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Camp - Cabin 3-4 Camp - Cabin 1-2 Camp - DAs Camp Loyaltown Camp Camp - Wojtech Camp - 2nd Session |
| I worked as Evening Activity Co-Ordinator for Camp Loyaltown, A.H.R.C. from June 2002 until August 2002.
This was summer camp work and my duties were: Responsible, as part of a team, for planning and implementing all the evening activities on a special needs summer camp for a population of 150 guests. I left this job because it was the end of season. |
I first worked at Loayaltown by accident in the summer of 1997. A friend suggested I work on a camp as an alternative to being stuck in Dublin at the end of 1st year in college.
Since then I haven't looked back. Summer 2002 was my 6th time at Loyaltown and
missing it in 2003 caused an incredibly painful summer. Thankfully, I am going back there for summer 2004 to try and re-capture a little bit of the magic it has never failed to put in my life.
It is hard to sum up what is so great about loyaltown in such a short report. Wonderful campers and guests who are so expresive and open. Co-workers who you immediately know are good people and ones that you want to be friends with, if not more! A fun loving environment where people let their hair down and just enjoy themselves.
Over the years I have made some amazing friends, both counselors and campers, who it pains me not to be around all year long. We have shared so many experiences and challenges that I feel closer to some of my cabin mates than I do to people I have known for years in Ireland.
While I am possibly one of the worst people in the world at keeping in touch with my amazing friends, I was recently reminded that doesn't mean they stop caring about me. It also doesn't mean that I can't get in touch again after a long break. Every once in a while, it is nice to be reminded of that.
The campers and guests at Loyaltown have taught me so much about myself and about life that I have stoped thinking about it and I have stoped being surprised by it.
When I came home after my first summer a family friend asked what had happened to me in America. My mother simply explained that I learned how to talk.
I hadn't taught of it myself but she was right. Being at Loyaltown had opened my mind to expressing myself, to gettig my point accross, to talking if I had something to say. Maybe it was the people who had difficulty doing this that made me wake up to myself.
I have seen campers show their feelings towards their counselors which led me to wonder why I was so cagey about my own. I've seen honesty, friendship and gratitude, all from people who allegedly have 'special needs'. Why should I, as a suppsed 'able bodied' person not be able to do the same?
Camp has definately thought me things about myself and about life in the years that I have been there but the majority of time I didn't even realise it as I was too busy enjoying myself. But trust me, the lesson was learned.
This report was created at 1:12pm, February 19th, 2004 and was last edited at 3:01pm, March 14th, 2004.
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