Little gentlemen

On the elevated walkway at SANAA, the water treatment plant

The past two weeks, Camp Hope and Camp Ágape have ventured out on Special Friday as a united front.  The kids from Camp Hope in Nueva Esperanza pile into a van and make the ten-minute drive over to San Pedrito Abajo where Camp Ágape is held.  The children often don't know each other, even though they are from the same town.  Katie, the director of Camp Hope, and I are hoping to create a friendly relationship between the children at the two camps; we're all one big UPH family.

I've been a little nervous about the collaboration.  Kids are unpredictable.  There's always a chance they'll hit it off wonderfully and bond over soccer teams and three-legged races, but they also might be perpetually shy and possibly even rude because "those kids are from that neighborhood" or "she looked at me funny and I don't know her."  Katie and I chatted about how to mesh the kids well, avoiding competition between camps, trying to facilitate their getting to know one another in a relaxed environment.  It's almost like when two moms decide that their children would be great for one another and take it upon themselves to set them up.  We're introducing the two camps with high hopes that everyone will be life-long friends, but still trying to make it look as natural as possible so no one knows they're being set up.  Sometimes it's successful.  Sometimes it's not.

Alejandra (LiderJoven @ Camp Ágape) escorting two of our medianos.

Well, hold your breath no longer.  It went well.  Last week, Katie and I were both pleasantly surprised at the camaraderie and good behavior displayed.  While I would love to take the credit for Camp Ágape's shining manners, I have to give credit to our wonderful youth leaders.

Pictured here, we see Alejandra with her arms around two young boys, Emerson and Didier, from Camp Ágape.  This shot was snapped during the last part of their tour of the water treatment plant in Copan Ruinas.  Didier and Emerson were the only boys in this tour group and the only campers from Camp Ágape.  Alejandra was assigned to mind them during this outing.  As they walked through the different parts of the water plant, Alejandra was consistently reminding them to hold back and let the little ladies of Camp Hope walk through first.  She referred to them as her little gentlemen and they therefore acted accordingly.  

I was impressed not only by the "little gentlemen", but also Alejandra's keen sense of proper behavior towards the little girls of Camp Hope.  I was happy to see that it wasn't just a desire of mine and Katie's that the camps meshed well, but that we were getting good support from our leaders on this front as well.  Alejandra's attitude and actions showed me that she understands that this is not just another job, but that she is actually contributing to the social development and character of the kids she works at camp.