Cambodia Orphans: summer Kids Camp 2018

Agape Fish Fund partners with Southeast Asian Prayer Center (SEAPC) to provide orphans and children in Cambodia with a Christian home and education. SEAPC helped organize a Kids Camp, and these excerpts are republished from their article.

This year there were approximately 500 children from 15 homes attending the Kids Camp. With all of the staff, staff families, and volunteers—both national and international—there were about 800 people attending.
 
There were seven teams and various individuals, representing at least six different countries, traveling to Cambodia to help. There were so many people that not everyone could fit at the same hotel. The kids and home staff stayed at one location and everyone else slept at other hotels or guest houses and traveled to where the kids were every day.

Camp is a great blessing to these kids. It shows them that they are treasured because we go through the effort and expense. Just imagine what that knowledge does for someone who has been orphaned, abandoned, or in a situation where they felt unloved before moving to the children’s home.

So, what does Kids Camp look like? It is really quite similar to most summer Bible camps that many of us attended as kids. The big difference is that it happens at the beach in Cambodia and that the children (or their families) are not paying to attend.

Everyone gathers for breakfast around 8 a.m. Once breakfast is finished, everyone goes to the big conference room for morning worship. Then everyone splits up into different age groups and heads to their designated areas for biblical teaching. The volunteer teams work very hard to plan teachings, crafts, and activities that are age appropriate and relevant to Cambodian Christian culture. Then, everyone gathers again for lunch and then heads to the beach for an afternoon of fun.

We gather for dinner around 6 p.m. At 7 p.m., it is time for the evening worship service. This is a special time. Every night, several homes give “performances” that they have been preparing for months. It could be a cultural dance, a dance to a Christian song, a song they sing, or a small skit. Every home gets their chance to share with everyone else. Then, everyone worships the Lord together and hears from a special speaker for the night.

The biggest deviation from this schedule for camp occurs on the last day. It is baptism day. This day, when everyone arrives at the beach, there is a short ceremony discussing baptism, and then everyone who wants to be baptized is baptized by team leaders in the water.

We had a blast and were amazed by all that God did during the Kids Camp! A huge thank you to the incredible volunteers that made this possible. Please continue to join us in prayer for the children. Pray for their health, safety, and encounters with God's love!

View the original article by Tina Tomes.