Written by a Link CC member:
Last Friday, I participated in a summer camp organized by Link CC. Despite the heatwave, I was animated, and the moment I stepped onto the bus, I saw smiling faces and to my surprise, two of my great friends sitting in the back. I no longer felt lonely and for once, wondered what the camp would be like.
As we arrived at the Ranch, we were treated by the sight of a large, oval shaped lake, and as we turned a corner, we saw scores of tipis. Tipis were circular tents used by the Native Americans from the Plains region. On the tipi’s cover were drawings of the sky, the rainbow, the earth, and the mountains, there were also illustrations of bison; they were all part of Native American spiritual beliefs and way of life.
We rode a tractor pulled wagon for a journey around the Ranch. The seats were hay bales and smelled of dry grass. They were hard to seat on and felt prickly; when we got off, our bodies were covered in hay. The ground was uneven, sometimes we were lifted off our hay seats when we hit a pothole. It felt as if we were farmers returning home from a day in the fields.Then, we went to an extremely challenging ropes course. One of the courses there was called the rope bridge. In fact, it wasn’t even a “bridge”. It was two ropes about the size of bananas. One rope was tied between two poles, it was six meters in length and forty centimeters off the ground, and this was the deck of the “bridge”. The other rope was only tied to the top of one pole, and was the railings of the “bridge”. The deck of the “bridge” was exceedingly unstable, whenever someone stepped on it, it will rock violently. You had to pull the rope tightly, and then slowly inch towards the end. After many failed attempts, I managed to cross the “bridge”.
Next, we played a game of icebreakers. We were supposed to throw balls and hacky sacks at another person and tell them your name, in no time, we were all familiar with each other.
After lunch, we went canoeing and swimming in the lake; this was the high point of the summer camp. It was fun to explore the lake and splash other canoers with your paddle but it was scary because the canoes kept shaking, giving us an impression that we were going to fall off at any moment. Swimming in the deep, emerald water was an enjoyable thing. It protected us from the rathe of the heat wave and cleared our minds. When we were playing games, we discovered a muskrat in the nearby cattails; however, no one could get near because it was so fast.
At the end of the day, we played the games Samurai and Knights, Horses, Cavaliers. Everyone worked together cooperatively and had enjoyed every moment of the game.
During that day, we played together, we ate together, and chatted together. That day, we went from strangers to close friends. The summer camp let us experience ranch life, exercise and gain stamina, and meet new friends. That was such a memorable day, I can’t wait to go back!