A Day in the Life
Welcome to Camp Joy! It’s a gang/drug restoration center for men seeking to change their lives. The guys come from all over to participate in a 6 week program designed to help them leave their old lives and addictions and get them back on their feet again, in a life free of drug abuse.
A typical day for us starts with 8 am breakfast of pop (it’s similar to grits except here they serve it sweet with sugar and cream, and they call it pop or porridge) followed by 9 o’clock devotions. Between the two, my teammate Emily has started talking the leftovers to the shanties down the street. Little tin shacks made from scrap metals and woods, the shanties serve as “homes” for families who would otherwise be homeless. When they hear us whistle our arrival, the people come out with their mugs and little plastic containers to receive a portion of pop and some tea. It has been a really sweet opportunity to get to share what the Lord has given us! By the time we walk back, devotions are about to begin.
At devotion every morning, we get to pray, sing and dance together, and hear encouragement from someone from Scripture. Between devotion and lunch, we’ve done a variety of activities. Sometimes the guys will have a work project (like scooping sand in the pool to get it ready to be used or cleaning the facility), a class (like goal settings/ how to achieve them) or physical exercise where we’ll work out a little bit and then play a game of ultimate frisbee!
They serve lunch (generally sandwiches- we eat lots of bologna and bread here) about 1pm and then the guys will work or hang out again until 4 ish. Some days we have gone with them to the beach, played cards, or watched movies if they work projects are finished. Because the effects of drugs linger long after one stops using, afternoons are also a time for the guys to read, to rest, and to just be and heal.
During that time, our team gets to read and rest, work out, hang out with our amazing hosts, or get creative having fun! For example, we’ve had intense dutch blitz tournaments and smashed old apples with cricket bats outside our containers. We live in these little shipping containers (picture the cargo boxes you see on a train) and lovingly have nicknamed the space our “container village.”
Around 6 to 7ish, they yell “TAFFLE” (Afrikaans for table) and that means it’s time to eat! We usually eat rice or bread with some type of meat (we’ve tried chicken necks and tomato sauce, beef livers, and cow tongue before!) At night, we have an 8 o’clock devotion where we share what the Lord has shown us throughout the day or in the Word, and we alternate nights (the guys do one night and the girls do the other).
After devotion, our team heads back to our beloved container to do team time- that’s when our team gets to bond, pray together, and just enjoy the community God has blessed us with. We’ve star gazed in our sleeping bags, prayed over each other, laughed a lot as we shared stories and life with one another, and more. After our team time, we head to bed, ending another day here at Camp Joy!
6 weeks down, 6 weeks to come, and I’m excited to see all the Lord has in store!
