Awarding the William R. King Best of Show Award for the 2004 Art Contest!
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
Day 5 - A bunch of Beach Bums!
We left early this morning to head to Tam Island in Nha Trang. It is always an adventure travelling but nothing more "interesting" then seeing a group of Westerners with 200+ Vietnamese children! Our team was a little late this morning so we were the last to arrive at the island. The ferry ride was fun and the dock was very busy with many vendors and tugboats/ferry boats that had more diesel smoke coming out of it than probably necessary. The ride was short and definitely beautiful! I'll be posting pictures next so you can enjoy it all too!
For most of the children, this was the first time that they had ever been to the ocean so our ultimate goal for the day was to not lose any child. Obviously a good goal to have but made difficult when none of them are wearing life vests or floating devices and only a rope to keep them from going too far. The drop off from waist high to shoulder high was only one step. The bottom was rocky but we were very fortunate that the water was very calm and currents not so strong. But still, I wanted all of to be prepared so we put safeguards in place like spreading out and worrying :-)!
The area at the island that was for the camp was busy but we got to separte into groups of four and play some games. As much as the YMCA tried to do some "fun" games nothing was better than jumping in the ocean! But we did manage to get in our annual tug-o-war game...why is it that they always put our team members as the anchor?? Then of course I have some great pictures of our team racing in the "pop your balloon by sitting on it" game. Needless to say, the kids won! But still some great pictures!
Then after being there less than a half hour we all jumped in to the ocean! It was a lot of fun and you really couldn't ask for a more beautiful day. A little girl came up to me and said, "I think this is Heaven, and my Grandma is supposed to be here." I said, "Well your Grandma isn't here but it's pretty close to Heaven!" Blue skies, crystal clear blue water, and best of all kids smiling and having the time of their lives.
Almost our entire team got sunburned but we realized that we all have to make some sacrifices in the name of FUN! We handed out hundreds of frisbees and some beach balls and taught the kids to not aim for any heads! It was a great day! After our buffet lunch with all the kids we brought out the temporary tatoos! No matter what side of the ocean you're on kids love tattoos (as much as polaroid pictures!). Then I went around taking pictures of almost every child that is attending camp. I didn't have the heart to wake those that were napping...and there were quite a few of them. We were all tired but the team grabbed some more toys and played with the kids. Bubbles, sidewalk chalk, soccer balls, card games, bracelet making and beads are always a sure thing!
At 2:00 we all were back on the ferry for the short ride back to the hotel. Some of our team had their "coffee break" and some back in the pool to cool down. The kids all had to go back and write their thank you notes and prepare for their costume/fashion contest to be held at campfire. We will do our best to get the letters translated and sent out to the donors in the weeks following expedition so all of you can read how much they really loved camp!
Before we headed over to Campfire and "closing" ceremonies our team went out for "barbeque" dinner. We got to grill our own meat and squid over a small charcoal grill placed right at our table. Although the smoke was quite intense the food was delicious! We all loved it and was pleasantly surpised it only cost about $4 - and that's an expensive meal here!
Campfire was a blast! We had a big ceremonial lighting of the fire by myself and Ms. Bich (the vice-president of the ogranizing committee over the 10 different projects). But it wasn't just any campfire. There was enough gasoline in the branches to run about 6 scooters and eletrical power lines right above it. Probably not safe at all to have the 5 gallon jug of gasoline sitting by it either! It was lighted in one big "WHHOOOSH" and luckily nothing went wrong! We were all happy that they didn't throw more gasoline on it like they did at the last expedition! We sang some great fun songs and did a little bit of dancing. Yes even in Vietnam we did the CHICKEN DANCE! I must say that our U.S. team was by far the best at it!
Then we actually put out the fire and went towards the stage for the big "fashion show". The kids were required to create costumes with only items that were able to find during the three days of camp. The theme was "SeaStar" and the kids were so creative and talented - making dresses out of styrofoam, fishing baskets, nets, bottles and even gift wrap. They had a lot of fun a ton of talent! They handed out prizes for last night's musical show - which for some shocking reason our team did not win! And the fashion show. Their was one shelter that pretty much cleaned up but it was definitely an awesome effort by all.
We were then were presented with some very generous gifts from the campers and then we presented them with gift bags filled with children's books, candy and finger puppets! We were both excited with our new gifts. Then we had a candle-lit song of goodbye and "We'll Miss You" that made most of us start crying.
The end of camp is always so bittersweet. We are so thankful that we could give these children the opportunity to go to camp and have that week of fun. But in the end we may never see them again and it does not take long to form a bond with these children that just want to hold your hand. So good bye is always hard yet we know that the fun and friendship that they had at camp will carry with them forever!
Tomorrow morning we say goodbye as they board their buses back to Saigon, so I'm sure there will be even more tears!
Peace,
Caroline
