Children of Madaifu’s1st Summer CampJuly 14-22 2013

Our goals• Gather together a group of 30 children in a nice environment

and combine learning and pleasure over a week.• Surrounded by a team of French/Chinese professionals and

volunteers who offered a range of skills and activities in a warm and supportive way.

• Get a good mix of children who seem stable and confident and some of the

more fragile ones.• Get them to open up, establish friendships, learn to work together as part of a team.• Leave behind their daily worries and feel carefree for a while.

How it went

• 28 primary school children from 3 different counties in Gansu (+2 teacher’s sons)

• Age range: 10-14 yrs old• Location: Shanmen Middle School, Qingshui county• Duration: 1 week• Budget: RMB 50 000

Approximate cost : RMB 56 300• Children, staff and material’s transportation:RMB 25 000• Food and cooks’ salaries:RMB 8300• Equipment:RMB 10 000• Children and staff’s bedding and crockery: RMB 10 000• Children’s insurance and miscellaneous costs:RMB 3000

Transport costs have been reduced as some volunteers decided to pay their own tickets

　 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

7h Wake up,.. Wake up,.. Wake up,.. 　 　 　 　

8h Breakfast Breakfast Breakfast Breakfast Breakfast Breakfast Breakfast

9h Class Be Better Class Be Better Class Be Better Native American Totem English class

Native American Teepee+

Isy’s activitiesCooking

+Native American

Clothes

9h45 Break Break Break Break Break

10h Class Be Better Class Be Better Class Be Better Native American Totem English class

10h45

Break(snacks) Break(snacks) Break(snacks) Break(snacks) Break(snacks)

11h "Activities room" "Activities room" "Activities room" "Activities room" "Activities room" Free time

12h Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch Lunch

13h Free time Free time Free time Free time Free time

Thermal baths

Free time

15h Class Be Better Class Be Better

English classNative American

drawings

English class(fruit salad)

Isy’s activities

Native American clothes

+ Party setup

15h45

Break (snacks) Break (snacks)

16h Class Be Better Class Be Better

16h45

Free time Free time Free time Free time

18h Diner Diner Diner Diner Diner Diner Diner

18h30

Laundry Laundry Laundry Laundry Laundry Laundry

Party+

Film: Ice Age

19h30

Film : Kung Fu Panda Party Film: Pocahontas FIlm: MadagascarHiking +

Film: Harry PotterEnd of Harry Potter

21h Go to bed Go to bed Go to bed Go to bed Go to bed Go to bed

21h30

Switch off light Switch off light Switch off light Switch off light Switch off light Switch off light

Activities and tools

• Outdoors sports equipment (ping-pong, ball games, skipping ropes, water pistols)

• Multimedia library• Toys and board games• Hiking, painting, singing, dancing , cooking, English classes, self-expression, arts & crafts• Overall theme: Native American Indians

Feedback• The summer camp’s preparationEveryone was satisfied with the location, Shanmen being very quiet, green and mountainous. The number of children was appropriate and the materials bought in preparation were all adequate and sufficient.

The only real drawback was the Bathhouse’s defective pump, which meant the children couldn’t shower every day, as planned. A trip to a local bathhouse and a big group-shampooing were opportunities to instill good hygiene habits.

• Be Better association’s activitiesThrough lively social & financial education programs, Be Better motivates children & youth to think critically, and help them to grow up into responsible citizens with a will to act collectively for a better world.

They very kindly agreed to come and animate activities for the first three days, which were very well received by both children and staff. The activities were a lot of fun and allowed the children to express themselves and their aspirations.

English classesThe English teacher’s goal was to show the children that English can be fun and interesting by teaching them songs, recipes that were later used in the kitchen and various games. He managed to make the lessons very lively and got the children to participate actively, despite the big differences in level.

Isy’s activitiesAiming to get the children to come out of their shell, she devised several exercises which were completely new to them. It taught them how to interact better with others and helped the shyer ones. She also helped organised the final day parade but wished she could have stayed more than just four days.

The American Indian activitiesThis theme was chosen because it was distant from both Western and Chinese culture and could lead to many creative activities (drawing, painting, make-up, jewellery making etc). It also helped the children learn how to work in teams and develop their imagination.

• The childrenThe children were of course the high-point of the summer camp. They were a real delight and the staff found them to be kind, disciplined and enthusiatic, as well as easy to deal with. The number of children seemed appropriate (16 girls/ 12 boys + 2 teacher’s sons).Over the course of the week, we noticed a real change in the behaviour of the few children who are usually shy and sad-looking, who gradually opened up, integrated the group well, and just had lots of fun!To have to deal with foreign adults whose Chinese skills were sometimes lacking was also a good opportunity for them to be in a position to be the ones who help, which was an unforeseen aspect of the experience.

• The staff Even though the Chinese level of the French staff was far from perfect, the Chinese team made a real effort to make communication smooth and did its best to grasp the essence of the project. Each member of staff had their own responsibilities, which were complementary with the rest of the team’s, thus creating a balanced and harmonious work environment.Visiting members of Tianshui’s Education Bureau, who has always been supportive of our actions, welcomed this initiative.

Summer Camp 2014All the conditions are met for us to start planning for next

year’s summer camp. We will keep the same number of children, who will still be in primary school and simply replace those who move up to middle school with younger ones. We are still looking for next year’s theme and teachers and, of course, for funding… More money would allow us to organise more outings and activities.

Our team• Madaifu’s Baoji Office:– 李义熙 Li Yixi, Local manager– 杨军 Yang Jun, Assistant local manager– 张亮亮 Zhang Liangliang, Intern (formerly

supported by Children of Madaifu)• Madaifu Beijing– Marc L’Huillier, Intern – Acting programme manager– Isy Chautemps, Actor and director– Hélène Kerdilès, Volunteer– 李诗云 Li Shiyun, Volunteer

And many thanks to• 胥江 Steven Xu, Be Better Association• 秦海鹏 Qin Haipeng, English teacher• 刘娟 Liu Juan, Psychologist• 张丹 Zhang Dan, Teacher (Gangu Education Bureau)• 王旭东 Wang Xudong, Teacher (Tianshui Education Bureau)• 王崇新 Wang Congxin, Teacher (Qingshui)• 伏喜梅 Fu Ximei, Teacher (Shanmen)• 马春苗 Ma Chunmiao, Teacher (Gangu Education Bureau)• Shanmen cooks

Organizing the Summer Camp would not have been possible without the generous help from Viva International and all those kindhearted people who bought our Apples !