Date:  July 27 - August 2, 2003

Contact:  Monica Weise, mweise@sympatico.ca

Co-Directors:  Linda Uhryniuk and Bruce Filson

Formal Name:  Rideau-Ottawa Bahá'í Schools Initiative

Camp Objectives:

• To study the teachings of the Bahá’í Faith
• To apply the teachings in daily life in an atmosphere of friendship and co-operation
• To foster an appreciation for the natural world and to understand its harmony and diversity
• To encourage the children to learn about themselves and each other and to promote unity
• To allow children to develop a network of Bahá'í friends from many communities

Background: I was asked to be the teacher for thirty-two 12-14 year olds for a recreational week at Camp Cameron near Perth, Ontario. Never having been to this 10-year running Bahá'í camp, I had no idea what to expect. I spent a few full days in the capable hands of the Seddigh's, preparing the program for these kids, having simply the themed title above to act as my guide. Having never taught children's classes and being largely ignorant of the capacities of these junior youth posed another challenge, as the tasks being asked of me required that I quickly acquire the needed insights and surmount my shortcomings and immerse myself into the discussion material. Here is the essence:

Pictures:

     Being able to display these is solely dependent on campers and counselors forwarding these to me for inclusion. Note that if you click 'View' then 'Status bar' in your browser window, when you point your mouse over someone's face in the picture above, their name will appear at the end of the address. Alternately, you can click on most people and their name will appear at the end of the URL in your browser's URL area.
       ● Set 1. From Navid. (18 pictures - 1MB)

Downloads:

• R.O.B.S.I. Brochure  ( - 400KB)
• Junior Youth Spiritual Program  ( -zipped - 800KB)   ( - 3,0000KB)  ( - 700KB)

Personal Statistics:

Self-Awarded Awards:

• Arm-Wrestling Champion
• Manly Man Co-Champion
• Roaké Grand Master
• Water-Wrestling King

Daily Journal:

Day 1 - Saturday

I arrive 2 1/2 hours late but 5 minutes before all the staff actually meet. Nice.

After a cordial meeting, I promptly get busted for being in the girls dorm (12-14yr olds); straight up busted. Actually, I was in there with Shaheen fixing a peephole into the boys dorm when I was distracted by Mahtab and company and pulled into a conversation. One of the ladies, playing games by hiding my car keys, lengthened the visit until in walks the Co-Director with (gasp) "Martin! You know you're not supposed to be in here!" (A rule which I was actually unaware) I calmly remonstrated that I was just lingering from a fix-it job, an explanation which she mercifully accepted...whew. Camp hadn't even officially started yet and I had almost earned the dubious appellation of a 'dorm-raider.'

The later afternoon consisted of playing a washed-up game of spades with a handful of muppets.

My first night is where the fun began. When they mentioned that there would be outhouses in the brochure I had remained skeptical—since where these days can you find such a historical fixture? Well both to my surprise and chagrin, they didn't lie! A smelly, rotting Porto-potty with a raunchy pile of excrement staring up in the middle of a crusty seat greeted my shiny cheeks. Holes and insecta littered the battered roof and tired walls in this classic throwback to the 1800s. The suffering had begun.

Of course, of the 50+ people at camp, I'm not in the main hall, or the dorms, or in the Indian circle of tents, but alone, in a remote part of camp, surrounded by dark forests and prowling murderers (of course).

Compounding matters were swarms of every flying critter you can imagine. Those usually solitary 4-inch long exotic-looking moths and swarms of blood-sucking 'bug-thingies' had taken over my sleeping and teaching hut. Achieving tranquility required not just murdering the visible ones but also actively denying that bugs could exist and not been seen—otherwise paranoia would inevitably develop about hidden bugs that'd wait until you were asleep to lay their larvae in your inviting facial orifices.

The spirit in the camp seems to be on nature preservation and kindness to animals—something that I'm down with until the little punks decide to inhabit my territory. So I developed two faces—one that I put on for campers and staff of a compassionate animal lover, and one that I wore privately that witnessed me wield an Adidas sandal like a Viking battle axe and with grunts that would put female tennis players to shame, summarily execute trespassers in my domain. I mean, what were these bugs thinking?

So, upon completing this very sentence, I'll have to suit up for a trip from my bed, out of the cabin, through the thick of flying insects, across a field to the rank, unlit toilet seat rising a few inches above an ever-growing pile of human waste. All to deposit a late-night, 3am tinkle.

update: I was saved by a little Yankee ingenuity. They say humans rather avoid pain than seek pleasure, which would only explain why I would empty out 2L of life-sustaining, succulent Mountain Dew and now have a private pee toilet right in my room! My new joke is now, 'Hey Payam, want some Mountain Dew?'

Day 2 - Sunday

My day's food consumption:

• Breakfast: 12 mini-wheats & 1/2 glass of orange juice. (All I ever ate for breakfast)
• Lunch: No idea what happened for lunch (I must have been sleeping)
• Dinner: Eat 2 things and a 1/2 glass of apple juice.

The campers came today and we began with some open sports games. We then went to the big hall for some prayers and and a formal introduction to the staff and counselors, all to the backdrop of games galore. We played a version of All My Friends where a devious and plotting Mahtab sinisterly tried to use episodes from my own website to embarrass me. I moved and wasn't stuck in the middle, but the two new people beside me—where I relocated—really stared me down.

We had our first of 2 bonfires today, (don't think Aggies, but more like a pile of lit matchsticks) where we heard the camper-led, spellbinding and comical tale of a Mexican drama put to simple guitar chords. Everyone was dumbstruck by the depth and pure entertainment-value of the story. Here the campers were mated with their counselors.

I spent 5 hours, until 3:00am preparing each micro step of tomorrow's classroom session. Not content on some advice to 'wing it' the first day and make adjustments for subsequent days, I put together a schedule I think will work beautifully. We'll see...

Day 3 - Monday

In my weary tiredness, did I sleep through class? No. After breakfast I spent a few panic moments doing final preparation. Without all the suspense, I rate myself at about 84% in terms of meeting my lofty expectations for the class—which just lacked universal participation, but, when considering the young demographic, I'll just assume that's par for the course. They really seemed to absorb the material and begin to grasp the basics of the 5-year Plan. We had memorization, singing, breaks, and more to make the program more segmented and palatable.

Unlike my typical group-study style of judging my skill inversely with how much I speak (preferring to draw the answers from the group) I shifted approaches a bit here and attempted to pre-chew the meat where possible. I ended up speaking about 65% of the time (target 35%; normal target 15%).

Toward the end of the 2.5 hour morning timeslot, I broke everyone into groups to prepare for their big Friday presentation on such topics as, "The Major and Minor Plan of God," "The Twin Processes of the 5-Year Plan," "Expansion and Consolidation," The Books of the Ruhi Sequence," and the "Administrative Order." Interestingly, one of the counselors for the group with the last topic didn't know for 10 minutes what the the initials ABM stood for, which wouldn't have been so bad had thy not been presented on a flow chart between the Continental Counselors and Assistants to the Auxiliary Board in the appointed arm of the Administrative Order. I'll mercifully blame a mental fart on the lapse. I ended class with, "Okay, see you all here again on Wednesday. Leave your info packets here and don't worry if you forgot to write your names on them, I'm sure you'll be able to recognize them by the elaborate doodling!" (laughter)

I went to the 'Beach' today with 16 campers and let me describe it. This Canadian beach had grass extending up until 12 inches from the water, trees could be seen on the each side of this watery expanse, and there were no waves. Actually, I'm beginning to suspect that it was more of a lake...but anyway...the campers continued their 3-year activity of all ganging up on Payám and trying to drown him. As for why this is so popular, you'd have to know Payam. :)

As I write this in my cabin, above on the roof two sizable frogs are 'getting jiggy with it' with such intense passion that it sound like its in my room! Couple that with the blood-sucking West Nile mosquitoes and today was a buggy day. It was also a day when I fell asleep in the hut while a rock group with an electrical guitar was practicing mere inches away. I desperately needed the sleep but consequently missed a room check of which I received a 0/4.

Day 4 - Tuesday

Today I was teaching with one day's experience, so I thought my game (teaching ability) had been raised. Wrong! The new mix of 16 kids was more tired and break-demanding. Although more participative (read: outspoken), it was almost impossible to keep them on track. Combined with their longer and more frequent breaks, it now looks doubtful that they'll even do this memorization work:

I'd rate myself 76% in terms of meeting my original, lofty expectations. For many, the mixture of an early class, the lack of sleep, material which perhaps had not been properly selected, and teaching skills and techniques that could certainly use refining, all contributed to the class's relaxed and rolling pace. It is fun to watch children at all stages of development: those immersed in the teachings who've done a few Ruhi books already, those metamorphosing into Bahá'í butterflies, and those struggling to follow the class and digest even a few key concepts. I expect tomorrow's class to be more fun and interesting as it deals with what they as individuals can do. Again, we'll see.

Since its generally looked down upon to kill bugs, I've developed my own blend of insect control. I compassionately only half-kill bugs and let their dying lamentations serve as a warning to any other critters that are contemplating an attack. Notice how by being merciful and sparing its life, benefits are heaped upon me!

I taught 3 people the game Roaké today...and one young lady, formerly a Hoake aficionado, caught it like a cold after just 1 hand! Another young lady, with virtually no card experience to speak of, found it rather confusing. Welcome to muppetville. We're planning a big cards pow-wow on Friday.

At the 'grass beach' I had a Manly-Man competition with a few of the male counselors namely David and Mishkin. With the added pressure of at least one non-camper female watching us, we all completed each others' challenges on the jungle gym/swing set. A 3-way tie wasn't my first choice of results but it was tolerable.

Today I razzed Tazz by mentioning how I loved (I did!) her absolutely emotionless rendition of the upbeat African tribal song "Agoombala Abambala" at the campfire two nights before. I thought that it was hilarious and easily recruited others to my observation. Anyway, we love you Tazz and you can sing, so relax!

So far I love camp, the kids, staff, counselors...a veritable paradise save for the sub-standard, human waste depositories. Administrative competence from the Co-Directors has everything running hiccup-free, except for the case of the open hall windows and ensuing mosquito attack (I murdered 10 mosquitoes alone, and there were over 40 people in the room slaughtering at roughly the same rate)

I served as Chair for the  nightly staff meeting which ended 100% on time. Go me!, yea, I know!

About 10% of the most ignorant of the people here agree with Payam's asininely warped observation that I look like Kermit. (see below) I know—foolish. None-the-less, Payam, cronies, lackeys, and company parrot this as if it were fresh, accurate, and witty, when in fact if the foulness of the comparison could be made tangible it would likely parallel the stink of the spewing outhouse.

Day 5 - Wednesday

The end of the day saw this tireless servant depressed; perhaps homesick or simply exhausted from the insipidity of conversations that finished where they began or involved such superficial subjects as food or light cliché-ish humor and seldom penetrating the veil of meaningfulness, let alone intellectualness or spirituality. My mental stimulation in the first few days has been underwhelming.

In a consolatory conversation, a counselor urged me to make the first step in talking deeply with people...mentioning that he has had to talk a lot during conversations to especially "I don't know" girls. A comment I agree with but I found it amusing that I don't invite "I don't know" girls into my innermost circle—as they generally have nothing worthwhile to contribute...as the example I gave of a girl who showed streaks of potential until a streak of "I don't knows" forced me to ask, and I exaggerate not, "have you ever owned a bicycle," since abstract thoughts or opinion questions seemed considerably out of reach for this mooncalf.

The first group of kids finished my class today, although I'm not sure I cemented the core themes as well as I could have. I give my handling of this group a not-too-shabby 81%.

Some of you may be interested to know that I am the reining arm-wrestling champ at camp, beating Eric, Shaheen, Payam (who forfeited) and others in my blazing path to victory. We'll see how long this holds. Everyone liked my, "We are all Spiritual Beings Having a Physical Experience" t-shirt despite the large and painfully obvious wet deodorant stains that radiated from the pits.

Some precocious little camper punk was grilling me on my Bahá'í knowledge, asking among other things, "Who was the Bábu'l-báb?" and "_______ is the lodestone of the hearts of men?" (Answers: Mullá Husayn {Gate of the Gate} and Kindliness) Fortunately, my recent training in the books of the Ruhi Institute helped greatly, as this same training helped her in formulating these rigorous questions.

About 5 of us made special arrangements with the Co-Directors (read: bribe) to hit the town in the afternoon. Westport, with a lively population of 700, proved to be quite entertaining as we walked around ridiculing any small-town factor we could find. We treated ourselves to homemade ice-cream and topped 160km/h briefly on the drive back to camp (speed limit 80) It was fun.

So the doldrums I found myself in during the day are beginning to subside as morning peaks over the horizon.

Day 6 - Thursday

I was too tired to write a complete journal entry today, but I will describe a brief gold scare. The day before, during the beach activities, I had customarily removed my 'bling', glasses, and shoes and enjoyed the green expanse of the beach and the accompanying horsing around. When I left this public beach to go back to the camp 15 minutes away, I brought everything except my 14K gold chain that I got as a gift some five years earlier. My loss only fully occurred to me later that night when I was preparing for bed and since the camp has a no 'leaving' rule, I was agonizingly bound to the grounds. The next morning I negotiated to leave breakfast early and make the car trek down to the beach in the off-chance that it was still on the bench. I estimated a 15-35% chance of it still being there, but as I got closer and closer those numbers seemed overly optimistic. Unfortunately, by the time I got there it was still dangling—just the way I left it! Waahoo! Cha-ching! I felt blessed the rest of the day.

Day 7 - Friday

This Friday night of tomfoolery ended at 5:00am. Being the last 24 hours of camp, curfews were lifted, the staff got pizza, and the tightly wound order began to unravel.

Payam, Fab, and I began shampooing, shaving creaming, and hair-gelling a good portion of the campers assigned to our care until we made the ill-fated decision to target Counselor David while he was drifting to sleep. Busted! As he's cleaning up the shampoo goop in the shower, he's moved to excitement and action by our tales of adventure and mischief. Now numbering four, we continue our late-night raid with hand-covered flashlights and shampoo bottles.

When the kids would begin to wake up we'd dash to our room and pretend to be asleep. All is good until Vid wakes up in agitation and goes for a shower—with the mock sympathy of Eric—our newest conspirator. We all rejoin the scene sometime later and tag Greg and Mesha who were quick to get up. When pressured, we point to Jeff as the lone perpetrator and let revenge run its course. Jeff got plastered a second time, but more notably so did freshly-showered Vid! who sits up and starts whining about how he's tired and just wants to go to sleep—inaugurating a wave of guilt that sweeps the whole dorm. Payam and Fab put on their faux sympathetic routine to lessen the wailing lamentations as I bail. Almost everyone in the boys dorm woke up at some point of the night with the lone thought, "I've been bamboozled!" (It is interesting to note that this is the only accurate account of these disorderly events to be found anywhere since everyone else lies...no really, they do.)

In the morning each of the nine groups of campers presented their posters on various aspects of the Faith and the current 5-year Plan. This was my favorite 45 minutes of camp by far, as their in-depth and illustrative posters captured the essence of many of these otherwise abstruse concepts and laid out the wisdom that lied enshrined therein. Even one of the Co-Directors, who'd been a Bahá'í over 20 years, remarked that it was the most comprehensive presentation of the concepts and present concerns of the Faith they'd ever seen. <blushing> Here are the topics in the order that we covered them:

●  Twin Processes	This dealt with the twin processes of the 5-year plan which are advancing geographic clusters from one stage of growth to the next which can only be done with the second process of training more and more Bahá'ís in the full sequence of Institute courses.
●  Categorizing Clusters	There are 4 designations a cluster can have: A, B, C, & D. "D" clusters are virgin territories with no Bahá'ís in them. "C" clusters have a few isolated localities and groups. "B" clusters are established communities will be gaining strength through a vigorous institute process. And the few (150 Worldwide) "A" clusters are strong communities of deepened believers in a position to take on the challenges of systematic and accelerated expansion and consolidation.
●  Institute Sequence	There are 6 books now available as part of the Ruhi sequence which deal with: 1. Reflections on the Life of the Spirit, 2. Arising to Serve, 3. Teaching Children's Classes, Grade One, 4. The Twin Manifestations: the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh, 5. untranslated, 6. Teaching the Cause & 7. Walking Together on the Path to Service. It is important that as many Bahá'ís as possible go through the full sequence because out of these there are many paths of service that you'll become trained to render.
●  Jr. Youth Institute Courses	Since the Ruhi courses are designed for those 15 and older, there are 3 exciting new books that are now available for eager young souls below this age. Breezes of Confirmation is aimed at enhancing the powers of expression of junior youth, while imparting essential moral concepts and building certain attitudes required to live a fruitful and rewarding life. Will strengthen those basic literacy skills of 11 or 12 year-olds, will help them begin to articulate ideas with some degree of precision and clarity, and will ready them for the study of higher-level texts. Walking the Straight Path is aimed at developing the capability of reading with good comprehension and to use the power of expression effectively, translating high ideals and noble words into pure deeds, and developing the necessary mental tools to recognize the moral issues underlying the choices junior youth make. Also designed to reinforce in 13 or 14 year-olds the mechanics of reading and writing, reading with ease, and the acquisition of mental skills needed to express ideas with some degree of clarity. Drawing on the Power of the Word is aimed at developing in 14 year-olds the capability of exercising the power of expression and of identifying the moral implications of speech and action.
●  Old vs. New Bahá'í culture	There are many things that are changing in Bahá'í communities all around the world as you read this. 1. There is a new attitude of learning, 2. We are becoming more systematic and focused, 3. We are increasing our human resources which means training ourselves to render service in more and more areas, and 4. We are developing an outward-looking orientation where we incorporate all of our friends, neighbors, and co-workers in our Bahá'í activities and truly, as Bahá'u'lláh says, "Consort with all men...in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship."
●  Expansion and Consolidation	Expansion and Consolidation concern bringing people into the Faith and then helping them build a Bahá'í identity on their way to full Bahá'í maturity. They must go hand in hand lest 1000s be brought in the Faith and then lost the next day because they are not deepened and encouraged.
●  Integration and Disintegration	Bahá'ís don't waste their energy engaging in protests, rallies, or politics because of the internalization of this pivotal concept of integration and disintegration. When Bahá'u'lláh laid his Plans for a new society and world order he also spoke of the failing and crumbling old world order.. This disintegration, this collapsing of old structures of religion, politics, and governments was a necessary and inescapable prelude to what he described as the Most Great Peace (which can be likened to Christ's 'Earth as it is in Heaven.') So Disintegration can be seen as the house of the world crumbling, and at the same time a new house being build up beside it. So as Bahá'ís it would largely be wasteful to dedicate our efforts to putting Band-Aids on a doomed Order but rather useful to dedicating ourselves to building that new order envisaged by Bahá'u'lláh in hundreds of Tablets and letters which hinges on Justice, Equality, and the recognition of the oneness of humanity.
●  Major and Minor Plan of God	We are called on, by God, through the writings, words, and examples of the Manifestations of God, to 'carry forward an ever-advancing civilization' along a path that God has determined. This is the Minor Plan of God: reading the holy scriptures and carrying out God's will. But often times we will witness events that prevent us from doing what God has asked or events that seem peculiarly out of place, for example a close relative dying, or a war interrupting a planned trip in service of God, that we quietly wonder 'why?' The answer is that God has a Major Plan that she will see through, but requires her to 'interfere' sometimes in the very work she has given us to do! Also, we make mistakes sometimes (ok we make a lot of mistakes) that will occasionally need to be kept in check and at times corrected in the path of the Major Plan of God.
●  Bahá'í Administrative Order	A unique aspect about this dispensation and the Bahá'í Faith is that along with guidance from God, we also have an administrative mechanism that was ordained by God. So, unlike in other Faiths, where shortly after the Messenger left the Religion was torn apart by the fancies of the most prominent believers, the Bahá'í Faith has an impregnable Administrative Order that has withstood, and will continue to withstand division into sects. The Báb in 1844 (the gate) foretold of Bahá'u'lláh (the Glory of God) in 1863. Bahá'u'lláh, the Prophet-Founder of the Bahá'í Faith, left his His son, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, as the sole interpreter of His writings. 'Abdu'l-Bahá in turn created the twin institutions of the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice, the latter of which was not created immediately after his ascension but after that of Shoghi Effendi, the first and only Guardian of the Faith. From here there are two main branches of the Bahá'í faith, the 'Rulers' or the democratically elected 'Administrators' of the Bahá'í faith, and the 'Appointed Arm' of the 'Learned' who have no 'power' as such but give advice and assist protecting the Faith from within and without and helping it grow.

Nicknames:

I was called a variety of names, most in good fun, during my week at camp. Although I despise and loathe nicknames other than variants of my given name 'Martin,'  I'll still indulge the hurlers of these ekenames by posting these pictures here. (See last paragraph of day 4) It is also to spite all of those people whom for whatever reason are too shy to put anything of themselves that is less than complimentary on my website.

    I hope that you enjoyed reading about my adventures at camp and will consider being a teacher/counselor/staff member/camper next year...its really quite the experience!

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