December 2007
CITW MALAWI CAMP DECEMBER 1st – 13th 2007 ( MVUU CAMP)

Children in the Wilderness at Mvuu Camp December 2007 – truly a fantastic experience. Overall the two camps run at Mvuu were well-organised and fun for the kids, filled with high energy and lots of participation from the mentors. Prior to the camp, a five-day orientation was conducted for 32 staff, after which 12 staff went back home and 20 participated in the two camps.

The first group of 24 kids arrived on 1st December in the afternoon and returned on the 6th. These kids were from Naifulu (eastern) side of Liwonde National Park in which Mvuu is situated. This community is popularly known for poaching. Two mentors and a guide went to pick up the kids who were then escorted by the National Park Scout from the gate to Mvuu. The kids were welcomed with some very high-energy mentors singing fun songs!

The second group of 24 kids arrived on 8th December from Nanthomba which is on the western side of the park. The western side is popularly known for fishing in the Shire River. After welcoming the kids, the three golden camp rules were introduced in a fun way: No fighting; Always be with your mentor; and Respect each other.

After dinner the campfire was perfectly done and most children really started to open up and relax. The days that followed were packed with various activities such as Permaculture nutrition, HIV/AIDS and First AID, Game drive, Boat safari, Future planning, Stage night, Election night, Award night, Newsletter writing etc. This was the first time we introduced newsletter writing as an activity to give an opportunity to those kids with writing skills to be able to express themselves through writing and drawing. This activity revealed that some kids are very creative and they were able to translate what they had learnt into a drawing or a poem. This also gave us a quick feedback that learning was taking place.

Stephen Mwale, a USAID representative, came to see what was going on at the camp and was really impressed with the way we run our activities.



Most of the news that the kids wrote about and the drawings that they drew focused on wildlife. Generally the campers were very excited to learn more about wildlife. Precious Benson was one of the participants who was excited to participate in the camps and was eager to see animals like elephants and hippos. Precious said that he used to hear that at Mvuu Camp elephants and other wild animals come close to where the people are and they do not threaten them or cause any damage. “Unlike at home where we are always afraid of elephants because they cause a lot of damage to our crops as well as houses. Once we hear that an elephant is coming the whole village would run away for their lives,” said Precious. While Precious was at the camp, on more than three days, elephants walked through the camp and he was thrilled to see them so close! During the game drive Precious was one of the kids who asked many questions about wildlife in general, and took notes all the time. Precious said he had never seen most of the animals which he saw at the camp and was really excited about this.

Camp stories
During one of the stage nights Joseph Samuel wrote a news report and read it. In his report he talked about the weather forecast and said once the campers have left on Thursday the following day there would be a strong and stinky wind blowing at the camp which will affect the mentors only as the campers would have left and the only way to stop that was to let the campers stay on for another day or two. So he begged the Mentors to change the programme and allow the group to stay for a little longer or else that wind would surely come! The message behind this was that the kids enjoyed staying at the camp and did not want to go home.



Coincidentally during the second week of the camps there was a very heavy rain which came with a very strong wind and removed the roof from the chalet where Simon and Joseph (Camp director and assistant) were sleeping! Everybody started laughing and recalling what Joseph had said during the stage night. Joseph Samuel was a former participant who had aspired to become the Coordinator for Children in the Wilderness once he finished school. Presently, he has just written his Standard 8 exams and he was optimistic that he would be selected to go to secondary school. The funniest thing that he did at the camp was that each time we are having meals he wanted to sit next to Gladys who is the Coordinator and was asking so many questions on how he could become what Gladys is.

Both at the beginning and end of the camp, the Camp Manager for Mvuu came to speak to the kids and encourage them to work hard. Dinala Kankhuni is the Assistant Manager for Mvuu and he encouraged the kids on the importance of staying in school and working hard so that they can also work for Mvuu once they finish school. The representative from National Parks and Wildlife Mr Dzimba also gave a speech to the kids on importance of taking care of the Wildlife. He told them that they should not look at these people who work for the Park as enemies but they should see that as people who want to preserve the wildlife so that when these children grow up they will still have the wildlife intact for them to enjoy.

CHILDREN IN THE WILDERNESS CREATES A NETWORK OF LEARNING SANCTUARIES WHICH UPLIFT, CONSERVE AND CARE FOR OUR CHILDREN AND OUR PLANET