Last week we held summer camp and we asked nearly 250 Summits students,
who are you?
Summits’ students, Miphailine and Eloudes.
With help from the incredible Ripples of Hope team, Summits students from across our network of 40 schools had the chance to come together in play, vocational arts and crafts, yoga and meditation and dance. Two such students were sixth graders Eloudes and Miphailine.
Eloudes hails from the community of Bois Joli, a mountainous community that takes about 2 hours to hike to from the main road. Whereas Miphailine goes to school in the Summits school of Lake Pèligre, a community that is off the main road and near to the dam where fishermen take their canoes in the early mornings, and engineers work day in and day out.
Both Eloudes and Miphailine became friends because they were part of the Melon group. All the campers were divided into groups named after fruits: Ananas, Mango, Abiko, Grenadia, Seriz, Pòm. Because of camp, students like Eloudes and Miphailine who both come from such different communities in our network, had the chance to meet and become friends.
They now plan on staying in touch when Eloudes hikes down form Bois Joli to the lake with her mother on certain market days. In addition to forming new friendships, they learned their talents. Both beamed when they talked about how much they loved learning Haitian folklore dance.
Other campers like sixth grader, Chanandine, learned how much she loved meditation. She said she loved how it helped calm her body and mind, and would be integrating it back home as a daily practice.
Summits 6th grade student, Chanandine, from Kay Epin. Her favorite summer camp activity is yoga.
We even witnessed one student sit down in meditation instead of continuing to argue after a heated game of soccer.
Students like sixth grader Wilky helped perfect the details on the new mural on the Summits campus, and we learned that he has quite the talent for painting and helping paint homes and lay tile back home in his community of Corporant.
Campers served lunch to the elderly.
Painting the kiyès ou ye mural on the Summits campus!
The Summits staff and administration honored Ripples of Hope at the end of the talent on the last night of summer camp.
Each day we started with morning circle, animating the day with song and celebration! From relay races, to glow stick dance parties [thanks to the Ripples of Hope team!] and a talent show on the last night, it was difficult to say goodbye. And yet, we were elated to send our students back home energized and ready to start the new school year with a better sense of the possibilities ahead of them.
Join the movement to providing a holistic and quality education to our network of 40 schools in the Central Plateau, www.summits.org/donate