News from J team camp: Avalanche - May 11th – 15th 2009

This was to be my first experience of a camp at Avalanche, Ooty; and what an experience it turned out to be! The camp was organised by a Christian organisation called J-TEAM based in Chennai and all of the young people attending the camp were from Chennai and the surrounding area. Attending the camp were about 30 young people ranging from the ages of 14 to 21, the older youth being leaders and volunteers.

Arriving in Ooty on the Monday at 6.30am after a long coach journey of nine hours, The Fishermen Trust team had a few hours to recuperate from the arduous journey and get some breakfast until meeting up with J-TEAM and travelling on to Avalanche campsite itself. The journey consisted of another hours coach journey through awesomely unspoilt valleys and reservoirs and then a 10Km hike from where they coach could no longer travel over pine forest covered hills and streams. The trek to the campsite was not only breathtaking in the sense of physical exertion but also in the incredible beauty of the surroundings we were walking through.

On my short but tiring walk to the camp I got talking to one of the volunteer instructors called Glen. He seemed to be a very timid guy but once taking the effort to talk to him he seemed to be quietly passionate about things; things like his walk with God, his past and family life, music and worship, and learning to instruct outdoor activities such as The Fishermen Trust do. I also shared my interests and we seemed to be getting along really well. I really enjoyed talking with Glen and hearing about his life.

Once eventually arriving at the camp I was extremely tired and was looking forward to a rest. But I soon found out that there was so much to do, including unpacking the truck of luggage, putting up tents, arranging accommodation for everyone, and lastly having lunch. So after all these things had been accomplished it was time to be properly introduced to the J-TEAM and start getting to know people, and what better way to do this than via an outdoor activity! I have to be honest at this point I was knackered from all the travelling and hiking but I suppose I did have some energy left and the prospect of visiting a waterfall and have a swim was too much of a good thing to pass up.

So the weeks first outdoor activity was to be rock climbing around a beautiful waterfall area about 3Km walk away from the campsite. Nandu, Michael, Glen and I left about an hour earlier than the rest of the group to set up and check the safety of all the equipment ready for the activity to start straight away when everyone else arrived. Unfortunately however we hadn’t given enough time to set up and the group arrived early, so I was asked to keep the group busy with a wide game for roughly half an hour, which was fine as I already had a game in mind. Also I occupied half the time with getting the whole group to cross the river at a shallow point. In hindsight I perhaps should have thought about the safety of this as the water was flowing quite fast and most of the young people couldn’t swim. This is something to definitely consider next time perhaps?

The rock climbing at the waterfall seemed to be a great hit and the young people showed real perseverance in completing the task. There was also a lot of encouragement from the other members of the group when people were climbing. This was really good to see and needs to be encouraged more especially by The Fisherman Trust team.

Before I continue I would like to note the general schedule for each day in the J-TEAM camp. This schedule was quite flexible due to different things taking longer than expected and due to the youth taking their time in doing everything (as teenagers usually do).

This is the schedule:

06:30 Wake up
13:00 Lunch
06:45 Solo time
14:00 Activities
07:15 Freshen up
17:00 Team Challenges
07:45 Leaders Meeting
18:00 Free Time
08:00 Worship and Morning devotion
19:00 Worship, Talks and Discussion
09:00 Breakfast
21:00 Dinner
10:00 Morning Teaching (J-TEAM)
22:00 Free time/Night Activity
11:00 Activities
23:30 Lights Out
Solo Time

The solo time in the morning was something designed by J-TEAM for all of its campers. In the space of half an hour the youth had chance to read the bible and spend time alone in the morning focussing on specific scriptures and praying. Because this was a Christian camp this exercise was mandate and all of the youth had to spend some time on their own. I was told that because TFT weren’t part of J-TEAM that we didn’t have to do it, although I felt that I wanted to do it even though I was tired, not only because it was one of the only chances I had to be alone and in the quiet but also because I could set a good example. We found that during the camp some of the youth struggled with the concept of solo time and prayer and often needed direction, which was given.

Worship
All of the worship was done by members of J-TEAM and led by a girl called Joanna who seemed to have a lot of authority in leading and passion for worshipping the Lord. A lot of the songs sung were action songs and to my surprise the young people really didn’t mind joining in and fact very much enjoyed doing the silly actions. This would be a totally different story for a lot of young people in the UK as they would usually be very non-committal and not want to embarrass themselves by singing, what were really, songs designed for a much younger Christian group. I even found myself letting my inhibitions go by the end of the camp and getting involved in all the action songs where as I would usually take a back seat in anything including actions in the UK.

The general format for praise and worship was to do three or four high energy action songs and then change the mood of the session by doing a few slower paced worship songs, which usually led into a prayer or a talk by Raj or me.

Morning Devotions
For the morning devotions Raj had asked me to share something for about 15 minutes with the group each morning. I must admit I felt a little lost about how or what I would be sharing so I was compelled to think, pray, prepare and ask God as to what I should share. I felt very unprepared on the journey to Ooty, but I thought 9 hours on a coach alone with my thoughts was the perfect opportunity to pray and think of things to say.

Here are just brief descriptions of the devotions I shared each morning:

Tuesday – Romans 5:7-8 ‘Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’

In this devotion I used the example of someone walking down the road, and then crossing the road unaware that a bus was coming. I asked Raj to stand up, and asked him that if a bus was coming my way and you could push me out of the way sacrificing yourself to save my life. I said, bearing in mind that you know me a bit and you think I’m a good guy, full of life and many talents; would he save my life? Raj said that he probably would save me or at least the intention would be there. I then asked the same question to one of the youth, who didn’t know me, and he straight away said he wouldn’t save me and sacrifice himself. I then asked Raj the same question but instead of me being in front of the bus, this time it was a guy who was drunk and seemingly wasting his life. Raj said that he didn’t know what he would do and would have to think about it. When asking the youth the same question he again said, ‘Definitely not! He doesn’t deserve to be saved’ I then gave a short testimony about my life and how I used to drink heavily, explaining that the drunk in front of the bus was me. I then read the scripture and got others to read it, using the fact that Jesus would have step in front of the bus for me, regardless of our situation, and in fact did sacrifice himself on the cross for us so that we could have life. All of this said emphasising the fact that although I was a drunk and becoming a massive waster in life; Jesus still sacrificed himself for me.

Wednesday – Jeremiah 29:11-14 ‘For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord and I will bring you back from captivity.’

1 Corinthians 2:9 ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’

In this devotion is gave a testimony about my aspirations throughout life and the obstacles I have faced that stopped me fulfilling them. Starting from an early age I narrated about each one like so:

- Michangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle), dream crushed because my brother was Donatello and always used to beat me in fights
- A fighter pilot in the RAF, dream crushed because I have a colour defect
- An actor, dream crushed because I was too big and too ugly to play the Romeo parts I wanted to play
- Bar manager, feeling of un-fulfilment and boredom in my work
- A Doorman/Bouncer, feeling of boredom and the work not being to my character

I then asked the youth what they thought was missing in all these aspirations and we came to the conclusion that I had never consulted God on the plans that he has for me. I then read the scriptures and explained about my position in life now of trusting in God and the fruit that has come of it, for example, receiving a job from 2XL out of nowhere and my recent position in India.

Thursday – Psalm 139:13-16 ‘For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.’

I started this devotion by getting all the youth to look to their left and say out loud a good attribute about the person sitting next to them. This was a great encouragement exercise and I definitely think that people felt good because of it. I then went on to read the scripture and explained about how God knows us intimately and cares about us using parts of the scripture to support this. This devotion was all about encouragement and how God’s wants to encourage each other in this world that is full of discouragement.

Friday – Matthew 28:20 ‘And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’

Deuteronomy 31:8 ‘The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.’

The last devotion was designed to encourage the youth that things don’t need to change when they go back to their home, schools and colleges. I told the story of the how when Jesus left the disciples they became discouraged and a little hopeless as to where their help would come from. Reading the scriptures I let the teens know that they could turn to god any time they need help or feel hopeless, because of the confirmation of the scriptures just as Jesus said to his disciples. We then had a short discussion about prayer and reading the Bible.

Activities
Throughout the week The Fishermen Trust arranged and provided the main activities for each day using its own equipment and its own staff and volunteers. These activities included:
Rock Climbing – The rock climbing activity was undertaken just next to a waterfall about 3km away from the camp site. It consisted of two climbing routes, which were relatively simple, and the youth were asked to climb up as far as they could with the support of an instructor (Nandu and Michael). A lot of the youth found this relatively difficult to achieve but they still relished the challenge.

River Crossing – The river crossing was constructed using two ropes to cross a stream. These ropes were secured to two trees either side of the river and the task was to first cross the stream and back again, being safely attached with a harness and sling, and also to hang upside down from the harness, pull themselves back up to the rope, and come down from the rope. All of the team members had to do this one by one.

Tree Climbing – The tree climbing activity proved to be very physically taxing for a lot of people because it relying purely on the strength of the person doing the activity. Using a system of pulleys on the ropes itself each person had to pull themselves up the rope to the top of the tree. Everyone had a try at this, even the older generation of but there was a great sense of encouragement and support from other group’s members for people.

Abseiling – The Abseiling activity was held in mixed regard by everyone. Some people had done it before so felt comfortable in doing it because they had already overcome their fear of walking down a sheer cliff face backwards, and some people were very nervous and it took some time for them to complete the activity. Just observing I found Nandu to be very encouraging and supportive of everyone displaying vast amounts of patience when people took time to overcome their fear. After the youth had made their way down the cliff face with the help of rope and harness, they were given the option of being dunked in the pool at the bottom or to just be lowered down, giving the exercise another aspect of fun.

Monkey Crossing – The monkey crossing was a new exercise for The Fishermen Trust and it was the first time that we had done it with a group. It took quite a while to set up as we wanted to make sure it was safe and accessible to the young people. It proved quite a hard activity to do as it required the participant to pull themselves along a rope using just their arms and upper body to cross a gorge. I found it extremely hard because I was quite heavy and had a lot of weight to pull across, whereas someone lighter found it quite easy.

Kayaking – The kayaking exercise was lead by a trained volunteer which was part of J-TEAM called Anupa. She has been trained in the UK in sailing and water sports and lead the exercise in a really friendly and clear way. There were only 5 kayaks so only 5 people could kayak at one time. Anupa only covered the basics of kayaking, for example how to go forward, backwards, left, right and more importantly how to keep balance. The people that weren’t kayaking had a small swimming session in a shallow part of the lake with the use of lifejackets, which I oversaw. Because swimming was something unfamiliar to a lot of the youth, they found great delight in just behind able to stay afloat in the water.

Gorge Walking – I didn’t take part in this activity because I had to focus on the kayaking and swimming activity being the only strong swimmer apart from Raj. This activity was also led by someone from J-TEAM, a guy called Augustine. The group had to hike up the gorge where we conducted the monkey crossing and abseiling and further, just exploring the surrounding area and trying not to get too wet.

Personal Testimonies
Nancy
On the second night of the camp a girl called Nancy approached Barnabas (whom had lead the talk that evening) and had opened up to how she was feeling about life and how God had had a massive impact in her through this camp. She also came and talked to me the next morning. Apparently before she came to this came she had become so fed up and had wanted to end her life. However through the words that God had given me and Barnabas to share, she had found a fresh hope in life and God had spoken to her directly about the awesome plans he has for her. I feel so honoured that God would use me in such a way to speak into a desperate situation and help save a life without even my knowledge. It is definitely no coincidence that I felt led to share a word about God’s awesome plans and purposes for us when Nancy was feeling so purposeless to extend of wanting to end her life. THIS IS NO COINCIDENCE!

Darun
One night a lad called Darun approached me after the talk Raj had shared and asked me how I gave up binge drinking. He wanted to know because he has a problem with smoking and can’t give it up. I told him my testimony and how every time I tried to do it on my own, I always failed and just continued to binge drink. Then I told him how when I prayed to God for help, I was able to control my habit and give up straight away. He asked me how God helped and I told him of how ‘by coincidence’ the people that were influencing me to drink had been temporarily taken out of my life by different circumstances and how new people were brought into my life that could encourage me not to drink and that had also been through the same struggles as I was going through. Now I believe that this was no coincidence in my life, but God intervening through people to help me give up my habit. Darun was really encouraged by this and after our conversation he opened up to a lot of things; like not really wanting to come on this camp; not really having a strong faith in God; and not really believing in God before he feels him or sees him for himself. After our conversation including both of us sharing about our struggles in life and what our thoughts were on things, I asked if I could pray for him and he agreed.

My prayer was that God would reveal himself in Darun life and that he would put people around him that would be able to encourage him in things of God and not of this world. I really felt that I made a connection with Darun and that because of my openness he felt more comfortable in sharing his concerns with me and I was able to listen.

I would have to say that my first experience of an Avalanche camp has been absolutely incredible. Although I didn’t get much sleep because of Raj snoring all night, it didn’t really matter cause the adrenaline and energy of the young people really kept me going through the times when I was feeling exhausted. The young people remained enthusiastic the whole time even when they were wet and tired, and I feel I really was encompassed by this and found myself feeling very good about everything.

I can’t wait ‘til the next camp!