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Highlights of Last Year's Camp
“Art and Soul” was our theme for 2007. Camp started with an all-family
potluck dinner. This first night of Camp allowed returning families to reconnect and welcome many new families from all over the country.
For the first time in our nine year history, a new family breakfast was held. This gave new families a chance to meet many of the directors and coordinators of camp and to ask questions. It also gave the kids time to meet new friends and start forming bonds with families who have previously attended camp.
Our
powerful lineup of programming included many commanding speakers for all
ages.
Adult programming offered a variety of workshops on a variety of topics,
including:
The ever popular transracial adoptee panel. Rhonda Roorda, Tina Pihl, and
Carla Goar all shared their experience of growing up with white parents.
Their honesty
and openness is an amazing show of strength and courage. This workshop continues
to be the most requested and most highly praised on the annual feedback survey.
Stranz Salon came to camp and gave a very informative talk regarding taking
care of the skin and hair of our black and biracial children. The presenters
were quite knowledgeable and took the time to share their wealth of information
with parents. Questions were asked and answered throughout the entire presentation
and many parents continued the conversation during the evening activities.
What is Racial Profiling and when is it lawful contact? This presentation was shared with our teenagers, as well as with parents. Di Holmes and JC Cooper helped us all to understand what to do if our children get pulled over by the police; how to identify if our kids are being racially profiled and when it is lawful for a police officer to approach a person. We all walked away from this session with a greater sense and understanding of the legal system.
The middle school and high school kids were treated to a variety of speakers
and activities including:
CHELSYE J. BURROWS
Entertainment Public Relations
This session provided a brief look at the exciting world of entertainment publicity
at one of the largest premium movie providers, Starz Entertainment. The discussion
included tactics and strategies used by the cable network’s corporate
communications department to help publicize its hit movies and original programming
and the talent that create and star in them, to consumers, the media and industry
professionals.
Kusogea Nobi Drum Ensemble
A journey of Drums, Percussion and Song
The Kusogea Nobi Drum Ensemble traced the roots of traditional drumming of
various styles from Africa. This 60-minute workshop taught students the ABC’s
of traditional drumming. By learning the drum “alphabet” (bass,
tone and slap) students realized that learning to drum is not unlike learning
to read and write. Math, phrasing, punctuation, brain stimulation, history
and geography were all incorporated into this workshop. Through hands-on participation,
students learned that drumming is related to many daily activities in school
and life.
Riki Harada
RIX’s syle progressive Hip Hop Dance Culture
In this workshop, students danced to their favorite music while learning
original dance routines or music video dance choreography. They learned moves
like the “moon
walk” and the “body wave” and included “breaking” just
for kids.
Our elementary aged students attended programming especially created for them and taught by some of the following amazing people!
Trans-Racial Adoptee Tina Pihl was adopted at 10-months old in Canada and
her parents moved to the United States when she was four years old. She enjoyed
talking to parents and mentoring children through the trans-racial adoption
experience. Year after year, Tina continues to play a key in African Caribbean
Heritage Camp.
Art Therapist, Teacher and Traveler Katherine Reed is an Art Therapist and
Manager of the Ponzio Creative Arts Therapy Program at The Children's Hospital
of Denver.
After eight years of teaching art in public schools, Katherine traveled to
West Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Her two years in a small village of
Burkina Faso, West Africa, shaped her ongoing passion of building community
through the arts. The children were able to experience art while expressing
ideas and view about adoption and who they are.
Dancer, Teacher and Choreographer Jessi Knight Walker is a dancer, teacher,
and choreographer from Pittsboro, NC. She began her training as a scholarship
student at Dancentre in Chapel Hill under the instruction and mentorship of
Mary Norkus and Melody Eggen. There Jessi discovered a love of expression through
movement, as well as a gift for working with young children.
Jessi led the children in a number of dance steps creating and supporting each child while demonstrating our theme beautifully. Many students chose to “show off” their newly learned dance at closing ceremonies.
When not attending educational programs, younger campers played freely
while under close watch of their trained counselors, while the teens
spent time with their peers. Most of the time, impromptu games were
started when campers were given playtime choices or opportunities to
relax with their parents.
Our 2007 Market was very successful, due to the fine work of our parent
volunteers. Our free time was spent browsing and buying books, artifacts,
clothes and toys representing African/African American and Caribbean
culture.
The food for the lunches we all shared together was also provided by hard working parent, aunt, and uncle volunteers, and was a delicious way to spend time together in a beautiful Rocky Mountain setting.
Our camp is inclusive of children adopted from Africa, Haiti, and the U.S.,
(all were represented in 2007), and of their families, including birth siblings
or siblings adopted from other countries and cultures. We are an open and friendly
camp, and look forward to seeing you here with us in 2008!
For more pictures of African/Caribbean Camp 2007 click here
Though we have generated some good support from Denver's African American community, we still need YOUR help. We need more community volunteers to work with the kids, teach workshops, cook authentic cultural meals, perform dance and music, etc., MOST importantly, we are looking for high school and college-aged African Americans to be counselors at camp, acting as role models for the children and spending time with them throughout the two days of camp. Please consider volunteering for this rewarding position!
As a non-profit 501 C(3) organization, African/Caribbean Heritage Camp is always seeking financial assistance to help keep camp costs reasonable for families, and still provide an outstanding program. If you'd like to help, please go to the Donations section of this web site, and thank you very much in advance.
We are also in need of donations of frequent
flier miles to help defray costs of out of state speakers. If
you have miles you can donate please email us at info@heritagecamps.org
We hope to see you at camp this summer. For further information, please contact us.
