Encounters is a 5-day summer camp bridging C&S (Caring and Sharing) and Al-Ummah, for Ismaili youth aged 13-15 years from our UK and European Jamat. The camp objectives include creating an environment in which participants can understand how our ethics and values are relevant to our everyday lives, fostering a sense of identity, building confidence, making life-long friendships and most importantly… HAVING FUN!
This year we were excited to be hosted at Dearne Valley in Kingswood, a new site which is set in 50 acres of beautiful countryside in South Yorkshire. 57 participants, 12 facilitators, 7 team members, 3 support members, a videographer and a photographer all bundled into this eco-friendly site where we stayed in eco-pods and had exclusive access to our own conference space. This was accompanied by access to an array of indoor and outdoor activities, which we all got stuck in to from Day 1.
The theme for the camp this year was “balance”, getting participants to think about a balanced lifestyle through intellectual, physical and spiritual development. One of the first modules carried out in small groups was filling out your own ‘balance pizza’ whereby you analyse where you think you fit in the various ‘segments’ in life and how you could achieve a more balanced pizza – intellectual, physical, spiritual, mental and social. At the end of camp, each participant had an opportunity to re-reflect on this and write a letter to themselves, which they will receive a few months following camp. They will have the opportunity to complete a new balance pizza at that time to see where they may have progressed.
With daily morning and evening Jamatkhana ceremonies, participants were encouraged to participates. For some this was reaching out their comfort zone and doing something they may not necessarily get the opportunity to or would not normally have felt confident to. With the support of fellow participants and facilitators/team to sit alongside to support them, the participants achieved this. Every morning, Jamatkhana ceremonies were followed by a short mindfulness or stretching session to get energy levels ready for a full day ahead.
The outdoor activities were kicked off straight into the deep end with ‘night-line’ in the evening on the day of arrival; an outdoor assault course completed blindfolded requiring communication, trust and bravery between participants. Throughout the week, participants continued to build on these skills amongst many more doing activities including high ropes, rock climbing, buggy building, sports day, laser quest and problem solving to name a few!
We enjoyed a variety of evening entertainments after Jamatkhana ceremonies including a disco, a campfire and a formal presentation evening. Participants also had an opportunity to express themselves in the form of arts, which gave them a choice of taking part in creative dance, writing lyrics to music or drawing. One of the evenings, we gathered in one of the beautiful open-air amphitheatres where we enjoyed a treat of pizza and said evening Jamatkhan ceremonies in the serenity of the outdoors.
This year the participants had a fantastic opportunity to work on a project throughout the week, working on an idea that would help with a real need of institutions within our community. They had an opportunity to present their ideas in a final evening ceremony, which allowed them to show their creativity and express their ideas.
The long days usually ended with ‘milk and cookies’ followed by ‘Passage of the Day” (POD), which involved informal chats among small groups reflecting on the day and discussing inspirational and thought-provoking videos.
Watching the participants grow in confidence, make friends and support each other throughout the week with the physical and intellectual challenges was so heart-warming. Every one of us was reluctant to leave camp at the end, and so, participants and facilitators alike have promised to visit one another and reunite at our local Jamatkhanas. Encounters 2018 has been a positive experience in so many ways and we hope it will continue to provide the youth of our Jamat many more experiences in the future!
