OLEMA, CA: Gandhi Youth Camp is a residential one week camp to be held August 3-10 at the beautiful 2500 acre Vedanta Society Retreat in Olema, California near Point Reyes.
Now celebrating its 28th year, there are still openings for boys and girls 10-17 years old (grades 5-12).
Gandhi Youth Camp has been held annually once every year for the last 27 years in the rolling foothills of beautiful mountains and surrounded by majestic beauty. The camp has been led by Dr. S. N. Subba Rao, who has dedicated his life to youth development, and he visits us every year from India.
The camp can take only about 45 boys and girls. It has been run by a dedicated group of adult volunteers and youth counselors. This one week camp is offered at a much lower rate than many other camps of similar nature. This has been made possible by the generous use of the camping facility by the Vedanta Society, in addition to the efforts and energy put in by the parents and youth. Indeed, the Gandhi Youth camp provides such an excellent environment for one week that children who attend this camp simply love it very much and look forward to revisiting every year.
Gandhi Youth Camp promotes the strong value system of our Indian heritage, self-discipline, non-violence and leadership involving community service.
These principles are integrated in several activities that go on throughout the day.
The day begins with 6 am wakeup, an optional morning run followed by a meditation session with prayer in many religions and physical exercises often directed by youth counselors. After breakfast, the campers go on to several different work projects in groups of 5 and 6 where they work together the whole morning which is over 3 hours of physical labor.
Some examples of the work projects are trail blazing (involve cutting down the excess growth after winter rains to maintain roads and trails in the surrounding beautiful forest), gardening (planting new trees and shrubs and weeding), fixing pavements, painting barns and decks, and maintenance projects involving carpentry work.
These work projects are a unique feature of this particular youth camp usually not available at other camps. This has been made possible by the collaboration of the monks at the Vedanta Society who allow generous use of their property at Olema, California, located near the Point Reyes National Sea Shore, about two hours north of San Francisco.
After an exuberating morning’s work, campers come back for a light snack. While they meet and greet each other take bath and get ready for lunch. The afternoon program is filled with a variety of fun activities that include group dancing, t-shirt painting, discussions and games.
The highlight is the group game activities that Subba Raoji weaves so skillfully that it wins everybody’s heart and mind. Children, youth and adult, boys and girls, everybody looks forward eagerly to these group games that inculcate a sense of belonging, sharing and caring. This is a truly delightful experience not to be missed by anyone.
After the evening snack, many other activities follow where campers hook up with each other and while parents wonder if they are feeling tired, the young campers go on working, enjoying, and sharing tirelessly to everybody’s amazement. And yes, the campers participate in every camp activity including cleaning and cooking. Where do they get all this energy from?
Before dinner, Subba Raoji conducts a prayer and discussion section. After dinner, the campers plan out cultural events, jeopardy type of games to learn Gandhiji’s principles, and the newsletter.
India Post News Service
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