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Covenant Harbor Draws Staff from Europe, South Africa
LAKE GENEVA, WI (August 17, 2005) - The camp staff of Covenant Harbor this
summer can look like a mini United Nations, with a number of camp summer
staff members coming from Europe and South Africa.
The European staff are helping with food service, the canteen and
cleaning rooms, says Auker. They are college students or students who
have just graduated and wanting to improve their English. They camp
employs between 10 and 15 students a year.
Most are from Russia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, says David Auker,
the camp's executive director
Covenant Harbor works with a group called Camp Counselors of America
(CCA) to find the students. After CCA finds possible candidates, the
camp's head chef travels to Europe each year to interview the students,
Auker says.
"They are Christian in the broad sense of the word," says Auker. "They
are not as evangelical as we are."
Several of the students have made commitments to Christ while working at
the camp, says Auker. One stayed in the United States and got married.
The employees normally work at the camp from mid June to the end of
August or early September, Auker says.
Auker says having the students from Europe helps the camp in several
ways. The camp has had a difficult time finding workers to fill the jobs
at which the Europeans work.
Hiring the European workers is not an added expense, Auker says. "It
costs us about the same here as it is to have local kids." He adds the
students add to the cultural diversity of Covenant Harbor.
Most of the counselors at the camp are from the United States, Auker
says. "We work hard getting staff with spiritual qualifications to work
with the campers."
Not all of the counselors are American, however. For the last several
years, Covenant Harbor has been using volunteer leaders connected with
YMCA camping in South Africa.
The arrangement began when Darrell Griffin, now the pastor of Oakdale
Covenant Church in Chicago traveled to South Africa and met Llewellyn
Syce, director of the Cape Town West YMCA and invited him to tour camps
in the United States.
"Over there the 'C' (in YMCA) means something so they are very
Christian," Griffin says.
Syce was thrilled with what he saw at Covenant Harbor and wanted people
at the YMCA to learn how the camp carries out its programs. Over the
last three years, 10 volunteers from South Africa have helped at
Covenant Harbor. Most have been in their early twenties.
Some stay for the summer as counselors. Others have worked at the camp
from January to the beginning of December so that they can better learn
camp administration. Auker says, "They learn by doing - what our
programs are, how we plan our programs, and how we work with kids."
"One of the things I like about it is our African American kids really
identify with the South African staff," Auker says.
High school students from Oakdale continue a connection with the Cape
Town YMCA, having just finished a mission trip, says the church's youth
pastor, Bryndan Loritts.
The students spent time helping at the YMCA Bible camp and ministering
in poverty-stricken areas in other parts of the city, Loritts says.
"There is a passion in the hearts of young people in South Africa,"
Loritts says. "You can see it clear as day. They are so dedicated to
learning. God really did move."
The five students who traveled to South Africa were chosen for the trip
following a screening process, Loritts says. The students must have a
2.5 GPA or higher in school and then go through interviews.
The church also tries to stay in touch with the South African students
at Covenant Harbor, including a trip to a White Sox game.
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