Last weekend from Thursday 20th to Sunday 23rd March I went to Forest Lakes which is a Camping, Outdoors Adventure and Conference centre roughly 1 hour and 30 from Wellington.
After attending the Challenge for Change Matching dinner on the previous Monday which entailed 17 mentors meeting each mentee they will be working with over the next year or so. It was such an awesome thing to see, we had well over a 100 people at the dinner with family members coming along to. Primarily working with young people aged 16 to 25 I haven't worked with young people aged 8 to 13 on an actually mentoring and support program before so this was all new to me.
This year was the programs 18th time of doing it before a small break and it continuing the start of next year.
So ever since that first email I have always been intrigued to what the Challenge for Change program was and how I can be involved with it. A feeling of excitement and learning had been growing since December even though it was months away!
I received the camp plan a couple of weeks before the camp began so had a chance to get a taster to what it was going to involve, the activities planned and also some of the young people, mentors and staff that were attending. I was STOKED!
So me and the Link guys headed up to Forest lakes on the Thursday night so we could introduce the new members of the group properly and get some nice group dynamics going amongst the new and existing members of the group. IRONVan had his paint job completed last week and so we travelled up in style! See IronVan below! I want one for the YMCA back home.
Thursday night after dinner all members of Link came together and Rod and Casey youth workers from BGI led an exercise about learning theory and the theory we looked at was 'Challenge by Choice' which was going to be a familiar theme throughout Camp. The session consisted of 10 questions of all subjects, you answered the questions individually by standing in an area. The areas are shown below consisting of a small comfort zone, we then looked at outside of this which was the learning, challenge and growth zone. Further than this was a danger zone and panic zone which was where we would not feel comfortable. Members of the group could explain why they were stood in a particular zone, this was great as we as a group could learn a lot more from what was said and the other members of the group. It was a great activity, non-judgmental and everyone felt much closer tied once we had finished. Will definitely look at using this myself back home.
How about this view of the lake on the Thursday night, beautiful ey?
Friday a lie in was needed by all of us after a pretty busy week and then it was time to head up to the homestead to set up the house for when the rest of the staff from BGI arrived and most importantly the mentors and their mentees which I was pretty psyched for.
The mentors and mentees arrived in different cards, all excited, stoked (Kiwi work I recently learnt) and ready to take on the program of activities and build some great relationships with their new mentors, Link and BGI staff!
Link ran the first session which involved the house captains of each group (3 house captains to each of the 4 groups). This was a great energiser to start the day of activities to learn each others name and look at what each person wanted to take away from the Challenge for Change camp.
Following the house forming session we moved on to House establishment and the Camp Kawa which is simply a camp agreement between all participants but not 'rules'. An agreement between staff, mentors and mentee that all came from the mentees themselves. Check it out below!
Me and Casey had to go grab the Fish and Chips so I missed part of this but this is the picture that greeted me as I walked back into the dining room in the home stead. a room full of colour, laughter, talking, fun but most importantly focus as Rod led the Camp Kawa.
The canvasses were done in pairs of mentors and mentees and it was chance for them as a bonding pair to paint something on to the canvasses that represented the C4C camp, they were asked to paint their favourite environment. I've put a couple to the right which I thought were really cool and impressive, I couldn't get a picture of a mentee and mentors canvas of Star Wars who were MAJOR fans. But they did an awesome Star Wars canvas What a pairing ey! Shout out to Jacinta and Rod for that!After Canvasses it was time to take the mentees down to the sports gym to do run some 'Secret Night Activity Games' while the mentors had their meetings. It was great fun and I was suprised how much energy the mentees still had after a busy afternoon!
SATURDAY
After the award ceremony which involved awards and a chocolate being given to people who won awards, these awards can be nominated by anyone but it has to be something from the Camp Kawa for that person as they have shown or done something linked to the Kawa. It was awesome. Briefing for the day and I went off down to Kayaking for the morning where I'd be till lunch. And after an awesome 2 weeks Kayaking in Abel Tasman on the south island I felt like a pro! (JOKES)
In total having 4 groups meant 2 would begin their journalling for an hour and a half while the other two would have 45 minutes Kayaking and 45 minutes on the confidence course.
I won't take too long talking about the kayaking as there 4 groups in total but one moment in the morning stuck with me, a member of a team fell from their kayak as they hadn't ever done it before so wasn't used to the balance part of paddling. There were a number of people around him and a mentor stopped and helped catch his breath on his kayak while a younger mentee grabbed his paddle and waited patiently while he climbed back into his kayak. While all of this was happening all members of the group came together to make sure he was all good and no one carried on paddling, some people were ahead and even turned round and got back as quick as they could.
It was great to see that this bonding and teambuilding was already being instilled in the team and it was early doors on a Saturday morning with more than half the camp to do! We had experience kayakers, people who had been before and complete novices who had never even been in a lake or participated in any water sport before but everyone held their own and worked it out as a team and helped one another when it was needed with plenty of encouragement along the way!P.S. You know there had to be a selfie somewhere along the way!
I heard from other staff that all mentees and mentors had done so well on the confidence course which was absolutely awesome and a few mentees in particular who couldn't wait to tell me before Kayaking which really was a feeling of growth amongst them.
Following a lovely lunch and another superb award ceremony for all staff, mentees and mentors that actually took 25 minutes to complete there were that many awards!! People had been using a lot of the Camp Kawa which is awesome!
In the afternoon it was time for all groups to carry on with their journalling when it was time in the camp plan to do so but then it was time for the flying fox and abseiling. Journalling is explained in the picture!For the afternoon myself, Casey and Leila were all on the Flying Fox making sure 1.) Everyone was safe but 2.) EVERYONE had an awesome time!
It was one of my most favourite parts of camp as different mentees and mentors had either just come from abseiling so were full of energy, pride and happiness with what they achieved or were just trying the Flying Fox for the first time! The flying fox was impressive as it went over the lake and was in full view for everyone to see! Some great call signs on the walkie talkies between myself, Casey and Leila helped us rock through the afternoon in a jiffy and made the experience even better for Mentees and Mentors as they gave us callsigns to use. One of the mentees was loving it so much that he went 3 times in a row because he ran so quick to get back and have another go. Talk about great enthusiasm from a 11 year old!
Moment of the afternoon was towards the end of the session as one of the mentees came up to me so excited to tell me he actually made it down the abseiling wall and he was now going to get a new comic! Not just any comic but a Star Wars comic. Yes, you heard it right. Rod said to one of the mentees if he manages to do it he will buy him anew comic as a well done. Well that was it, the mentee went for it and after spending quite a few minutes up the top of the wall all ready to head down the wall and after some good talking from Dave and the other instructors he nailed it. Funny ending to this is Rod didn't realise Star Wars didn't do single comics at the moment, they come in editions. Guess how much an edition is? 60 dollars or 30 pound which made the story even better! It was definitely all worth it to see the smile on his face though as he told me he was going to get a brand new comic from the Comic king of BGI (infact Wellington) Rod Baxter.
After finishing up and heading back to the homestead for dinner everyone had some free time to chill out before we re-commenced with STAGE II of the canvasses! This time it was about writing names and qualities which you can see on the pictures above that I wrote about earlier on. Putting the finishing touches to the canvasses was great for everyone to take a moment to reflect, continue building their relationships and focus on something very important to them.
I have so many pictures of the canvasses I'll have to try and make a collage of them another day! 3 words about the canvasses. Colourful, insightful and teamwork.
Once again the mentors had their evening meeting with Rod and Jacinta and talked about the days activities.
We headed back down to the gym for S.N.A.G and it was absolutely awesome. All members of link and staff who went down to the gym were paired with a young person to walk down and chat to. It went great and all young people really enjoyed this opportunity to get to know people more. A few games of stuck in the mud, seaweed and the favourite (well that's what I think) called 'TOMMO SAYS' which is basically Simon Says but with you know who saying it in a slightly different way (opposites). It was all good fun before we slowly made our away back to the homestead to continue where we left off initially and look at the beautiful night sky and do some star gazing because of the non existent light pollution around where we were staying (most of New Zealand actually).
Marshmellows and the bonfire later on in the evening was a great way to chat and relax with everyone and get a bit of warmth on a colder night. All the talks and getting to know one another really stood out for one person in particular.
Lets just say the insightful chats and bonding between the young people, link, mentors and staff went so well this young lad at the end of the bonfire came to another member of staff at the bonfire and his words were 'This has been the best day of my life' and when asked why he said 'Rod, just look around you were like a big family'. It was extra special coming from this young person in particular due to the amount of growth he had shown over the course of a day and a half! What a way to finish an awesome and life changing day for everyone.
SUNDAY
Sleep, Clean, eat and get ready were the 4 words to start the day with on the Sunday. After cleaning the Lake Lodge we were staying in we headed down to the renowned and world famous 'Mudslide'. I won't bother explaining it too much but lets just say the amount of health and safety forms you would have to fill out for this to happen in the UK would be phenomenal, but hey its New Zealand and everything is 'Sweet As'. Check out the pics below!
The mud slide was absolutely fantastic and great to end the weekends activities on a high! All the kids really enjoyed it and the mentors too!! It was super quick, super slippery and meant you'd pick up quite a bit of speed heading down it!
Following on from the mudslide everyone who had been on got cleaned up and showered. After this was done it was to pack and clean the homestead ready to put all the gear into the vans and then have the final farewells and last activity together before heading off back to Wellington to get some rest after a fantastic weekend of activities, fun, inspiration, awesomeness and great company!
The picture below was of the last activity that was run by Rod. We all held part of the rope and had to say one word that summed up how we felt after the Challenge for Change camp. There were some great imaginative words from everyone in the circle and words that meant a hell of a lot to people. Mine was actually 'Beautiful' because the feeling amongst the group and individuals was beautiful and the whole camp had been beautiful in itself throughout. Following on this we all gripped tightly on the rope and leant back and this meant everyone could lean back holding on to the rope at the same time. It was a showing of togetherness, team work, bonding and everyone felt great afterwards.
Toms Thoughts
You might have been wondering what the three words in title meant to me but those three words are words that I feel are relevant to this whole weekend and process of change throughout the camp.
Confidence, Achievement and Growth are all things that every single person on this camp would have felt this weekend and I am so overwhelmed by the progress of all the mentors and mentees it is phenomenal.
They are only 3 words that I have used but I could guarantee there could be at least 5 from every person that would speak volumes to how they are feeling, how they believe they have changed and most of all the relationships that have been built and set in stone by everyone.
The question that I was thinking about before I went to camp was 'How much influence can you have on the young people?'.
The answer is simply 'However much you want to put into it'. And through this I believe every single person has been influenced by every other person on this camp. Memories have been made, life changing experiences have happened, confidence has grown, everyone has achieved something and finally every single has grown in some way throughout this weekend thanks to the influence and impact of every person on the Challenge for Change Camp.
I'll end with a picture that means a lot to me at the end of camp that I took by coincidence thinking I was taking a nice picture of four birds but in fact it shows a few things to me after one of the best weekends of my life.
1.) Equality
2.) Confidence
3.) Achievement
4.) Family
5.) Togetherness
What could it mean to you?
“There are no negatives in life, only challenges to overcome
that will make you stronger.”
Tom x
Great blog bro! shot!
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