Last week we ended our unit on the stars and we were able to complete all the activities despite the weather. The campers seemed to enjoy the unit and learned a great deal about stars and our very own star, the sun.
Unfortunately, we have seen very little of the sun this week. Tropical storm Emily entered our area with heavy rains and thunderstorms that began early Monday morning. This caused us to reluctantly cancel our planned field trip to the Our Planet exhibit in Castries.
The team spent the day cataloging the hundreds of books that arrived in the shipment. Books were sorted for placement in the Infant and Primary schools as well as the Canaries library. For the first time we will also be donating books to St. Mary’s Boy’s College as a number of National Geographic books seemed better suited for use as reference material at this school. Morgan and Graham took on the games cupboard and prepared an up to date inventory of all our resources
Overnight the rains intensified. At around 3 am one incredible downpour was likened to trying to sleep next to the subway! Our galvanized roof is great for keeping out the rain but it does nothing to soften the sound of heavy rain. Our rain gauge was already full before the storm so we have no idea how much rain fell. However, our large hand washbasin was overflowing by mid-morning. It is 7” deep.
Not only did we cancel camp again but the entire island was shut down by order of the Prime Minister. A number of landslides were reported and both Castries and Soufriere experienced heavy flooding. Since Monday was already a holiday, Emancipation Day, this meant that for the second week in a row there was a 4 day disruption in the supply of food, gas and other essential services.
On Tuesday afternoon the weather had finally started to improve. We cooked up a giant pot of soup using our Gleaners mix combined with 6 lbs of chicken and macaroni and made fresh bakes. At 5pm we headed up to the village to be greeted by many of the children who had received word that we would be up. Together we shared a meal with the village, delivered soup to our seniors and took part in a cricket match on the road. Chara and Michaela brought up sidewalk chalk and paint. Many of the younger children helped them to decorate the steps to the washhouse.
Once camp was able to resume on Wednesday, we were scrambling to get the food necessary for our hungry campers knowing that some would have had little to eat in the last 2 days. There was nothing left on the shelves in the shops in our village or Canaries so I headed toward Castries. Fortunately, I was able to get the ingredients for TiTi’s famous chow mien and tuna. I also stocked up on the ingredients for macaroni with hotdogs for today’s lunch. There was no chicken or any eggs in the stores on my route. I tried the shops in Soufriere late yesterday with no luck.
As I write this, the rains have returned and at times the wind is blowing a mist into the courtyard and onto our covered porches. We have been unable to resume swimming due to the large plume of debris that enters the sea from the rivers that run from the village above. The heavy rains also means that there has been no water in the village for over a week now. The washhouse has been closed the entire time which also means there are no bathroom facilities. This causes concern for the health of the children and adults too.
Later the same day: Camp ended today with the younger children proudly going home with the Home Depot donated helicopters that they built and painted. The older boys and girls have stayed back. The girls practiced the dance routine that Auntie Zoe taught them and now they are making bracelets with Auntie Blythe in the courtyard. The older boys finished their second picnic table and treated and painted both today and are now enjoying tetherball and basketball with Uncle Graham. Normally Uncle Morgan would be in the middle of all this but he has not been feeling well for several days now. Somehow he is managing to sleep despite all the racket but we are anxious for him to rejoin all the fun.
Tomorrow we are finally going to take our field trip. We are experimenting with a new junior leadership model that we hope will carry us into the future. Each of the junior leaders was asked to list the 3 younger campers that they would like to partner with on the field trip and into next week. Auntie Chara spent time explaining expectations to this group and I was pleasantly surprised by the choices made by both the boys and the girls. Tomorrow we will use this buddy system as we divide the campers into 2 vans for the trip to Castries and 2 groups to tour the exhibits.
In other news, we were all touched yesterday when Aloysius came to me and asked for help to go to the Care program next year. Many of you will remember Aloysius as a very troubled angry child who had a very hard time fitting in at camp and in the village as well. He has struggled at school so it was wonderful to have him realize, on his own, that the Care program would give him the best chance to learn a trade and make a future for himself. Many look down on this program however, we have seen what it can do for students who struggle academically.
Right now we are anxiously awaiting word from Joe about the job interview he went to in Castries. Joe spent 3 years at Care and learned carpentry. He had several very successful job placements at Bay Gardens resort. This week he got a call to come in today. We are so hopeful as he can serve as a role model for some of the other boys here at camp who find school so difficult.
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