Widji Fall 2012 Update

Camp is very quiet this week as we head into the fall season. The campers and staff all left on the Labour Day weekend, a small group helped clean camp, prepare for and run a youth retreat for 77 youth we hosted and now it’s just me on property closing up after a great season of ministry and God’s faithfulness. We had a GREAT summer of ministry including seeing 33 campers who became new Christians. We had the best staff this summer and all were dedicated to being ambassadors for Christ to the campers and each other. It was certainly a summer of personal and spiritual growth. My health made the long days difficult, but I knew I had a leadership team who were capable, dependable and reliable. There was a great spirit amongst the staff this year.

We finished the waterslide and it was a big hit with campers and staff alike. We build a large 20’ by 24’ gate and painted it to be part of the various theme weeks. Other big props included a 10.5’ Widjisaurus, turning the tower into the eye of Sauron and the Longhouse castle.
Our four year partnership with Toronto Police to bring at-risk-youth to Camp Widjiitiwin from Malvern and other communities within 42 Division in Toronto was a great success. In 2011 we had 67 campers in this program and this year we had 85. On the Monday prior to the group arriving on property we had raised just 25% of the funds needed for the week and no money in sight from our major funding partner. The officer called me and was considering cancelling the week. After careful consideration we decided to go ahead with our mandate to reach kids for Christ and trust God to deliver the much needed funding. Within the week we went up by $22,000 and completed our total funding goals two weeks before the end of the summer. Nine campers gave their lives to Christ that week. Two of the previous campers from this program were on summer staff this summer, one as a cabin leader. Next summer the target is 100 campers, making it our largest week of the summer. We are hearing about change happening back in the community from the kids experiences at camp. Very exciting!
Escape, our new partnership week with Hughson Street Church in Hamilton, also went very well. We had 33 campers with us for the first week. So many of them had never been out of Hamilton before. They had so many firsts, like swimming, archery, seeing stars, and hearing God’s Word. These campers came from families that are in the working poor category who just could never think about sending their kids to camp. We had three campers give their lives to Christ this week. Next year we’re planning for 60 campers to Escape to Camp Widjiitiwin.
From just 35 sponsored campers in 2009 we’re targeting 200 sponsored campers in 2013. More details to come in the new year, BIG things are coming.

I’m Passionate about Leadership

I’m passionate about leadership. I like being a leader, I like teaching the next generation of leaders and helping them discover their potential. I like working alongside people to create a greater good. I love the opportunity each summer to teach our SALT (Skills And Leadership Training) campers about leadership and teamwork. To be able to give them opportunities to try out their leadership abilities and even the chance to “fail with dignity” is a great privilege. I want them to become leaders not just at camp, but in their youth groups, sports clubs, schools, homes, communities and more.

Summer camp is one of the very few industries where we entrust our operations to 19 to 20-something leaders and 15-17 year old staff. BUT, what a great time to be learning and practicing their leadership skills and abilities. It’s a great responsibility to lead a group of 8 campers through activities, games, meals, camp life and cabin devotions. Our staff rise through the ranks of summer staff from kitchen or service to be cabin leaders, SALT leaders and then to leadership staff. Summer leadership staff learns to lead the younger staff and their peers by being responsible for program or waterfront or foodservice or staff community. I would be greatly pleased if the next Camp Widjiitiwin director was one of these staff on leadership now.

My favourite quote about potential has long been, “You can always cut open the apple and find out how many seeds are inside, but there’s no way you can cut the seed and find out how many apples are in it.” I’m excited to find out how my investment in youth and young adults and their investment in others will create a chain reaction of leadership and change in our camping community, our communities at large and our nation. I can only imagine where these new leaders will go. 
Camp Widjiitiwin – the way camp was meant to be… relational, central, natural, reaching out, a loving community focused on Christ. It’s like coming home. It’s my camp!

What Makes Camp Widjiitiwin Unique?

Camp Widjiitiwin – the way camp was meant to be… relational, central, natural, reaching out, a loving community focused on Christ. It’s like coming home. It’s my camp!

When camp is over at the end of the summer and the campers and staff all go home it isn’t so much the waterslide, ropes course, games or archery that campers will remember the most. It’s the people, the cabin leaders and staff that the campers will look up to as heroes and an example of what it means to be a Christ follower. Our goal is to find and bring to camp the best Christian young people to lead and work at Widji.

Widjiitiwin is:
·        Relational – it’s all about relationships. The ones between camper and cabin leaders and other staff, between campers and between staff. We focus on building a solid relationship with each camper, knowing their names, learning about who they, becoming friends and discovering how we can help them develop as people. One thing missing for many kids and youth is someone who will listen. We’re there for them.
·        Central – We practice centralized camping where we are together as a community many times during the day. We’re together at all meals, two all camp games every day, chapels and evening games or program. We do camp together!
·        Natural – Widji is in a natural environment of Muskoka, Ontario along a river that shows us the Creator in the wonder of His creation. From the deer family that visits us morning and evening, to the skunks, raccoons and the occasional bear wandering through camp to being able to see an amazing expanse of stars you can see God.
·        Reaching out – going out beyond our circle of influence to teach others about the good news of Jesus and that He came to die for us to be reconciled back to God. We’re not pushy about our message, but seek to show how Jesus makes a difference in our lives as we live them out with the campers for a week or more.
·        A loving community – we love kids and youth, we want the best for them and believe that through camp we can create life-changing experiences.
·        Focused on Christ – we exist to be ambassadors for Christ to children and youth. It’s our job to demonstrate the gospel message through all the activities, programs and people at Camp Widjiitiwin.
Themes aren’t unique to Widji, but they are becoming bigger and bigger here. Themes have become an integral part of camp. We’re building bigger props and incorporating theme into all aspects of camp including our Friday theme days.
We do a lot of more traditional camp activities and we’re together as a whole camp a lot. We have at least two all camp games every day, we’re together for camp chapels, we have a weekly camp pastor to speak at chapel and who is available to campers and staff. Camp pastors also are a somewhat unique feature at Widji. He does a morning thought at breakfast to set our day in the right direction. We have our own unique game called Widjiitiwin Basketball that is a combination of football, basketball, soccer and rugby.
It’s like coming home. It’s my camp! 

Double Vision & Humility

For over six months I have worked through and lived with having double vision. It’s not very much fun. The doctors have no idea why I’m seeing double. Mostly it is relegated to my right peripheral vision, but there are bad days when I see double throughout my field of vision. I don’t drive on those days. Some days I can feel my right eye, which is the one not tracking properly. It’s a very odd feeling.

I have learned so much about my eyes and the brain. The doctor tells me that the double vision is likely throughout my whole vision all the time, but the brain compensates and pushes it as far to the right as possible. That’s amazing! God has certainly designed us well.
I don’t do well at not being a strong person. I am usually fiercely independent and prefer not to rely on others for what I can for myself. Unfortunately, I discovered that I wasn’t able to do as much as I usually would or wanted to do. It has been an interesting journey. I still see double and I’m hoping to find some answers soon. Here are some of the lessons I have learned…
  • A sense of humility as I have had to depend on others to do some things that I can normally do myself.
  • Learning to let others do tasks that I would normally do. This past summer I had a great leadership team working for me at Camp Widjiitiwin that allowed me to take the down time that I needed.
  • I learned when to realize I was coming to the point of doing too much and when to relax. Sometimes this was evident by my having to have someone drive me home as I couldn’t see well enough to drive.
  • My inabilities allowed others to step up and discover that they were capable of more and we accomplished great things at camp things summer.
  • I have learned to wait somewhat patiently. Still working on that one, but that’s another blog.
  • I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14

The Paradoxical Commandments

These came up at small group last night and I decided to share them. The website is at the bottom and they have a Facebook page of course.

The Paradoxical Commandments
by Dr. Kent M. Keith

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.

© Copyright Kent M. Keith 1968, renewed 2001
http://www.paradoxicalcommandments.com/

Widji Traditions/Culture #4

Theme/Fun Meals
  • One utensil – using any old kitchen cooking utensil available. Campers draw out of a bus bin as they enter the Longhouse. You could end up with a spatula, beater, tongs or something stranger. A pasta meal is one of the funniest to watch for this one.
  • Twins – campers and staff try to look like each other by dressing and accessorizing the same.
  • Nerds – from pocket protectors and tape on your glasses coupled with a too tight button up shirt and pants pulled way up this one is a staff favourite.
  • Monk – this meal starts out quiet as everyone tries not to make any noise or say anything. It’s really a challenge to make it work. It’s amazing how loud the juice machine sounds when there is very little other sound in the Longhouse. The first one to talk does the dishes for the table.
  • Theme – a dress up meal specific to the weekly theme. Campers and staff put on all they have to become a character relating to the theme.
  • Backwards – you dress with your clothes on backwards, walk into the Longhouse backwards, eat dessert first then your main meal. You can also give thanks at the end of the meal and walk out backwards of course. Campers still have to clean their table at the end of the meal time.

Named Meals – Sub Sunday, Taco Tuesday, Waffle Wednesday and French Toast Fridays, I tried to change some of these my first summer to great resistance. I did manage to add diced chicken to the Taco Tuesday meal, but the rest are well intact.

Meal time freeze game – to determine who in the cabin has to wipe the table and clear the dishes, cabins play the freeze game. This usually happens after they have gotten into some difficult to hold pose and the cabin leaders yell “freeze”. Campers can then be maneuvered into even more uncomfortable positions by their cabin leaders, other staff and sometimes other campers. The object is to stay as still as possible and hope that someone else moves first. The first person to move cleans up. I’ve seen a group of campers go most of a meal time in the frozen position and keep going even when their food is getting cold. On Saturday morning, The last day of camp, the campers get to call freeze on their cabin leaders and turn the tables on them.

Mail Call – this fun activity starts out with a very loud and drawn out call that might look like this, Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee’ve goooooooooooooooooooooooooooot soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooome maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaail!! Names are called out, letters are tossed towards the tables and campers go up to get their mail. If someone gets a second letter all of camp yells out, “That’s Twooooooo”. If anyone gets a third letter it’s given to a runner who takes off and the camper or staff has to run to catch them. Once caught the letter is given up to the camper/staff. All those who receive parcels or even large envelopes get called to the front and they have to do something in order to get their package. Options have included crab walk around the Longhouse, spell Widjiitiwin in bum charades, sing a song, act out a crazy action like bacon frying in a pan, cooing for a staff up on a chair and more yet to be thought up.
 
Cheering – It seems like at camp we cheer for everything.We cheer for cabin clean-up and mail call and games and activities and “mandatory” free swim and people running laps and almost every announcement made and chapel and campfire and for winning ice cream on Friday night for the most team points/cabin clean-up award and not so much for bedtime. Staff meetings are sometimes hard to get through for all the cheering. Essentially, we cheer for everything

Battle Of The Ends!

Imagine your heart is pounding, palms are sweating, you’re cheering so loud it hurts, you’re staring down your competition and the sound of fierce excitement stings your ears. You can’t sit still, you’re anxious to win, you fight to win, you must win. THIS, is the Battle of the Ends.

Here at Camp Widjiitiwin we have a tradition every Tuesday night that ultimately ends in seeing who is better; the boys end or the girls end. This tradition is called Battle of the Ends, where the boys and  girls compete to show each other what they are worth. The night kicks off with cheers, (theme related usually) and the two ends have time to make up a cheer, they can also dress up accordingly and make up a dance (for extra points of course!). I’d have to say, I am quite impressed with some of the cheers that I have heard. After that, they must meet at the field to present the cheers to the judge panel. The winning gender goes inside first before we get to the real challenges.

Some of the games that we play with the kids are mad gab; a jumbled up sequence of letters will appear on the screen and they must solve what it actually says. We also play Apples to Apples; the two sides have time to come up with five adjectives and when a noun appears on the screen, for example: outrageous. One representative from either side will have to convince the judges of why their word is most outrageous. Its always fun listening to the arguments even when they make no sense at all. Winning points are rewarded to the best argument and especially the best presentation. These games might get a little heated, however at any point in time the judges can call out “3…2…1!” any noise from the competitors results in a loss of points for their team.
Other competitions that we have are the Ultimate Test of Strength challenge, where a boy and girl have to hold a jug of water straight out in front of them for longer than the other person without spilling or lowering their arm. You’d be surprised at how many girls beat the boys even if they are half the size! We also to the frozen t-shirt contest where 3 boys and 3 girls are given a frozen t-shirt and the first team to have the t-shirt properly worn by one of their players, wins! Some of our challenges can also get pretty messy, such as the cup drop. A boy and a girl will be lying on the floor with their faces up and a cup over their mouths, their teammate must fill their cup with pudding while standing above them on a bench. These are just a few of the many challenges we have for battle of the ends.
However, the final challenge, and sometimes the game winning challenge, is the Banana Relay. This one involves the staff and it is the most intense game of the night, it is also worth as many points as cheers (which is a lot of points!). Two campers and one staff from each side are competing. While holding a banana, the first boy and girl race out from the longhouse to the back of the field and around the baseball diamond, back into the longhouse and pass the banana off to the staff member who will run down to the waterfront. They must jump in the lake and run back up and hand the banana to the third person in the challenge. The last contestant must consume the banana as fast as they can and the first end to finish wins that whole challenge!
Battle of the Ends is a classic epic battle that shall go on for the rest of time. It is an important time of week for the campers. At the end of the night, the ends eagerly anticipate the final scores and the winning team can go to bed with dignity and can speak of their winnings to their grandchildren and their grandchildren’s grandchildren, and so on. The winning end also is rewarded with eating first at every meal the next day! 
Submitted by Liquid

Why Widjiitiwin?

Guest Blog by Mozi

I often get asked, why did I every start coming to a small camp like Widjiitiwin, and what is it that keeps bringing me back? 
 
For those of you who don’t already know me, I’m Mozi, (not to be mistaken with Aussie, Mossy or any other interpretation) I’m from a relatively small island called England. 
 
I would have never thought, when I first applied a little over 4 years ago, that I would still be here.  I had applied initially after a conversation with a friend who had stayed at MBC a few years previous.  My intention was to spend one summer working at a camp in Canada that had a Christian ethic whilst I was at University in England.  I worked a split summer of SALT, and as a regular Cabin Leader. 
 
To say it was a memorable summer would be an understatement.  I remember my first time paddling a canoe, and steering straight into a diving board, my first time swimming in a river (something I now do daily) my first out-trip, and truly appreciating creation as something God has made for us to enjoy.  In fact – in many ways working that first 3 weeks of SALT, I think I took away more than the campers.  The whole summer continued the same for me, and upon coming back home, I was immediately converted, saving up for my next fight back to Canada.  In my eyes, I became a “camp kid” probably at 21 – a bit of a late bloomer – but still it was in my blood. 
 
When I came to Canada, I remember meeting a girl who would literally count down the days until camp started, from the day it finished the year before… I loved her passion, but at the time struggled to see why she did it.  Upon coming home, I realized why. 
 
I think in answer, camp is more than the ministry we choose to do, and more intimate than the community we live in.  It is family!!!

Widji Traditions/Culture #3

IMG_0835Cabin Special – Every Thursday afternoon the cabin leaders have the opportunity to do something special with just their cabin. It ranges from our regular camp activities to cliff jumping, an afternoon at the beach, etc. It amazes me that the cabin leaders leave it to the last minute to plan on Thursday at lunch.

Guys/Girls Nights – On Monday nights the camp is divided into guys and girls and the staff run a special night activity for them. There are lots of options for them to choose from or they can make up their own event. Some programs include a trip to Widji Island, Ninja night, bigger and better, dance party, floor hockey, campfire, tribal night, 007 night, relay races, “break into” the Tuck shop or kitchen adventure, sock wars or pageant night to crown Miss Widjiitiwin. I will leave it to you figure out which ones are the guy’s verses girl’s activities.
Cabin Devotions – every day campers join their cabin leaders for cabin devotions. This takes place after cabin cleanup in the morning and just before first activity period. Cabin leaders help their campers learn about God, Jesus and the Bible. New this summer is Friday devos with the chiefs where the whole guys or girls end gather and the chief cabin leaders do the devo time.
Camp Pastors – we seem to be one of the last camps to have a camp pastor. Each week a different pastor is invited to teach at camp chapels.  They are also available for the campers and staff to talk with and seek counsel from. Our camp pastors are quite involved at camp taking their meals here and being involved in program.
Eliojah Fire!!Campfires – Campfires are a big part of our program and we do two per week. On Wednesday night we do one for fun. This is the night that our day campers have the option to stay over. On Friday night we do a serious campfire with testimonies and worship. One of our favourite campfire traditions is an Elijah Fire. This involves a fishing line down from a large tree about 100 feet from the campfire. We tie it off to a stake in the ground on the far side of the campfire pit. A partial toilet paper roll is soaked in some Naptha gas and awaits its ride down the cable to the fire. The story of Elijah on Mount Carmel is read out loud and each time the prophets of Baal pour water o the sacrifice, we dump a small amount of Naptha on the camp fire. When the story get to Elijah calling down fire from heaven, then toilet paper roll is set on its way down the string and when it gets to the camp fire everything lights up. Go big or go home right?

Widji Traditions/Culture # 2

Fruit Social – Each week we have Blast or Sizzle camps we have a Fruit Social. After chapel the kitchen staff lays out large trays of fruit for Sunday night snack. While that happens the campers and staff go down to their cabins to get “ready”. The sound guys and program staff set up the lights and get the speakers humming because pretty soon there will be lots of loud music and planet of dancing campers and staff. It’s a little like grade eight dances, at least when I was younger. You know when almost no one is out at the beginning and then they all dance. Usually there is a group of energetic staff that get it all going.

NOPA– each Friday night at dinner for Blast and Sizzle we dress up and have a nice dinner together. Almost everyone dresses up in something nice. We’ve even had a few tuxes. I store a suit jacket behind my office door just so I’m ready, although it doesn’t always go well with the shorts and t-shirt I have on hand. This event used to be called Copa when it was important for campers and staff to have a date. Nopa is a “No Date” version of the old Copa. Campers can sit anywhere for this meal and enjoy the company of people they don’t usually get to sit with. We recently added to it that the cabin leaders serve the campers at their table.

Cabin Clean-up – Every morning after breakfast the campers and cabin leaders go from breakfast to clean up their cabins. The goal is to score as high as possible for the ultimate goal of winning the end of the week ice cream sundae party. They can get up to 10 points each day for the regular cleaning like beds made, lights off, windows open, floor swept, etc. There are also bonus points available if you can figure out what the camp medic likes as a treat. Some options for the bonus points are letters and poetry, pictures, videos, music playing, candy, chocolate or other Tuck items. Some cabins and leaders are very good at it, others not so much. New this year – any score under a “4” means the cabin loses dessert that night.

Signing Cabins & T-shirts – Widji has a tradition of allowing our campers and staff to sign their bunk and even leave a word of encouragement for others. There are signatures going back many years and generations. We have had parents bring their children to camp who were able to show the kids where they signed their name at camp when they were campers. We have a great tradition of multi-generational family camping. We also sign the camper t-shirts they receive as part of being at Camp Widjiitiwin. Saturday mornings after we watch the weekly camp video, all the staff use sharpies to sign their camp names on the camper’s shirts. Parents tell me these become prized possessions once they get home. Campers wear them coming back the next summer as a badge of honour.

Mortal Combat – This event is for Sizzle only. It’s a rite of passage like the wake-boarding/water-skiing we also do just for Sizzle. Mortal Combat is a massive pillow fight competition that comes down to the last person to triumph over all comers. It happens late at night and is a long standing tradition at camp. Men have been made by their standing or achievements in Mortal Combat. Everyone starts out at the beginning and are eliminated round by round until one champion emerges and is crowned the winner.