Challenge Camp: Better Life for Children

For teenagers from disadvantaged famlies, aged 15-24 year old, we will launch our 2022 Empowerment Camp for students in summer. The camp would be 4-day-3-night, with 40 participants anticipated. It mainly focuses on self-exploration, we design classes for the youths to explore their own interests, skills and values. In addition, we want young people to explore career awareness in context, find careers they are interested in, and design a life blueprint. Later, we invite practitioners to guide and impart industry experience to help young people better understand the trends and necessary skills of today's job market, make appropriate choices and formulate career directions, enhance learning motivation, and learn essential skills for job-seeking preparation.

For children from vulnerable families, happy learning is luxurious. Besides academic knowledge, the positive attitude towards obstacles and the proper way to handle risks are important to underprivileged children. Challenge Camp is a great chance for disadvantaged children to learning happily and explore more about life.

Through team work and positive personal interaction, they learn to solve challenges and manage risks. With flexibility and proper guidance, disadvantaged children know more of oneself and explore more outside school. Besides happy memory, the capability and character growing inside children’s hearts are the best gifts to face the unknown in life.

During the camp, the boys and girls discussed together quietly and calmly, older children lead younger children to try to express their opinions, every child participated happily and enthusiastically. Children learn to cooperate with each other, accept others’ mistakes, and learn to see their own strengths.

The camp creates an environment for disadvantaged children to explore and learn more! In 2022, under the regulation of pandemic prevention, we will try our best to hold challenge camp for underpriviledged children! 

In the Mustard Seed Youth Home, the annual bicycle riding camp is one of the most anticipated activities for teenagers. During the riding, the hot weather and physical strength are good challenges to hone their endurance; they can also build self-confidence, symbolizing a breakthrough the plight of life.  Since last year, a task that teenagers have never tried before has been added to the riding camp:  learning to serve.

Teenagers visited ShouFeng Presbyterian Church to serve a group of lively children, who are younger than themselves, from the tutoring class of elementary school. In this service event, the youngsters witnessed and learned the meaning of the phrase "the more mature and plump the wheat, the more it knows how to bend and stay humble."

In the face of elementary school students younger than their age, the arrogant teenagers in the Youth Home became moderate team mates to drive morale, cordially and patiently led the naughty children to achieve the missions. If a team loses the game in the process, teenagers will reassure and persuade the team mates, just like the teacher patiently teaches them at the Youth Home. It turns out that what was taught a good character by the teachers was fully demonstrated when facing people who are weaker and disadvantaged. They learned to see the needs from disadvantaged people, and more importantly, are willing to serve. 

The Youth Home expects that in the process of serving the learning camp, the teenagers will learn to be humble and bend down just like mature wheat. They will be wholeheartedly devoting themselves and serve others. This will become an important nutrient for cultivating good character in life, furthermore in the future, help to build confidence and affirm oneself when facing difficulties.  This will allow to develop a strong foundation of confidence, not to be overthrown; to be inspired and break through one's life with a positive and optimistic attitude.