Younger Children Summer Camp 2023

Last week, the second summer camp was held in Deir Rafat from Monday to Thursday.

This time, the summer camp was for younger ages, specifically ages 6-12.

The theme for this camp was the verse "Mary got up and quickly went to the mountain region, to one of the cities of Judah" (Luke 1:39). Since they are younger children, we focused more on teaching them the biblical story and the prayer of Hail Mary.

On the first day, the children were divided into groups and received the color of their group. They had to find a name for the group and prepare a song or anthem. It turned out that the little children are very talented, and the products they created were beautiful!

After that, we continued the day with activities together, food, a pool we set up in the yard, which the children enjoyed the most mainly due to the hot days, a movie, and more.

At the end of the summer camp, the children participated in lessons given by Fr. Apolinary. The first lesson was connected to the theme of the camp and a verse from the Gospel according to Luke. In the second lesson, the theme was about the three youngest children who were declared as saints.

In addition to classes for children, there were also cooking and art classes, prayers, Holy Mass, games, and group competitions.

The special thing about this camp was that, for the first time, young people from the youth group, aged 15-16, were part of the team of instructors. They did a wonderful job, and it was amazing to see them take an active part and guide those younger than them.

We concluded the summer camp on Thursday. The first part of the day was a continuation of the classes (cooking and art), and the second part was the closing activities - group meetings, cleaning, announcing the winning team, and, of course, the closing mass.

About 20 children and approximately 12 staff members and instructors participated in the camp.

It was a fun camp, and the little kids had a lot of fun!

Thanks to everyone for the help and making the summer camp a success: Luca, John, Luisa, Rosario, Neta, May, Jessa!

We would like to thank the Aid to the Church in Need for the financial support.