Camp-tacular

Camp is a loaded term amongst Peace Corps Volunteers and throughout Thailand in general. If Thais so much as hear the mentioning of the word, their faces light up and their worlds turn into brilliant shades of yellows, reds, pinks, purples, and greens. It’s almost like when I was a kid and the circus was coming to town or when my family was going somewhere lavish—or some otherwise overwhelmingly exciting and fun event. The main reason for this electrifying feel is because camps are a huge deal in Thailand that often entail a whimsical time of fun, games, information sharing, learning new ways of problem solving/team building, socializing, and free food. Hopefully, all this excitement is coupled with a learning experience that will stick. A camp can last anywhere from ½ day to 5 days or longer and participating campers span from ages young to old.

Ahh, Camping!
I must interject here to add my own take on camps. Only because, I can’t help but think of camping in a more traditional sense with my own personal experiences and interpretations attached. Remember good ‘ol summertime camping? When I think of camping, I naturally think of tents, sleeping bags, smores, telling ghost stories around an open campfire, scaring my friends in the middle of the night, hiking in the woods, boating, fishing, and watching the sun come up. Then there were those more formal summer camps that many of us attended when we were kids... theatre camp, bible camp, survival camp, boy/girl scouts camp, space camp, fitness camp, dance camp, science camp and the ‘grab bag’ of camps where you could pursue multiple interests such as archery, sailing, skiing, horseback riding, cooking, painting, basket weaving maybe...or whatever your heart desired (for me, the ‘grab bag’ camp was Camp Foster in Okoboji, Iowa.). Then, unfortunately in my older years I was introduced to derogatory usages of the word camp: refugee camps, prison camps, death camps, torture camps. Granted, they are not what generally comes to mind but are more context-specific definitions.

Being a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand has added a completely new dimension to my personal interpretation of camp(s). These fanciful events that happen throughout Thailand are something entirely novel to me. Camps in Thailand usually have themes and a number of rotations that play on the themes. For instance, a life skills health themed camp might entail different rotations of learning about Hygiene, HIV/AIDS awareness, exercise, and nutrition. English and life skills camps are among the most popular camp themes here. And though, they can be targeted at any age group, they are more often held for youth. During Pre-Service training, the concept of camps was presented with more detail to the Teacher Collaboration and Community Outreach Program (TCCO). Logically, TCCO Volunteers have a more direct connection to camps since they teach English and work with kids every day. TCCO Volunteers organized a 6-rotation English Camp during Pre-Service Training of which, CBOD Volunteers came to shadow and learn from.

Camps Uncovered
As far as my own expertise goes on camps—In addition to shadowing TCCO’ers—I went through an abridge training on how to plan and organize a youth life skills camp during Pre-Service Training. This entailed co-planning said camp with 12 other CBOD Volunteers and debriefing afterwards to ensure everyone was capable of identifying how to put together and/or co-facilitate a camp. Afterwards, we were given tips and materials for further camp ideas and resources. I’ll be honest; I committed it to memory after that. Tucking it far away in the nook of my brain under the impression that, as a CBOD Volunteer, I would have little to do with camps. And, while it is true that TCCO’ers bear the brunt of camp-ing experiences in comparison to CBOD’ers, I have more recently come to terms with the reality that camps are an inevitable part of the overall Volunteer experience. Which, I can now attest to—having my first real camp-ing experience last weekend at a friend’s site. This, aside from randomly teaching the hokey pokey during a life skills camp here at my site...

Some TCCO’ers I talk to have expressed apprehensions about camps because they are so time and monetarily consuming. Indeed, to put on a decent camp, it does cost a lot of money and it is often impossible to determine if camps are effective and participants are actually internalizing useful knowledge. All this considered, there are less tangible outcomes of camps than inputs. Clearly, it is hard to measure the effectiveness camps have on participants especially when some camps have little or no evaluative or indicator components built-in. Though, the reality of it is that camps in Thailand (with all their flaws) continue to be a part of life events in the villagers, in schools, and even amongst working professionals.

Let’s fast forward to my recent experience with camps given what I’ve said thus far about camps in Thailand—my limited training plus the good, bad, and gritty details. A fellow CBOD Volunteer who lives in my province asked me about 6 weeks back if I would help out and do a session at a Teacher Training Camp. At that point in time, I had warmed up to the idea of organizing or co-facilitating a camp since I had already experienced a somewhat successful (if not, then definitely amusing) mini-camp experience by teaching the hokey pokey as an ice breaker at a youth life skills camps. I realized after that experience that, if anything, being part of camps can serve as a useful way for me to get out into the community and connect with specific groups—such as school children. Thus, further strengthening my role as a CBOD Volunteer. Baby steps. I know teaching the hokey pokey may not seem like much, but that was a big step for me in lieu of camps. It may be a far cry from planning and preparing a camp but it awakened the ‘camp-er’ in me and I suddenly dusted off the camping training I got during Pre-Service Training and started thinking more about it. After that, I had this notion that okay; maybe I can (and should) do this camp stuff after all.

Teacher Training Camp, July 23, 2009
On July 23, I progressed further into my camp-erience by teaching a session on Environmental issues during a teacher training camp at a nearby site. The camp was part of a larger 2-day teacher training seminar of which, I am pretty sure, our camp was the pinnacle event. It all came about when my friend came into contact with this teacher at her site who had previously worked with Peace Corps Volunteers and knew what we were all about. She (the teacher) invited my friend and some of her fellow Volunteers to come and do a teacher training camp on issues of our choice in order to help Thai teachers practice listening and speaking English along with learning about important issues. We ended up choosing session themes surrounding Team-Building, Environmental Issues, Hygiene, and HIV/AIDS Awareness. The day before the camp, I traveled to my friend’s site and met with 3 other CBOD Volunteers. We briefly introduced ourselves to our target audience of teachers (roughly 60 teachers) and met with the camp organizers to go over session details. I was very impressed by the amount of time and preparation this teacher and her helpers had put into planning the camp. It was clearly run more smoothly than I remember from our life-skills camp during Pre-Service Training. What is more, she (the head organizer) had unrelenting faith in us as inexperienced camp facilitators to put on successful, effective sessions.

Now, I am not an English teacher and I am certainly no expert on the environment but, the concept was simple enough. We all found activities relevant to our session topics and showed up prepared as much as we could be. My session consisted of a scavenger hunt for recyclable items followed by disseminating information on how to properly process recyclables and discussing further ideas on how to get students involved in recycling projects. Then, I briefly touched on the concept of composting and what is needed to properly compost. Lastly, we did an exercise where we take an inanimate environmental component (ie: a tree, a river, a mountain, a beach) and give it human-like qualities. For instance... “This is Mr. Tree. He likes to eat CO2 and water; he give us oxygen; he likes it when he is surrounded by his friends in the forest; he doesn’t like it when people burn him or cut him down or throw garbage at him...” Therefore, giving teachers an exercise they can teach in the classroom that will get kids to start thinking about how they treat the environment and practice English at the same time. Turns out, I really enjoyed teaching my session at the camp and I felt a sense of accomplishment that I hadn’t felt before working at my own site. I think we all felt pleasantly surprised at how well it went.

In retrospect, who really knows the impact my session or interaction had on the teachers? I somehow doubt if any of the teachers rushed back to their schools and started large-scale recycling banks or community composting projects. Nevertheless, I feel that in the very least I sparked an interest in the issues we talked about and gave teachers more ideas to think about and take back to the classroom and gave them an opportunity to practice conversational English. It all starts with planting the seed—and sometimes the right soils for planting emerge through camp-ortunities.
On another note, I also had the opportunity to work more intimately with some fellow CBOD Volunteers and it was really nice to spend time getting to know them better and experiencing this together.