The Words of the Ichijo Family
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The Words of the Ichijo Family |
The newly christened name “Camp New Hope” seemed to fit.
The first weekend in August 2008 at New Hope Farms in Port Jervis was beautiful and proved to be the setting for a powerful and moving camp experience for all involved. The model that is evolving for the annual “Camp New Hope” Special Needs workshop is evidently inspired by God Himself, who seems to be intent on providing a positive and deep experience for all. We certainly are all God’s children and often it takes the Special Needs person to help us see that. The horses at New Hope farms also supplied the fun and therapy needed by everyone, not just the handicapped second gen.
Nine Special Needs (SN) BCs participated in the camp: Aralee Ellanson, Kenji Ichijo, Heran Mouada, Tony Lehrer, Kevin Bell, Sammie Wilson, Joonie Wilson, and Yuki Dotsu. The kids slept in tents with their families, which was an exciting experience for the kids and a challenge and fun for the parents as well. Some siblings also stayed in the tents, which were pitched with the help of some of the volunteers in some cases. The volunteers were able to stay in the rooms of the guest house at New Hope Farms, where it was quite comfortable, like a big sleepover, in sleeping bags. We had so many volunteers this year that we could not accept all those who wanted to help.
The camp is set up so that the volunteers are paired up with the SN kids, in a ratio of two to one. With this ratio, the volunteers share the effort to help the child and can have give and take with one another, yet focus on the needs of their new buddy. The volunteers often have a deep experience with God as they try to help their new “friends,” who perhaps have never had a friend their whole life. It is a sad state of affairs, but this is the reality of SN kids. They cannot communicate well; even it is a struggle with their own families, so how can they ever develop a friendship with a normal or handicapped population? Only with the help of “true love” people can this happen, and it did this weekend.
While the volunteers were helping the SN kids, the parents got a chance to talk with one another, sharing their testimonies, laughing and crying together. The parents felt God’s presence in the meetings through tears of pain and laughter with joy at finding one another. For most parents, they have been ostracized over the years unknowingly by our own members with “normal” children who do not exactly know what to do to help or are too busy with the Providence to relate to our special cases.
We helped one another to work through all of that to strive to always be grateful, no matter what the circumstances. It is a challenge for all of us in any situation, but SN families get to practice being grateful every day just to make it through the day sometimes. We also get to live for the sake of another every day as our children cannot perform even simple tasks for themselves even though some are teenagers or even in their 20s.
Some helpful topics were presented and discussed, like healthful eating tips for optimum brain and body functioning, the future of a CIG Special Needs community, and a prayer condition for each child’s specific needs.
The parents were very excited about developing a community where our kids can live independently as couples (eventually), where a “normal” BC couple, or two, will be responsible for them as the house manager. This would be a paid position in this nonprofit corporation but it would feel like a mission as well, a calling if you will.
We will all go to Spirit World eventually and need to make provisions for our SN kids, and set up their futures in the not-so-distant future. This camp is fun and educational for all, and hearts are starting to heal. Go, “Camp New Hope”!
If anyone would like to volunteer for next year’s camp, please reply early, by March of next year.