Im from Camp Sonshine

www.campsonshine.org

Game time!

In 2007, having always wanted to visit America, I participated in the Camp America program.  This is a company which matches you up with an American summer camp, pays for your flights, helps you out with your visas and stuff...and its almost free!  You pay for your visa and police check, and they get to keep the majority (but not all) of your wages from camp.  So basically you get about 3 months in America for free!  And as you have a working visa - you will probably have a couple more months after camp which you can spend doing whatever you like in America.

Getting dirty

 I would recommend this to anyone.  Its not easy, I can honestly say that camp was the hardest thing I have ever done - and I was only at a day camp so I wasnt even on site 24h a day.  But if you get placed at the right camp for you, in the right role for you, it is just the best experience.  I was part of the Wilderness program of a Christian camp in Maryland called Camp Sonshine, with groups of 10 - 11 year old girls.  We ran wild in the woods, built fires, went on awesome trips, did great outdoor activities and just had so much fun!  8 weeks of 6am starts and 14 hour days forced my 18 year old mind and body into new levels of endurance and maturity.  I learnt how to push through exhaustion, smile when all I wanted to do was cry, run in 40 degree heat, and love more than I ever had before.

Me and my girls

The kids were great, I still miss them.  The camp staff were so incredible, I made lifelong friends there.  I had never lived amongst a group of Christians before - it was an unforgettable privilege.  Everyone loved my "accent" and constantly asked me to pronounce words for them.  I vividly remember talking to one girl camper about how far I had travelled to get to Maryland, when she looked at me with wide beautiful blue eyes and said "You must really love us".  That's the moment when I realised that I was touching the lives of these children forever.  My heart broke right there.

Wildernesssssssssssssssssss!!!!

I didnt think being a camp counselor would be even half as hard as it was.  But neither did I anticipate how rewarding it would be.  And now...I dont remember the bug bites, the poison ivy wounds, the knife cuts from making bows & arrows that I still have scars from, the heat or the exhaustion.  All I remember is the love.

Thank you Camp Sonshine