A Camp To Remember

[Rough draft, do not kill me for this crap.]

Would you pay a hundred riyals to give away the luxuries of your house and family, to live in a place, with 150 strangers, mind you, that had no functioning ACs or fans, a place with commodes that made “stay in the bathroom and breath normally” a perfectly sane dare, a place where you are forced to listen to a bunch of classes that bore you, a place where mosquitoes are considered 24-hour house guests?

No?

Well, would you pay a hundred riyals to go to a place where you can listen to speeches and classes from experts, a place where sleeping is considered an unnecessary activity, a place where your parents won’t ask you to do your chores or nag you to study, a place where you meet a lot of interesting people with interesting lives, and have 24 hours of non-stop fun? How about that, then?

What if I told you that both these scenarios were two sides of the same coin?

This is the story of the camp that changed me. The camp that taught me that strangers are just friends that you are waiting to meet, that you only need friends around to have fun, that a single class could have you sobbing uncontrollably.

ISPAF LIFE SKILLS FARMING CAMP, 2012-2013

Okay, first things first: I wasn’t really all that thrilled when the program began. Anything that has you waiting in a bus for three hours before departure, and filling forms on arrival has to be some sort of boring drag fest right?

Wrong. Dead wrong.

I’m really glad to say that it all went uphill from there.

It was all just a blur of activities from there on. From speeches and lectures, to volleyball matches and tug-of-war tournaments, we had it all. Just a hundred-and-fifty-odd teenagers vegging out on the one thing that they do best: having fun.

Best bit? The campfire. Although not an actual campfire per se, (A campfire is only real to me when we’re cutting our own wood. Period.) to just sit around a blazing fire, watch the intricate flames licking the sides of the charburnt wood, and feel the warmth on your face without a care in the world was a total delight. Not to mention that all we did around the flame was have even more fun with party games. But that’s just an added extra, I guess. Also, we got to make a lot of new friends, people we would never have even met if it wasn’t for the camp (I’m looking at you both, Karan and Salman!).  

Worst part? Um, while not actually a bad thing, I would have to put this one down: me crying after watching a video during a class. (Yeah. So what? I’m a pretty empathetic guy. And if you just read that as “pathetic”, you can stop ogling, and scroll down. Sheesh.)

Only regrets? Cannot go back next year. Crossed the age limit. L