Yesterday was a long and bumpy ride (as most of them are over here). We finally at our lodgings, a beautiful small resort owned by a solar water heater factory for their employees. It was delightful but the road in there made you wonder if anyone would use it. But yep, plenty were there.
We got up and over to the camp for breakfast with 100 campers and 40 staff. The place is still in development. 2 cabins are up and the dining hall is under construction. Tents presently house the assembly hall, dining hall, lounge area, camp store, offices and camp store. Showers are constructed of corrugated metal with a wood fueled water heater. Activity areas are all throughout the property and include archery, volleyball, climbing tower, zip line, ropes course and a few that are foreign to me.
Packy of course found kids eager to practice their English and the interviews were astoundingly positive. One 12 year old came up saying, "Are you Americans?" She said she lives most of the year in Switzerland and summers in Ukraine. She loves it and says she's been to many camps but this is her favorite and she's returned for a second year.
70% of these kids come as not-yet-believers, hear the gospel and learn from God's Word as the staff integrates it in the activities and curriculum.
The theme is attached to the Summer Olympics and the kids were effusive in their excitement. Several said, "This is last day and we really don't want to leave."
They leave tomorrow and a group of 120 refugee kids will come in. Each season Karabin hosts a camp for orphans and one for refugees for no charge to campers.
OL/OH leases beach-front from the government on the next site over. The path down there was an adventure in itself. They've added stairs at the steepest points but the walk through the woods had to drop at least 750ft in elevation. Great facilities and equipment at the beach. And rather than make 2 old men go back up the way we came down, the lifeguards gave us each a ride on the SeaDoo back to the resort.
We evaluate Karabin Extreme Camp thusly: the site is amazing, the program is exciting and principled, the staff is awesome, the infrastructure will develop, the gospel is proclaimed, the market is wide open and the future is bright. God has His hand on this ministry.
Tonight back to Kyiv where this journey began. We meet with Sergey Moskovka OH director and get a look at orphans ministry and refugee ministry tomorrow.
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| Finished cabin |
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| Packy interviewing campers |
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| A few campers getting started at breakfast |
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| Our digs were nice |
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| Vista from above the beach |
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