This is the on-line version of the Little Lights newsletter we sent out last summer. Here are the stories and reflections of some our team members: Tim, Gloria, Jonathan, Jessica, Mei-Jean, Mason, and Tina. Please continue to keep this ministry in your thoughts and prayers! Enjoy!
Tina Ko’s Reflections
Before and during camp, I tried to keep in mind why I was there. Why Camp Heaven was there. I would enjoy the experience, hopefully, learn something, change, grow, etc. But I volunteered for this camp for the children (or at least, I should have, intentions are never wholly honorable). To yell at them (for good reasons), to discipline them (which I didn’t do much of), to keep them in line, to give them structure, and at the same time, hopefully, to help them, play with them, bless them, and just love them as I love myself.There was a guy named JP at camp. He was very… exemplary, and funny, and good at magic tricks. He led devotions every morning. On the second to last day the passage we read from the Bible was Mark 10: 17-31. It was about a rich man. He asked the Lord what he had to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus said: “…You know the commandments: Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.” When the man said he had done all this, Jesus told him he lacked one thing. He told the rich man to sell everything he had, to give to the poor, then come and follow Him. This happened before Jesus died to pay for our sins, so I believe the rich can enter the Kingdom without giving everything up, because Jesus gave everything. But the two greatest commandments still tell us that the most important things are God, first and foremost, and people, whom God loves.What JP really talked about and stressed was that all our good fortune, all our success is built upon someone else’s misery, mistreatment, completely unfair lack of opportunity in life. When Jesus listed some of the commandments to the rich man, he slipped in one that isn’t listed elsewhere: “do not defraud.” To defraud is to cheat, to pay someone less than they deserve, or to accept more than you deserve. The riches we have were given to us or made on the forced labor of slaves, and multiplied unfairly because of racism and prejudices. Yes, we work hard, and sacrifice, so do others. But because of the color of their skin and the reputations we give them that are unearned and unfairly based of prejudices, discrimination, and stereotypes, their work even today yields less than deserved and our work more. We may not have cheated anyone directly, but we have benefited from it.So I guess I have changed (which isn’t a bad thing). The next time I baby-sit, I’ll try to be more patient, and if someone asks politely I’ll (try) to give the task all I’ve got. I’ve learned that people are important and that it’s partly because of me that the poor get poorer and the rich richer. It’s not because they’re worthless or a waste of effort, it’s because I treat them as worthless and a waste of effort. The kids I worked with (the five and six year old girls) are very nice. I miss them, even though I only knew them for four days, because they are so missable. –Tina
Meijean Hsu’s Reflections
Before our first day of volunteering at Camp Heaven, I felt nervous because I didn’t know what to expect. I’ve never had to watch over so many kids before. My previous experience with children was only with little Taiwanese kids, and all I had to do then was pop a Disney video into the VCR and relax. The fact that I would have to deal with misbehavior and disobedience scared me because I didn’t want to seem like a mean person. The challenge that I saw ahead of me was learning how to discipline the kids and sharing God’s love with them at the same time.
The first day of camp was also my first taste of how the staff disciplines the children. Two girls I was playing with got into a minor scrape over monkey bars. They immediately got punished by one of the staff. I felt bad because I was supposed to be taking care of them, but from then on I was sterner when I told kids not to misbehave. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. They listened to you most of the time, and if they didn’t, there was always the counselor or, for more extreme cases, Ms. Linda.One thing I learned during our stay in D.C was that the children are a lot like the ones we’re familiar with back in suburbia. They like to sing, play, do sports, and watch movies, but there’s a difference in the way they act because of all they things they have been exposed to. At first I wasn’t sure how to talk with them. I didn’t want to say anything that would offend them. Over time, we all became more comfortable with each other, although the older ones are harder to talk to.A week at the camp didn’t feel like enough. We just got to know some of the kids and then we had to leave. I felt that I learned some important things about their culture, the history of the “black ghettos” (from the DVD that JP showed us) and also about myself. I know I’ll definitely go again next year, and I encourage other people to volunteer too. –MJ
Mason Hsu’s Reflections
I can’t really think of an introductory statement right now, so I guess I’ll just start off the article. In case you guys didn’t already know, Little Lights is a non-profit organization dedicated to showing the love of Christ to inner-city kids in D.C. (more…)
