Monday 27th June
Shuayb Ismail

Being a Sweden Mentor for me is amazing primarily because of the moments and times in the camp where you see caper development. Meeting the boys and seeing them change over the camp or seeing the way they become so close together over only ten days is amazing and today was just one of those days.

During our sports session today we organised a board games tournemant. They may have just been playing Connect 4 and Uno but the intense concentrtion and passion they put into their sports was amazing. Further than this however, what was most impressive for me was to see the sportsmanship they showed whilst playing. For example when you see them shaking hands with their opposition after the games, you realise that, alhumdulillah, the lessons of sportsmanship they learnt during Football and Volleyball and Rounders arent simply lessons they apple to those sports but much rather that they have fully taken these lessons on board and implemented them accross the board. It truly is heartning to see this.

Later on in the afternoon we went and did the RaftBuilding activity. This was Awesome! The activity got the campers to design a raft out of old bits and bobs such as baby chairs and plastic tables. Amongst differing points, the task tests their development skills. I was pleasantly pleased to see that it was the quietest boys in the group that rose to the occasion and started directing the creation. Not only that but to quote our Swedish Camp Facilitator the raft that they built was definitely the most "ambitious" he had seen - though ofcourse it didnt really work. However regardless the way they worked together was very well and even the way they chose who would be the raft sailor showed the spirit between them and it made me very proud.

After this we had PDT or much rather our styled 'Kushali Party'! The room was decorated with the posters they had made for the kushalis, balloons were strung up and they all came in their Kushali clothes. The atmosphere was amazing and the activities were great. It wasnt just a standard kasida night celebration - though we did have some very nice ones recited - but rather it had campers reciting poetry; giving speaches on Imam Hussein (a.s), Imam Zainul Abideen (a.s) and Hazrat Abbas (a.s); some birthday celebrations; quizzes themed on the kushalis; planet jenga competions and then to finsih it all off a special celebratory desert and kuhsali gift bags. The campers loved it and more than this it emphasised the importance of celebration on Wiladaat nights.

Sweden 2009