Widji Traditions/Culture #4

Theme/Fun Meals

• One utensil – using any old kitchen cooking utensil available. Campers draw out of a bus bin as they enter the Longhouse. You could end up with a spatula, beater, tongs or something stranger. A pasta meal is one of the funniest to watch for this one.
• Twins – campers and staff try to look like each other by dressing and accessorizing the same.
• Nerds – from pocket protectors and tape on your glasses coupled with a too tight button up shirt and pants pulled way up this one is a staff favourite.
• Monk – this meal starts out quiet as everyone tries not to make any noise or say anything. It’s really a challenge to make it work. It’s amazing how loud the juice machine sounds when there is very little other sound in the Longhouse. The first one to talk does the dishes for the table.
• Theme – a dress up meal specific to the weekly theme. Campers and staff put on all they have to become a character relating to the theme.
• Backwards – you dress with your clothes on backwards, walk into the Longhouse backwards, eat dessert first then your main meal. You can also give thanks at the end of the meal and walk out backwards of course. Campers still have to clean their table at the end of the meal time. 

Mail Call – this fun activity starts out with a very loud and drawn out call that might look like this, Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee’ve goooooooooooooooooooooooooooot soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooome maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaail!! Names are called out, letters are tossed towards the tables and campers go up to get their mail. If someone gets a second letter all of camp yells out, “That’s Twooooooo”. If anyone gets a third letter it’s given to a runner who takes off and the camper or staff has to run to catch them. Once caught the letter is given up to the camper/staff. All those who receive parcels or even large envelopes get called to the front and they have to do something in order to get their package. Options have included crab walk around the Longhouse, spell Widjiitiwin in bum charades, sing a song, act out a crazy action like bacon frying in a pan, cooing for a staff up on a chair and more yet to be thought up.

Cheering - It seems like at camp we cheer for everything.We cheer for cabin clean-up and mail call and games and activities and "mandatory" free swim and people running laps and almost every announcement made and chapel and campfire and for winning ice cream on Friday night for the most team points/cabin clean-up award and not so much for bedtime. Staff meetings are sometimes hard to get through for all the cheering. Essentially, we cheer for everything

 

Battle Of The Ends!

Imagine your heart is pounding, palms are sweating, you’re cheering so loud it hurts, you’re staring down your competition and the sound of fierce excitement stings your ears. You can’t sit still, you’re anxious to win, you fight to win, you must win. THIS, is the Battle of the Ends. Here at Camp Widjiitiwin we have a tradition every Tuesday night that ultimately ends in seeing who is better; the boys end or the girls end. This tradition is called Battle of the Ends, where the two genders compete to show each other what they are worth. The night kicks off with cheers, (theme related usually) and the two ends have time to make up a cheer, they can also dress up accordingly and make up a dance (for extra points of course!). I’d have to say, I am quite impressed with some of the cheers that I have heard. After that, they must meet at the field to present the cheers to the judge panel. The winning gender goes inside first before we get to the real challenges.

Some of the games that we play with the kids are mad gab; a jumbled up sequence of letters will appear on the screen and they must solve what it actually says. We also play Apples to Apples; the two sides have time to come up with five adjectives and when a noun appears on the screen, for example: outrageous. One representative from either side will have to convince the judges of why their word is most outrageous. Its always fun listening to the arguments even when they make no sense at all. Winning points are rewarded to the best argument and especially the best presentation. These games might get a little heated, however at any point in time the judges can call out “3…2…1!” any noise from the competitors results in a loss of points for their team.

Other competitions that we have are the Ultimate Test of Strength challenge, where a boy and girl have to hold a jug of water straight out in front of them for longer than the other person without spilling or lowering their arm. You’d be surprised at how many girls beat the boys even if they are half the size! We also to the frozen t-shirt contest where 3 boys and 3 girls are given a frozen t-shirt and the first team to have the t-shirt properly worn by one of their players, wins! Some of our challenges can also get pretty messy, such as the cup drop. A boy and a girl will be lying on the floor with their faces up and a cup over their mouths, their teammate must fill their cup with pudding while standing above them on a bench. These are just a few of the many challenges we have for battle of the ends. However, the final challenge, and sometimes the game winning challenge, is the Banana Relay. This one involves the staff and it is the most intense game of the night, it is also worth as many points as cheers (which is a lot of points!). Two campers and one staff from each side are competing. While holding a banana, the first boy and girl race out from the longhouse to the back of the field and around the baseball diamond, back into the longhouse and pass the banana off to the staff member who will run down to the waterfront. They must jump in the lake and run back up and hand the banana to the third person in the challenge. The last contestant must consume the banana as fast as they can and the first end to finish wins that whole challenge!

Battle of the Ends is a classic epic battle that shall go on for the rest of time. It is an important time of week for the campers. At the end of the night, the ends eagerly anticipate the final scores and the winning team can go to bed with dignity and can speak of their winnings to their grandchildren and their grandchildren’s grandchildren, and so on. The winning end also is rewarded with eating first at every meal the next day! 

Submitted by Liquid

Why Widjiitiwin?

Guest Blog by Mozi

I often get asked, why did I every start coming to a small camp like Widjiitiwin, and what is it that keeps bringing me back? 

For those of you who don’t already know me, I’m Mozi, (not to be mistaken with Aussie, Mossy or any other interpretation) I’m from a relatively small island called England. 

I would have never thought, when I first applied a little over 4 years ago, that I would still be here.  I had applied initially after a conversation with a friend who had stayed at MBC a few years previous.  My intention was to spend one summer working at a camp in Canada that had a Christian ethic whilst I was at University in England.  I worked a split summer of SALT, and as a regular Cabin Leader. 

To say it was a memorable summer would be an understatement.  I remember my first time paddling a canoe, and steering straight into a diving board, my first time swimming in a river (something I now do daily) my first out-trip, and truly appreciating creation as something God has made for us to enjoy.  In fact – in many ways working that first 3 weeks of SALT, I think I took away more than the campers.  The whole summer continued the same for me, and upon coming back home, I was immediately converted, saving up for my next fight back to Canada.  In my eyes, I became a "camp kid" probably at 21 – a bit of a late bloomer – but still it was in my blood. 

When I came to Canada, I remember meeting a girl who would literally count down the days until camp started, from the day it finished the year before… I loved her passion, but at the time struggled to see why she did it.  Upon coming home, I realized why. 

I think in answer, camp is more than the ministry we choose to do, and more intimate than the community we live in.

 It is family.

Widji Traditions/Culture #3

Cabin Special – Every Thursday afternoon the cabin leaders have the opportunity to do something special with just their cabin. It ranges from our regular camp activities to cliff jumping, an afternoon at the beach, etc. It amazes me that the cabin leaders leave it to the last minute to plan on Thursday at lunch.

Guys/Girls Nights – On Monday nights the camp is divided into guys and girls and the staff run a special night activity for them. There are lots of options for them to choose from or they can make up their own event. Some programs include a trip to Widji Island, Ninja night, bigger and better, dance party, floor hockey, campfire, tribal night, 007 night, relay races, "break into" the Tuck shop or kitchen adventure, sock wars or pageant night to crown Miss Widjiitiwin. I will leave it to you figure out which ones are the guy’s verses girl’s activities.

Cabin Devotions – every day campers join their cabin leaders for cabin devotions. This takes place after cabin cleanup in the morning and just before first activity period. Cabin leaders help their campers learn about God, Jesus and the Bible. New this summer is Friday devos with the chiefs where the whole guys or girls end gather and the chief cabin leaders do the devo time.

Camp Pastors – we seem to be one of the last camps to have a camp pastor. Each week a different pastor is invited to speak at camp chapels.  They are also available for the campers and staff to talk with and seek counsel from. Our camp pastors are quite involved at camp taking their meals here and being involved in program.

Campfires – Campfires are a big part of our program and we do two per week. On Wednesday night we do one for fun. This is the night that our day campers have the option to stay over. On Friday night we do a serious campfire with testimonies and worship. One of our favourite campfire traditions is an Elijah Fire. This involves a fishing line down from a large tree about 100 feet from the campfire. We tie it off to a stake in the ground on the far side of the campfire pit. A partial toilet paper roll is soaked in some Naptha gas and awaits its ride down the cable to the fire. The story of Elijah on Mount Carmel is read out loud and each time the prophets of Baal pour water o the sacrifice, we dump a small amount of Naptha on the camp fire. When the story get to Elijah calling down fire from heaven, then toilet paper roll is set on its way down the string and when it gets to the camp fire everything lights up. Go big or go home right?