The Ark camp is the place where everyone can feel what it's like to arrive at God's loving home. It is especially important to experience this for those children whose memories of coming home are not warmth and acceptance, but anxiety and difficulty. In the biggest opportunity-creating program of the Hungarian Reformed Church, the walls between the deaf, the intellectually disabled and the average family background come down. The staff of the Reformed Newspaper visited one of the July tours of the camp in Balatonfenyves.
"Listen and dance with me!" - thunders the former leader of the hit list in the Bárka camp. Most of the children take the choreography well, especially when everyone starts laughing when they run around giving each other a pat. In this frenzy, we get to know Mariann Szirányi, the "chief executive", the coordinator of the children's leisure activities. Colorful bracelets on her hands, a small boat in her ears, no coincidence, since we are in the Bárka camp of the Reformed Church. A staff member of the Adventures and Dreams Professional Workshop says that tonight they will be addressing young people in the language of video games. – We play video games with the children and campers, because teenagers know this world well. In order to achieve their goals, the protagonists develop themselves and strengthen their existing abilities. This is also how we get ahead in real life.
The frame story of the camp was inspired by Noah's ark, the ark travelers were called by God. At Camp Barka, all campers receive a title upon arrival. The children are the sailors of the ark; the spiritual leaders, the fishermen; the volunteers responsible for the children's needs are the deckhands; coxswains are coordinators of recreational games; the leaders of the morning experiential pedagogic sessions are the captains; the leaders of the tours are the explorers, the staff of the Synodal Office, who created the conditions for the camp, and the ship's carpenters. Each shift is staffed by a health officer and flight guides who accompany children.
"...I trust in you, you are the Lord, I have nothing to fear anymore, because you live in me..."
This security is also the theme of the song sung in devotion, which is led by Júlia Viola Pálfalvi, the "chief fisherman", that is, the theology student responsible for spirituality. – We want to introduce the children to God. We supplement the experiential pedagogy method with religious experiences, thus conveying God's message. We cannot preach among children in the traditional way, because then they will shut up and not even hear what we say. We have just thrown a colorful umbrella among the children, thus illustrating how God invites us into communion with himself and with each other.
The Bárka camp is the largest camp of the Hungarian Reformed Church, where 1,500 children go on holiday for free at Lake Balaton every year. There are many of them who suffer a significant disadvantage on a daily basis due to poverty, discrimination and abuse. I want to strengthen the young people spiritually in overcoming the difficulties caused by their disadvantaged situation, through the camp experiences and the relationship with God.
Source, full article and featured image: reformatus.hu
