Going to girls camp in Africa was just a wee bit out of my
comfort zone but with love, support, encouragement and prayers...I DID IT - I DID IT!!!!
Here is the main reason it all worked out - a great, supportive husband! HATS OFF TO JEFF!!!
This is our camp site and entire work space.
We had a great time and prepared for several weeks for the
event. Shortly into the prep time, we
received word that the camp would be shortened to 1 overnight (about 24
hours). It had been scheduled for 4 days
so cutting it back to just one full day was quite an adjustment.
Lolo, Vivian and Odwa setting up their tent.
Eighteen girls attended and 2 YSA’s accompanied Jeff
and me. Brother Machele from our
Bishopric accompanied the girls in their 3 hour taxi drive to the camp. Being a holiday weekend, the traffic was
horrible around Pretoria and the girls taxi got lost. By the time
the YW arrived, they were tired and hungry.
Jeff and I arrived about 3 hours earlier and had dinner almost ready for
them. They were very grateful!!
Hungry Young Women (l-r) Annikie, Jabu, Odwa, Glory
We had a camp potjie (pronounded
poi-key - Africans word) competition which sort of caught me off guard. Just what is a potjie competition? In the US we would think of this as Dutch
oven cooking. A potjie pot is bigger
than the Dutch oven and stands on legs but it is a cast iron pot. They gave us beef (mostly fat) in sort
of sliced up slabs that we needed to cut apart, carrots, green peppers and
onions for the potjie. YUP! That was it.
Jeff started charcoal to cook the potjie. He was “Johnny-on-the-spot” ready to be
mister handyman, chef, or leader at a moment’s notice! I brought from the US some Cream of Celery
soup, Golden Mushroom and Cream of Mushroom.
I also stirred in bay leaf, salt, pepper, water, a few chopped green
onions and a pkg of Onion soup. I do not
use chopped onion in my stews (too much onion).
They also brought some par-boiled potatoes part way thru the
cooking, to add to the pot. The one thing that I did not
know about eating potjie is that they serve it over rice - even with all the
sauce and potatoes. I have never had
potatoes over rice! Anyway, we did not
know that someone in the kitchen facility had cooked HUGE (the size of a
witch's cauldron) pots of rice for us to use with the potjie but we did
not know that.
Our potjie turned out to be very tasty and the girls devoured it. The other potjie’s used part beef and chicken
with all the above named vegetables and water, fat (lots) and juices - then poured
over the rice. That is probably the more
“African” way of cooking a stew - or potjie.
Anyway, we survived without the rice and had a good meal. One
thing I have discovered about cooking for Africans is that they are not
picky eaters. They seem to be grateful for whatever they have to eat.
When the girls arrived and they saw me, they all started
screaming “Sister Clayton, Sister Clayton” and they came running and hugged me
almost to death!!! I felt like a rock
star they were so happy to see me! It
was a warm, happy feeling to feel their love.
Always prepared, Jeff helps with the tent set up.
Setting up tents was a competition and each unit was
timed. Our group was pretty slow because
we had missing tent parts and we had to improvise. We set up one small tent for overflow from
the 12 person tent but the wind knocked that down quickly and the girls decided
to all sleep together in the big tent.
They each brought a blanket for sleeping. There were no mats or extra blankets.
Everyone got settled into camp then we had a fun craft
making individual lanterns with battery operated lights for them to take into
the welcome devotional meeting. At the
meeting, the stake passed everyone candles and lit them for the entire
meeting. My girls complained later to me
that they got burned by the candles and some of them had their hair burned and hot
wax dripped on them but there were no serious accidents. I thought to myself that in the US, the Fire
Marshall would have been very unhappy! Our little lanterns lasted all evening and
into the night as our group stayed up ALL NIGHT talking.
My girls waiting for the evening devotional to begin.
I tried to teach the girls how to make s’mores but I’m not
sure they really understood or liked them much. What is camp without a campfire and s’mores?
The YW were very quiet all night and they did not cause
any trouble at all. I thought it was a
good thing for them to get better acquainted and not worry about “lights out” since
camp was so short. The social part of
camp is important and this was a time for the girls to bond and become
united. I can say that happened
with my girls. Two of my new YW seem
fully integrated into the group by the end of camp, and are loved by
one and all.
Waking up early... or did they ever sleep? NO
Looking at our next door neighbors - Joburg 1st Ward.
Jabu, Glenda and Odwa waking up. Not a lot of baggage in the tent besides the girls!
Inside the tent for 18 YW and 2 YSAs.
Breakfast chefs
Breakfast was bacon and eggs over the grill and everyone
pitched in to cook. One of the things
that I was not expecting to happen was that we had NO tables or
chairs/logs/anything in camp so I had no work space. I had 2 cutting boards from home which were hard
to use on a very small edge of the braai (bbq). It made cooking a bit more
challenging and clean up as well - but it worked out.
YUM!!!
Good cooks!!!
Getting ready for morning devotional
After breakfast and clean-up we went to the
morning devotional. I volunteered my dear, courageous
husband to speak for 20 minutes on the atonement (bless his heart) - a pretty
heavy subject for 9:00am but that is what the stake wanted. The stake asked for a young girl do this and if
she couldn’t, that she could “just read a talk from the Ensign” - for 20
minutes to the group. Mmmmmm.... read a talk for 20 minutes at 9am ? I opted for a “speaker”
and it was a good call. Jeff did a great
job teaching a deep subject and spoke to the girls on their level.
I had planned for several crafts and fun times as a group
but we ended up doing 2 sessions of classes for certification with the Stake.
This is Simone from another ward in the Stake. She is a darling girl and it was fun to meet her.
Getting egg cartons ready to gather nature bits on a micro-hike and put eyes on them to make a nature box.
My great helpers - YSA's Lendra and Shirley.
Thobekile - our Sponge Bob Laurel President
There was one break of free time and a
swimming pool so the girls swam for a while. Jeff and I cooked butternut
squash, potatoes and sausages on and in the fire.
After the swim, the girls gathered again to eat together. Besides our gourmet potatoes, squash and dogs, the stake filled in with grated carrots, some sort of pasta salad that I
can’t describe and canned peaches with custard.
It was an interesting meal but it worked out and filled the girls healthy appetites.
Practicing for the War-Cry competition
Afternoon activities were a brief hike, Minute-To-Win-It games and camp clean
up.
This was our great banner. The girls designed and painted the whole thing. I helped with the "outlining" but everyone pitched in and contributed.
Watching the other camps do their War Cries...
Though the 4 day camp dissolved into a 1+ day camp, we did not dissolve in any way. There
were many triumphs. On
Sunday at church, we talked about some of the underlying successes of camp such
as commitment, dependability, and focus on excellence, unity, team work and
positive attitude. These great YW are
not used to being at the top so it was a thrill to see their excitement with
success. The win for me was seeing their
personal growth as they expended great effort to compete and do their best. It is my hope that these values will carry on
into other areas throughout their lives. I call this YW camp a WIN-WIN on all
levels!
Sunset on Girls Camp 2012
100 year celebration of YW Camp - Johannesburg, So. Africa Stake
