This month marked a major milestone in our ministry – our first ever Youth Camp in Adak!
During the Ugandan school year, students have three holidays that last about a month long. We’ve been praying as ministry leaders how we can capitalize on these times of years to reach out to the youth of our community and the idea for a Youth Camp was birthed. Modeled after TTW’s own summer Training Camp that prepares young people for short-term mission trips, we developed a program that would fulfill TTW’s vision of instilling belonging, competence and self-worth into the campers.
Eighty teens participated – split into teams of ten – and spent their days moving from class to class including games and team building, drama and dance, and even teachings on basic issues of hygeine and how to have a personal quiet time with the Lord. We even had Adak’s first “Big Top” set up for morning and evening rallies complete with speakers from our staff sharing the Gospel message. After the three day camp, ten students gave their lives to Christ and many more were excited about developing their relationship with God in a deeper, more tangible way.
For our first attempt, we also had the assistance of a visiting team from Powerhouse Christian Church to help with the sessions and recruited and trained college students from local churches in Gulu Town to serve as team leaders. The youth of our community were so thrilled to have someone willing to invest in their lives and were obviously hungry for such an opportunity.
Though we only had the resources for 80 to participate, over 250 kids showed up on the first day! How painful it was to have to
turn many away but we trust that God will continue to use Dream Center to run similar camps during the next school holidays and the funding to make this opportunity available to even more youth. Our goal is to extend to 120 students during the next holiday (August) and 150 students during Christmas break. The cost breaks down to about $30 per student for the three days of camp which includes overnight accomodations, three meals, and all the activities offered and supplies needed to run the camp.
Click here if you are interested in helping to financially support the next Youth Camp and provide opportunities for more youth in our community to have a tangible experience with God. Memo your donation: “Youth Camp Scholarship”
