A Remarkable Summer Camp at Ming Hwa Temple, Toronto, Canada

◎ Jennifer Wang

It was a blast having the opportunity to volunteer at this year’s Toronto Ming Hwa Temple’s summer camp. Despite all the ups and downs, I still learnt a lot throughout the educational week. I appreciate all the support from the other volunteers, friends from Taiwan, and everyone who helped to make this year’s summer camp so successful. Everyone helped to make the environment friendly and supportive. Despite an additional two days to this year’s camp, it turned out better than the previous ones. Everyone bonded and became closer as the days went by, spending five days together with all the campers, volunteers, and the leaders from Taiwan. It was really an amazing week.

On the first day, there was a mix of excitement, nervousness, and doubt as to how the summer camp will go. All the kids weren’t all familiar with each other; everyone seemed to be a bit lost and shy at first. I saw some returning campers from the previous years but was glad to see some new faces as well. Once everyone settled in, the ice breakers started and they all started warming up to each other and opened up more.

▲  呼拉圈遊戲，培養你我的好默契。

This year’s theme was Benevolence, and the team names were based on the characters in Mario. I was one of the leaders in Mario’s group and personally, I saw a few in my group who were more energetic than others and shared many things amongst the group. Also, I noticed that it would always be the same people raising their hands. So, as one of the leaders of the group, I would encourage other team members to share their opinions and answers too. As the week unrolled, things got better; more people participated, and everyone felt more comfortable as they were getting more familiar with each other. There were more interactions with each other; everyone got along, and best of all, everyone was having fun.

▲  「行善的對象」課程中，蒙眼障礙體驗。

The last day was probably the best. The kids all had fun since they got to go around to play the Olympic games. I was in charge of one of the stations and created one of the games. They have twenty minutes to play Rock, Paper, Scissors, but with a twist. At first, I was worried that twenty minutes might be too long and that I would not be able to keep the game going for the whole time. But when I realized that everyone seemed to enjoy it, I came up with other versions for my game and improvised. In the end, it was very successful; everyone was enjoying it, and most importantly, no one got injured which was a relief. Later, we all watched a short video summarizing each day with photos. When watching the video, everyone enjoyed their bubble tea which in my opinion was one of the best part of the day. The awards were next; each team got a prize and my team won the best acting award and got first place out of the five teams. Although our team won first, every team all did their best and we were all winners in the end.

▲  美勞DIY，將舊衣變身為購物袋。

Despite the challenges and barriers that everyone had to face, we still made it to the end as a team and all did our best to make this year’s summer camp one of the best. At first, I doubted myself and I didn’t really expect much for the camp, but once it all came to an end, I was really amazed to see how successful it turned out. I couldn’t have done it without everyone’s help, and I really appreciate those who assisted and supported us throughout the camp.

加拿大多倫多明華道院夏令營心得

◎ 中譯  謝雅琦

今年能夠擔任多倫多明華道院主辦的夏令營之義工，真的是令人興奮！雖然過程中有起有落，但是我還是學到很多。這次的營隊能如此成功，我要感謝所有義工、來自台灣的學長們，以及所有當地學長們的支援。有了大家的協助，我們才能塑造出如此友善、和諧的環境。雖然今年的夏令營多了兩天，但我相信這次的營隊比以往辦得更好。在每一天的相處下，學員、義工，以及台灣來的學長們，大家彼此之間更凝聚、更親近，讓這五天營隊劃下精彩的句點。

▲  「行善的對象」課程中，透過活動體驗人情冷暖。

第一天，我其實既興奮又緊張，且對於營隊的內容不太清楚。學員互相不怎麼認識，大家一開始顯得不知所措又害羞。雖然看到一些去年參與過的學員，但我也很開心看到新面孔。大家完成報到程序後，開始玩一系列的破冰遊戲時，彼此逐漸熱絡起來，都慢慢打開心房了。
今年夏令營的主題是「仁道」，而各小組的組名是以瑪利歐家族的成員為題材。我這次是擔任Team Mario的其中一位小隊輔，我這一隊的學員們有幾位非常活潑，而且又愛分享自己的想法。此外，經過頭幾堂課程後，我發現舉手回答講師問題或分享感想的，總是那幾位；身為組上的小隊輔，我不斷鼓勵其他組員也舉手表達自己的想法和回答問題。幾天後，情況逐漸改善，有更多人參與，而且大家也因為互相更熟悉而變得更自在。小朋友間的互動漸漸增加，而且相處得很融洽，最重要的是，大家都很開心！

▲  用餐時間，先感恩無畏施的無為奉獻。

最後一天可以說是整個營隊中最美好的一天。所有小朋友在「奧林匹克（大地遊戲）」單元中，玩得很開心。今年，我擔任我所設計的遊戲那一關的關主。每一隊有20分鐘完成進階版的「剪刀石頭布」。一開始，我很擔心20分鐘會太長，遊戲無法玩這麼久；然而一旦看到小朋友玩得很開心，我靈機一動，想出了更高階的版本，讓他們挑戰。整體來說，我覺得這遊戲非常成功，大家也玩得很高興；最重要的是，好險沒有人受傷（鬆口氣）。遊戲單元結束後，接著就是看剪輯影片，回顧夏令營的點點滴滴；我們邊看邊喝珍珠奶茶，這時段我覺得是整天下來最棒的時光。最後就是頒獎囉！每隊都有收到一份獎品，而我這一小隊除了拿到獎品外，還得到最佳表演獎及總冠軍！雖然是我們小隊得到第一名，但對我而言，每一隊的小朋友都很用心地參與，所以我們全部都是第一名！

▲  精心設計的大富翁遊戲。

雖然在過程中，遇到了很多挑戰及障礙，但是我們輔導團隊還是一起順利完成了這項任務，而且每一位都盡全力將今年夏令營辦成最棒的一個。一開始，我其實對自己沒有信心，而且對這次營隊也沒太大的期望；可是等到營隊結束，當我看到成功的結果時，真的很讚嘆！很感恩所有人的幫忙，沒有大家的協助，我無法完成這次夏令營的任務。