So, I’ve said before that summer here revolves around Summer Camps and Nature, most notably our beautiful Lake Issyk Kul. Well, for the last week, I’ve been doing my best to combine all this fun into one magical moment.
One of my fellow volunteers here in Sunny Naryn organized a sleep-away camp at a family resort on the north shore of the lake. The idea was to take 21 kids, ages 16 and 17, and for five days teach them about what college life in America is like.
The trip began, an hour late, 6 hours on a bus straight from a 1950’s mass transit system. While going uphill, the engine, resting comfortably beneath the first row of seats, roared and heated the cabin, and on the way down the mountains, we had to shut the windows, because the driver seemed content to simply coast. In the back, girls played pop music loud from their cell phones, and our small cohort of 4 boys sat together, quiet, in sunglasses.
Our days at the camp were half work, half play. As the USLA would have been proud, we stayed indoors from 9 until 3, basking our children, not in UV Rays, but with interactive training sessions on materials for college entrance, like Statement of Purpose essays, and proper interview techniques.
During one icebreaker, we asked the kids to imagine their lives, 1, 5 and 10 years down the line. Somehow I was surprised by their gasps, taken aback that we’d ask them to look so far into their futures. But by the end they got the hang of it, and the steely-eyed girl with straight bangs in her matching black-and-yellow Adidas track-suit stole the show, professing how within ten years she’d have two children and an American husband.
As the work days were peppered with coffee breaks, game breaks, and lunch, it was the afternoons that made it clear why this camp was so far from home. For 3 hours every day, we brought everyone down to the lake. These skinny little kids would go in the water until they shivered, and then we’d organize beach games, like which team could make the longest line in the sand, using only their bodies and their extra clothes. In the evenings, the camp organized grander events, like a bonfire, dances at the discotheque, and big hooplas where the kids got up and performed on the fancy resort stage.
For this American, having been to college (twice!) I wondered what these kids would actually find once they got there. We entertained ourselves with simple games I haven’t seen since grade school, and no one seemed worried about any hanky-panky in the night. On the bus ride back, us all newly comfortable, we played knee-slapping rhythm games, and sang Kyrgyz pop songs. One of our 4 boys regaled the group with stories about his rural upbringing, 8 siblings and lots of livestock.
What will these beautiful kids bring to our great country? And what will we give them in return? Just some food for thought, fresh, from the other side of the earth.
Originally Written August 13th, 2009
