June 19, 2023
It’s Monday morning at 9:00 am and the music starts. More than 100 kids, ages 5-12, are gathered in a wide circle in the gymnasium for Thrive Ninth Ward’s Summer Camp and are joined by camp counselors for Harambee, the daily morning meeting. The notes play out and the kids dance along: “I’m that star up in the sky; I’m that mountain peak up high… hey, I made it, I’m the world’s greatest.”
After songs, volunteers read to the kids each morning and activities begin. Weekly swimming lessons take the kids offsite. There’s sewing, bowling, and weekly field trips – today is the zoo.
Camp counselor Celina Wilfred has the youngest campers, ages 5-6, and says her favorite part of camp is the kids’ excitement for coming to camp each day. “They run up and hug me every morning,” Celina says.
More than half of the counselors attended camp when they were younger. Sania Perry came to camp for five years; this is her first year as a counselor. T9 directors Oscar Brown and Dwana Caliste say the goal is to train up youth from within and teach them to be leaders – even taking over running of the camp someday.
Watch the kids sing along to “The World’s Greatest” for Harambee.
