Summer Camps for Orphans

FOR 17 YEARS, ESTHER MCGINLEY HAS BEEN OPENING HER HOME TO HUNDREDS OF ORPHANS IN DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA DURING THE CHRISTMAS SEASON. OVER THE YEARS, THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN HAS GROWN AND SHE HAS HAD TO MOVE THE VENUE AND EXPAND THE EVENT TO A THREE DAY CAMP FOR THE HUNDREDS OF CHILDREN WHO ATTEND. MANY OF THE GROWN CHILDREN NOW ASSIST WITH THE RUNNING OF THE CAMP.

This Christmas Camp ministry is one of the projects Activated Ministries has been able to sponsor with the help of car donations made to our charity. These camps are specifically geared to children who have no one else to take them for this special time in the year.

I think all of us can agree that Christmas is a time for families to be together, a time we remember year after year – so for these children these camps give them to an opportunity to be a part of something special and become part of our family for the holidays.

Here is a quick look at what it takes to organize one of these camps -- by Ms. McGinley.

“Thanks to Activated Ministries sponsorship this was our best camp ever! In spite of the obstacles we really felt the Lord’s blessing on this time together with the children. The camp started off with the biggest storm this coastal area had seen in a long time, torrential rain which caused the buses full of kids to get stuck in the mud on the dirt road heading up to the camp. We had to carry some of the little children the mud was so bad. When we managed to get everyone into the hall we prayed a “commanding” prayer knowing that this weather could not be the Lord’s will for this camp. To everyone’s encouragement the next day dawned hot sunny despite the gloomy 3 day weather forecast – God can’t disappoint over 120 children all fervently praying together for the sun to shine!

Another obstacle; we were a bit worried when at the last minute we found out our experienced team-building leader would not be able to attend -– 128 children is quite a logistical feat! But this served to thrust our young people into new positions of leadership where they excelled. This was our first camp led completely by volunteers.

A camp highlight was our “Gladiantics” event; a whole day filled with bubbles, climbing, obstacle courses. The kids could hardly believe their faces when they saw the field set up for them. Volunteers from a local University also came gave some HIV education classes to the young teenagers we had with us. Kwa Zulu Natal has the highest incidence of HIV in the world – 1 in 4 people being infected with the virus – so this type of training for our young people is very important.

Thank you Activated Ministries for making this camp possible for supplying us with the materials needed to make a lasting difference in these children’s lives. A follow up project that came about as a result of our camp is weekly soccer games mentoring by our camp volunteers. We have formed 3 teams in 3 different locations plan on trying to bring these children to the next camp to draw them closer to the Lord give them a more positive purpose vision for their lives.”