Over the past few weeks, we’ve been busy with one of our favorite annual events—Summer Camp! Once again, our team at the Cultural Center put together an incredible summer camp for children across our community. These weeks are something that many of our children look forward to all year, and this year was no exception.
Thanks to our recent Cultural Center renovations, we had more space to add new activities and find even more avenues to connect with children. “The Seeds of Hope Cultural Center has a contagious positive energy,” said the mother of one of our Summer Camp students. “Every year, they make us happy and our children joyful. The atmosphere is always full of energy and love.”
Check out some of the fun that our children experienced at this year’s Summer Camp!
Beyond all the fun and games, that positive atmosphere is the true goal of Summer Camp. We want children to experience the love and acceptance of our team and carry that positivity into the rest of their lives. We’ve seen the long-term impact that an environment like Seeds of Hope can have, and we want that for as many children in our community as possible.
This long-term impact not only helps children and families but ended up helping Seeds of Hope as well. Last year, with limited travel in our area due to the pandemic, we could not host a project team to help with Summer Camp. Thankfully, some of the older children stepped up to pour back into the younger children as leaders. They all loved serving so much that we had to do it again this year!
“This is the harvest of eight years of working with some of these children,” said Simon Shaheen, Cultural Center Director. “We thought we saw all they were capable of last year, but this year, they blew it out of the water. We allowed them to make little mistakes to learn and grow from them. They stepped up and were a great example to the campers.”
This time, our students got to serve alongside a project team from North Point Ministries that was able to return for the first time since 2019. It’s always an encouragement to have project teams in Jericho, but this team’s impact was multiplied as they served the children attending camp and also invested in the next generation of local leaders by serving alongside our older students.
PHOTO: Zeina and Hala, two of our student leaders, helped keep activities running smoothly during camp.
“To see some of the kids as junior camp leaders just demonstrated how well Seeds of Hope’s programs are working,” said Alex, one of the project team members. “It was amazing to see how much they had grown and matured.”
“It’s so good for the kids that they had some of their own peers and friends who are just a little older to look up to,” said Doc, another project team member. “It sets such a beautiful example for everyone involved.”
This year’s camp truly was the best of both worlds. We had the support and encouragement of a project team and a new generation of local leaders, all pouring into our children and reminding them how loved they are. It’s a powerful reminder of the generational change Seeds of Hope is investing in, both in the Middle East and around the world.
