This past weekend was Study Camp! It was great :) I was able to meet a lot of kids. After breakfast the kids would study for 90 minutes then have a 30 minute break. That is what they did for the entire 3 days. During breaks, us leaders spent time with the kids. We played soccer, ultimate frisbee, badminton, volleyball, foosball, cards, ping-pong, and just chatted with them.
I was very excited that the kids warmed up to me and I didn't have to feel like I was being an annoying American. They wanted to see pictures of America, so I showed them a few slideshows on my laptop. The best part was that I spoke a lot of French and asked the kids to correct me. We figured out words that we were unfamiliar with in both languages.
When everyone arrived I was intentional about meeting or at least saying hello to most of the girls. I didn't get a chance to say hello to everyone. However, the last girl I said "hi" to was Angelique. She looked so down, upset, tired, and not happy to be there. I even mentioned it to Anthony, another leader.
On Friday night as we were preparing for bed, one of the girls Clementine (13 or 14), from another room came in to say goodnight to everyone and told us that Angelique (15) was talking on her phone with her boyfriend and had some pills with her. Apparently she took several pills and the girls saw, then they didn't know where she went. So, we had to try to find her. Luckily she was just outside smoking. Phewwwff! Yeah, apparently she had just spent a few days in the psych-ward for depression...I don't know the complete story. She met her 35 year old boyfriend there.
She slept in on Saturday and then came out to start studying. Angelique had told Teddy (one of the leaders) that she did not want to have anything to do with God and she was going to go to her room during Club time. During our first Club she went to her room and then came back out to study. On Sunday during Club time she stayed at her table "studying." The studying tables were right next to where we have Club, as a matter of fact, in the same room!!! Yeah :) So, God was definitely working in her. By Monday Angelique was smiling, chatting with others, laughing, and almost able to be a 15 year old girl.
At the end of camp I got everyone's MSN address. It has been so cool to have the kids IM me! I haven't initiated any conversations yet. God has definitely been using me to be in contact with these kids. It has been neat to hear some of them open up with me as well!
Please be praying for Angelique and the other kids here that are unable to just be kids. Many of the kids lives are filled with crap and there is no running from it.
**Picture of the entire group including leaders and some teachers.
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