Sancta Maria students of grade 3 and above went to a summer camp with Youreka! The camping adventure was absolutely amazing. In my personal
opinion i can not think of a greater holiday gift that can last a life time a parent
can give to a child. It’s not easy, that’s for sure. There are challenges,
tears, and homesickness on one hand but there are priceless rewards of personal
growth and satisfaction on the other hand that greatly outweighs the hard parts
– even if children are not quite aware of it yet.
While I was taking a precious break
with a blue mustache drawn on my face (it was a mustache day theme, mind you) in the shade of the Lapa Lapa place, the kids were getting ready for the night out. You might ask: Exactly what is a
night out when one is already camping in tents in the middle of nowhere? Nowhere
in this case being in the middle of the Arabica coffee plantation and aromatic eucalyptus
trees not far from Yercaud in Tamil Nadu. Sancta Maria students were getting
ready to camp in the wilderness. Out in the open. Out, under the stars. Out,
away from civilization. Out, away from the comfort of toilets.
Imagine, just bunch of Sancta Marians, 3
instructors, heavy back packs filled with tents, sleeping bags, utensils, food
provisions, small camping gas cylinders, canisters of water - venturing out in the jungle to spend the
night under the stars being self-sufficient. Pitching their own tents and
cooking food without much help. Now, that is what I mean by night out! And what
a night out it was!
Earlier in the day the children
learned how to pitch tents in the camping ground. Little did they know that in
the evening itself they will have to prove their skills and pitch them for real
and actually sleep in them. They were briefed about the LNT philosophy (LNT
=leave no trace), the most important aspects of fire safety when used for
cooking a meal out in the open, the art of packing the rucksack and just like
that they were ready to go in the late afternoon. The weather was not exactly
on our side. It started raining heavily. Everyone got their rain ponchos out.
Just as we were all ready. The rain stopped. “Ok, children, rain ponchos off
and pack them inside.” Yay, sun! Just as we all undressed and packed the
ponchos it started raining again. “Oh, come on!” kids exclaimed. “Ponchos on!”
command was heard again. Some children lost it there itself – admittedly I
myself was questioning the sanity of marching out in the rain, getting drenched
and hike for few kilometers and set up the tents. Of course at that point I was
not aware that before the monsoon sets in, the afternoon heavy showers are a
normal thing in the area and they disappear as fast as they appear. Before
everyone was ready with their ponchos on, the rain passed and the sun was out
again. There were a lot of confused eyes wondering what to do next. Ponchos
off, on, off, on!
Well, the clear blue sky and the sun convinced us all that
“ponchos off” is finally the safe option and that we are finally ready to get
going. The centipede like row of enthusiastic campers finally started to move
ahead. Loaded with heavy rucksacks the complaints started to rain in.
“My shoulders hurt,” said Rishita. “Well,
the shoulders hurt, because you are carrying a heavy backpack – it is very
normal. Get used to it,” I replied to her big astonishment.
“This backpack is too heavy,” said Arnav. “If
it was too heavy you couldn’t lift it.” Was the best I could come up with.
“Are we there yet?” and “How much
longer?” The most common ones they asked. “We just started! It’s too soon for
such questions!” :)
Yes, it might be that
for the first time in their lives they have experienced a bit of hardship in the nature and
the answers were not very comforting. Half way through the easy hike we also had
to carry 30 liters of water distributed in plastic canisters. But as with all
things, the hike came to an end and we reached our camping ground. Well, it was
just a ground, really, that we turned into camping. Children pitched their
tents in very windy weather conditions that made the pitching harder and funnier,
too! The tent fabric flapping like a distressed bird trying to escape the
inevitable with lots of drama and sound.
Surprisingly fast the tents were pitched and ready. Everyone
started preparing for the cooking part with great gusto. There were definitely
more eager helping hands than tasks at hand. We had a team who cooked the soup,
a team that cooked rice, a team that made potato curry and finally a team in
charge of tomato dhal.
A lip-smacking dinner was served and tired and happy campers
quickly retired to their respective tents for a good night sleep. Some tents
went quiet almost in an instant while some were bustling with laughter and
conversations for a long time. Finally, everyone went quiet and we put off the
fire and slept.
The next morning it was like we needed to reverse the entire
thing. We had to un-pitch the tents, clean, pack and walk back to our camping
that all of a sudden gained an amazing respect with all of us. It almost seemed
like a 5 star hotel just because toilets were available! Children enjoyed the
night out without fail. So much team work and bonding happened in just one day.
It was indeed a very precious experience for all of us.
