For American children, summer is a season of pure excitement and adventurous
For American children, summer is a season of pure excitement and adventurous fun activities where they can explore, participate in recreational activities, and go to camp. Nearly 200 orphans and vulnerable children from three orphanages served by Worldwide Orphans Foundation (WWO) and impoverished communities in Vietnam had an opportunity to experience the same summer fun at WWO-sponsored camps in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.
The Camp Colors of Love, a weeklong residential camp held in June and July, was organized in partnership with the nongovernmental organization Association of Hole in the Wall Camps, a worldwide network of camps for seriously-ill children founded by actor Paul Newman. The campers in Vietnam, all living with HIV/AIDS, came from orphanages with programs supported by WWO and various communities in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.
By actively engaging Vietnamese orphans and vulnerable children in arts and crafts, sports, discovery, and teambuilding, the camp aims to make each child feel more secure, self-confident, and trusting – while enjoying camp activities in a nurturing environment.
“Summer camps can offer enormous long-term benefits and positive effects on a child’s social, physical and emotional development,” said Dr. Jane Aronson, Founder and CEO of Worldwide Orphans Foundation (WWO). “WWO’s mission is to transform the lives of orphans and vulnerable children. The WWO camp helps to achieve this by boosting the children’s self-esteem as well as building critical skills for them to become successful, productive citizens in Vietnam.”
Like camps in the U.S., the campers — aged seven to 16 — experience the great outdoors by sleeping in tents, singing songs around campfires and boating. Since the campers are HIV-positive, they also learned about how to live positively and stay healthy and manage the disease in their daily lives.
In June, WWO organized two one-week sessions of camp near Hanoi, which was attended by a total of 60 HIV+ children from the Ba Vi orphanage and communities in Hanoi and Hai Phong. For the month of July, two camp sessions are taking place in Ho Chi Minh City in the Dong Ngai province for some 120 children living with HIV from Linh Xuan, Vung Tau and Mai Hoa orphanages and communities in Ho Chi Minh City and An Giang province.
In addition to enriching the lives of orphans and vulnerable children, the WWO camp works to build capacity among in-country staff from the orphanages and the community so that they will be empowered to lead the camp and train others to be camp counselors.
Prior to the start of camp, WWO’s partner Hole in the Wall held a training session for camp staffers, orphanage caretakers and medical staff where they were trained to learn about the challenges the campers face daily and how to facilitate their development in personal relationships, self-worth, resilience, confidence and hope for the future.
WWO Camp Director Tran Lan Khanh locally recruited activity leaders to ensure local leadership at each camp. Additionally, camp counselors from the camp in south Vietnam helped to train newly-recruited counselors from the northern region of the country.
Camp staffers will incorporate activities learned from the camp into the programming at orphanages, enabling children living in institutions to be exposed to the arts, sports and recreational activities from the camp.
“We’ve been amazed at the children’s growth and development after they return from camp,” said Thuy Ngo, WWO Vietnam Country Director. “Once the camp counselors come back to the orphanage, they can give the children who could not attend the camp an opportunity to have an adventurous camp experience.”
Camp Colors of Love is in its fourth year in Vietnam. WWO also hosts a summer camp in Ethiopia each year.