“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were. Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.” ~John Donne
How true it is that each individual is not an island yet every man is a piece of the continent- a vital component of the larger picture. Here at Rainbow Christian Camp, we, being the summer staff and full year staff, must depend on each other to live through the summer of crazy campers. We work with camp deans who organize their week of camp, schools and leadership programs, outside groups who rent our facilities, and many more groups who come to use our facilities. A lot of time and energy is used to run this place smoothly. The key to doing so? Good communication.
Communication is defined as a continuous transactional process involving participants who occupy different but overlapping environments and create relationships through the exchange of messages. Do we ever have to communicate! Each day, we come here to camp for a common goal, yet we are all involved with different parts. There are the office people who take care of the finances, bookings, and all the paperwork. Maintenance people who fix everything and keep the grounds looking nice. Summer staff who are here to support and follow directions from the all year camp staff. Through effective communication, we are able to accomplish our goal of communicating a safe and enriching environment for campers.
Parents could send their children to a foreign island of isolation during the summer break, but what would that accomplish? The lack of communication with others has actually been proven to be harmful emotionally and physically. By sending their kids to RCC, they are helping them with their needs of communication. The needs are physical, identical, social, and practical and a week at camp can be used as training grounds of how to communicate with others.
For our physical health, we need to communicate with people. The presence or lack of communication affects our bodies. Socially isolated people are four times more susceptible to the common cold than people with active social networks. By placing children in cabins and groups, we are creating a sense of an active social network. This morning, we had a girl who “felt sick” and wanted to go home. This could be true for home sickness does place an ill on our bodies. We followed procedures and asked again around lunch time. By then, her cabin had completed some tasks together and she formed slight bonds with some of the girls. By interacting and communicating, our physical needs can be met.
Campers can range from the kindergarten day camp to the week wilderness hike high schoolers. In each stage of life, we learn more about who we are by those around us. Our sense of identity comes from the way we interact with others and how they react to us. This week while having 4th-6th graders, campers will not only compare themselves physically as some are starting to mature, but they will also compare who they are and what they do to others around them. Around the campfire, one girl explained how she saw God through the girls in her cabin. “I learned that we are a lot a like even though we are from different places. I even learned that some girls use a blow dryer to dry off their butt after a shower.” Although it was a rather humorous remark to me, it made me realize how we all have our quirks. I don’t personally know anyone who uses a blow dryer to dry their butt, but for that girl it meant opening her eyes to being okay with differences in others and herself.
Social needs are met here. Campers have needs of belonging to a group, self worth, accomplishment, and relaxation. They need that vital link with others. The daughter of a guest speaker came up to me one night to chat. She is only 11 but stayed here for the high school week with her dad. Not being the same age as others can be difficult, yet for her it was the first time she felt loved outside of her immediate family. Her social need of love and affection was meant that week. Her tears on my shoulder reminded me of how schools lack meeting social needs and that children can be cruel to one another. Here, we put children in situations where they may talk to people they don’t usually which opens the doors of communication while they get to know each other resulting in a happy camper at the end of the week.
The last reason we communicate is for practical goals. When there is something that has to be done, you have to learn a way to communicate it to others. Instrumental goals are how we get others to behave the ways we want. As staff, we use instrumental communication all the time. We explain the directions to put on a climbing harness, tell them when the rotations change from swimming to rec time, and the correct fashion of putting away their dishes after a meal. Campers improve their communication skills, which are the ability to speak and listen effectively, by learning new games, explaining where they saw God during the day in a verbal manner, and hopefully become wiser through out the week.
As John Donne stated,”No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent…” we are all a piece of something larger than ourself. At the end of the summer camp week, campers not only have had fun getting dirty on the mud slide or being loud while singing silly songs, they are unconsciously working on improving their communication skills with those around them. We as summer staff are here to facilitate and see that all of their physical, identity, social and practical communication needs are met in a safe and enriching environment.
