did take place like singing, traditional dances, comedy, cat walk and
modelling.
Campers dressed in Buganda attire
Children displaying attires from the North
6
 Letter writing
Each child wrote a letter to their UK link family narrating their experiences at the camp,
about their life at home and school. The young ones who could not write also made drawings
and posted their photos on the letter card.
Letter writing in progress
The young ones making some drawings
 Evaluation exercise
Comments and views from children about the camp;
What the children enjoyed most at camp
 Cultural and Movie night
 Dancing
 Art & craft (painting)
 Praying
 Learning more about God (Memory verses & quiet time)
 Praise and worship
 Meeting new friends and Interacting with their fellow children
 Group discussions
 Accommodation and meals
What the children learnt at the camp
 Knowing that God knows their names
 That they are fearfully and wonderfully made
 Playing new games like sweet games Flying discs and parachute
 Loving other people as they love themselves
 Knowing how to praise and worship
 Learning how to present on stage
 The world standards of beauty
 Life’s journey
 Art and crafts
 How to pray
 Learnt about different Cultures and their traditional attires
 God’s plans for them
 How to do quiet time
 Need to forgive one another
 Abstinence
7
What the children hated most at the camp
 Stealing of property
 Noise making
 Camp ending too fast
 No resting time after lunch
 Coldness especially at night and in the mornings
 Group presentations were not well organised
 Waking up early
 Abusing and bullying of the young ones by the elder children
 Little time for games and sports
 Poor hygiene by some children
 Some facilitators were harsh
What the children would like Karis to include in the next camp programme
 More games i.e Swimming,Swings,Board games, bicycle riding, Gymnastics and racing
 Extend days for camping
 Variety of food like macron
 Change venue / camping site
 Locking dormitories
 Reward the best performers with gifts
 Separate the young girls from the older ones for privacy
 More activities like Praise rally, more movie nights, miming and fashion show
 UK team to come back
Activities that the children would like the camp organisers to exclude in the next camp
 Quiet time
 Stubborn kids
 Close the toilets that do not flush
 Those who dress poorly
Below are some of the comments from the exit meeting with the UK team.
Challenges
 How to fully involve the English team in the camp programme and activities.
 Monitoring and follow up of the children who got saved at camp
Suggestions
 Need for more days for camp
 Less camp programme activities to allow time for resting
 Drama to be included in the quiet time for the children to be able to learn more clearly
 More stories for illustrations during bible time.
 Allocate time for sharing and praying for the saved campers.
 Plan time for reflection.
 UK team, Karis staff and facilitators to meet before the camp for proper preparation
 Bible study groups to be small for easy monitoring.
 Consistency in children’s grouping for all camp activities.
 Families and Link Churches to be visited before camp.
8
 If Church would build a technical team to help in such activities like children’s camps
other than out sourcing from organisations like Scripture Union and Child Evangelism
Fellowship for easy monitoring and follow up.
Camp budget and expenditure details attached to the report.
Conclusion
The camp was a great success and children were imparted with biblical knowledge and life
skills to help them cope with the world’s life challenges.
Prepared by;
Solome Basirika
Acting Project Co-ordinator
Karis Family Link Ministry
9