Whatever the weather, this is ‘summer’, and for children that should mean six weeks of fun and friendships. But for many, no school means no school lunch – and across the country many will go hungry. A few days holiday away from home just doesn’t happen in families caught in the poverty trap after a decade of austerity.
There are, of course, schools, parishes and organisations that step into the gap to offer a ‘summer holiday’ experience. Since 2012, my summers have always included fun, games, and trips to Blackpool as a volunteer with the Salesian Youth Ministry. Camp Phoenix gives groups of 11 year olds from Salesian networked schools a break.
Our theme is medieval: young people are ‘in training’ to become knights; kayaking is going off on a quest, water balloons are for fighting dragons.
Many of our participants come from challenging personal circumstances, but still buy into our nonsense when they see the team in costume, playing our parts (for me, a week wearing very Game of Thrones cloak). But more important than the silliness of the theme is a week that reflects the wisdom of St John Bosco, founder of the Salesians: that young people need to know that they are loved. To know that this team of teachers and volunteers care about their welfare and want them to have the best holiday possible. A holiday in all its fullness, to paraphrase John the Evangelist.
After last year’s camp, I spoke with others about an idea to do something new - a camp specifically for young asylum seekers and refugees. The idea had been rekindled each time I visited refugees in Calais in my Justice and Peace role, or spoke with young refugees who have had their childhoods disrupted by persecution and conflict.
Both Pope Francis and Fr. Artime, the Salesian Rector Major, have issued calls to look for ways to welcome migrants. A summer camp can’t change the politics, but it can give some young people a space to be young again.
Ideas were thrown around and the skill-sets required were discussed. We chose a name - Valdocco, the neighbourhood where Don Bosco made a home for the displaced and lost young people of Turin – in the hope that it would inspire us.
Now, as the first week of August is almost upon us and our new camp is about to open, it’s comforting that ‘things’ seem to present themselves at the right time. An encouraging sign that we may have discerned the right way to go. ‘Trusting in providence’ sounds like a great heroic virtue in the lives of others, but feels very different in the moment.
A month from now we’ll know how it went. The specifics that are top of the worry list now will become details to evaluate, but won’t be the measures of success. Will our young people have enjoyed themselves? Will they have found a sense of home, of family? Will we be successful making our Valdocco a home for the displaced young people of today?
I’ll keep you posted.