As I lay in bed tonight listening to music and waiting for sleep to come, something sparked a memory of a time I spent in Paradise. The summer between my junior and senior year of college I took a risk. I decided to become a camp counselor, and found an ad on the internet for a camp just outside of Philadelphia called Paradise Farms. I applied, was hired, and despite the fear I felt soon found myself taking my second plane ride all alone to Philly.
I was in no way prepared for the experiences I was about to have. Looking back, I believe this summer was a pivotal time in my life and one of the most meaningful things I have done. Our camp was funded through government subsidies and serviced at-risk youth from the inner city of Philadelphia. I found myself plunged into a culture that I knew little about. Added to that, the majority of the counselors were international, mixing in other cultures quite different from my own. My co-counselor in the Valley View cabin was Noshin, or "Aunt Nosh" as we would call her. She lived in England but her roots were Pakistani. When we first met, she said she had two things to tell me; that she was a diabetic, and she was a muslim. At the time I had no idea what that meant and wondered if she'd have to stop and pray to mecca at certain times throughout the day. I kept an open mind, and soon found Nosh to be a dear friend and companion who taught me a lot about how similar the human experience is despite our differences.
Our first week was counselor orientation, which I found to be extremely fun. I had always wanted to go away to summer camp as a child but our family finances wouldn't allow it. Counselor orientation became my summer camp. Working together, we did all of the activities we would be sharing with the real campers, including going on an "overnight" where we slept in tents away from the cabins and facilities of the camp. I enjoyed this week, but it in no way prepared me for what was to come. The day arrived when we were to take buses into the city and collect the kids. I volunteered to go out on the bus with a handful of other counselors to welcome them and ride with them back to camp. I'll never forget pulling into a parking lot in the inner-city and seeing the projects where these kids lived. There were huge apartment buildings. Old. You could tell they were something special once upon a time. However, at this time (1998) they should have been condemned. I only ever saw them from the outside, but I couldn't imagine anyone living there, let alone family upon family upon family.
We loaded the buses and began our journey to Downingtown, PA, where camp was located. While I personally found the camp gorgeous, green, and all that is special in nature, the most often heard comment from the kids was, "This ain't no paradise!" It was immediately clear that these kids had a lot to teach me. They were tough, street-smart, and spoke a language full of slang that I did not understand.
That first rotation was make-it or break-it. Us girl counselors were each paired with a counselor from the boys' camp and given a group of boys and girls to share the day's activities with. My partner was Marcus. He was from Ghana, struggled with english, and missed the counselor orientation because he was hired only after another counselor was sent home for illegal drug use. It fell to me to be in charge. Beyond my days with Marcus, Nosh and I shared our cabin with 10 girls who were about 9 years old. This job was truly 24/7. Although our girls were not the youngest, we had the most bed-wetters. So many nights Nosh or I were woken up to do damage control.
Those first days with the kids were excruciatingly difficult. I kept a calendar where at the end of each day I would consider packing it up and heading home. Then I would put a big red X on the square - a sign of survival. It was day by day. I persevered. Boy am I glad I did. At some point during this experience I tapped into some inner confidence I didn't know existed. I lost my inhibitions and gave all that I had into each day.
There is so much to say about my time in Paradise. So many dear memories. When I first arrived, there was one other counselor there and her name was Lisa. She was from Australia, and we shared the experience of seeing fireflies for the first time together. (How I wish we had them in Colorado!) Lisa and I are sworn-sisters, friends to this day despite the time and distance of living half a world apart. She was here for my wedding, she showed us around her beautiful Australian home, and was even here for the beginning of my pregnancy. Our friendship is a priceless part of my life.
One of my favorite things to do at camp was go creek hiking. The creek had warm water, unlike the snowmelt we find in creeks here in Colorado. We would put on an old pair of sneakers and just explore the ecosystem. For the second rotation I was paired with Uncle Jack, and he and I had a particularly tough group of kids. We were scheduled for our creek hike, got all the way out to the water, only to have the kids say no. The weren't going in. I told them they didn't have to, but I was, and hopped off the bridge and into the water. One brave kid went with me, and we started walking. (Jack was kind enough to stay behind with the group.) To my amazement, they followed. All of them. Jack had been a paradise counselor for years and had never seen anything like it.
I've opened a vault of memories this evening and can't sleep because of it!
