Every year Scottish Rite Hospital hosts a Hand Camp and this year I was given the opportunity to volunteer as a counselor. Now, this isn’t just any old camp, it is the most amazing camp in the entire world. Hand Camp is a camp for children, ages 4-9, with upper limb differences and their immediate family members. An upper limb difference can be congenital (present at birth) or an outcome of an unfortunate accident. The most common congenital hand conditions include extra, webbed, or missing fingers. Camp is held in Meridian, TX at Camp John Marc and this year we had 56 families!
My group of counselors was in charge of the seven year olds. Keeping up with 23 seven year olds can be a challenge so we had a lot of fun things planned. The day is broken out into “sessions” such as sports and games, self help, cooking, how-tos, arts and crafts…you get the idea. We went on a nature hike, fished, played soccer, and even cooked squid dogs and astronaut food (delicious).
Saturday night we had a carnival for all of the families. We danced, had a hoola-hoop contest, ate WAY too much cotton candy, and one of our counselors put on a slam dunk show!
Parents and family members are encouraged to come to camp with their kids. This is not only fun for the whole family but also a great opportunity for parents to get together and discuss any questions and/or fears they may have with parents in similar situations. They group together in "breakout sessions" where they have the opportunity to discuss parenting challenges that have come up with their children, and most of the challenges have nothing to do with having a limb difference! For me personally, the most rewarding thing about camp is what I can learn from all of these amazing children. They look at life as if nothing is out of reach and they are determined to overcome any obstacle life throws at them.
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