wfn.org | Church camps 'share world' through international counselors

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

May 15, 2002  News media contact: Linda Green7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-31-33-71B{224}

A UMNS Report
By Linda Green*

Ted Witt is adding an international flavor to United Methodist camps across
America this summer.

Witt, through the 3-year-old "Share Our Worlds" program, is bringing United
Methodist and Methodist young adults from around the world to serve as
summer staff in the denomination's camps and retreat centers across the
United States.

"It is a recognized fact that international staff add a great deal of
diversity to a camp program and provide opportunity for campers and all
staff to widen the base of their understanding and appreciation for persons
of other cultures," says Witt, a retired clergy member of the West Ohio
Annual Conference now living in Crossville, Tenn. "To have international
staff with a deep Christian commitment and with United Methodist tradition
makes the intercultural exchange more meaningful."

"Share Our Worlds" is a cultural exchange partnership that provides
opportunities for participants and campers to develop friendships with
United Methodists from other nations. United Methodists from abroad
volunteer as camp counselors for three months in the United States,
providing campers the opportunity to better understand people from other
cultures. The United Methodist Board of Discipleship sponsors the program in
partnership with the churchwide Board of Higher Education and Ministry, the
Board of Global Ministries and the National United Methodist Camp/Retreat
Committee.

Since the program began, 51 counselors have worked in 23 different camps in
17 annual conferences. The 2002 Share Our Worlds program begins May 28, when
22 counselors from seven countries gather at the West River Center in
Maryland for orientation, training and getting acquainted. Seven of the
counselors are students at Africa University in Zimbabwe, 12 are active in
the United Methodist Church in the Philippines, one is from Ghana and one is
from Romania.

After three days, the counselors will travel to their host camps in one of
10 annual conferences for more training and then serve as camp counselors
with people of all ages and in many different kinds of programs. The
counselors will serve in a variety of settings such as day camps, resident
camps, family camps and high adventure camps. They will be deployed to serve
in whatever program they are needed and will serve all age groups. 

"The cultural diversity brought to the camps by the Share Our Worlds
counselors is a significant addition to outdoor ministry programs," Witt
says. While at one of the 13 host sites, the counselors will also have
opportunity to share their faith and culture with local United Methodist
congregations. 

"Those recruited from other nations will be committed people of Christian
faith who are able to witness to and teach about faith in Christ and about
the living love of God," he says.  

Recruitment has been done primarily through contacts with bishops' offices
in the central conferences, leaders in the autonomous Methodist conferences
and United Methodist academic institutions in the central conferences, such
as Africa University and the Philippines' Wesleyan University. 

The counselors are not bonded, but they will underground background checks
according to state laws and the policies of each camp, Witt says. Each
participant signs a self-disclosure statement regarding "any questionable
activity in their past," he says. At many camps across the country, each
counselor is fingerprinted and undergoes a background check.

After 10 weeks as a camp counselor, members of the Share Our Worlds program
will reconvene at Camp Manidokan in the Baltimore-Washington Conference for
a time of celebration and evaluation. Then they will return home to tell the
story about their summer ministry.

The idea for a cultural camping exchange program was born after Witt heard
the Africa University Choir sing during West Ohio's 1998 annual conference
meeting. He wondered: "If we can get students from Africa University to
spend the summer in the United States singing, why can't I get them here to
be camp counselors?" Conference officials approved the idea, and in 1999,
the conference brought six Africa University students to serve as camp
counselors.

The move proved to be a success. Afterward, Witt considered retiring, having
served in ministry for 22 years. Looking around for a retirement project, he
remembered the Africa University student camp counselors. "I thought, if I
can do it in West Ohio, why can't it be done as a churchwide program?" he
says. 

He approached Kevin Witt (no relation), the national director of
camp/retreat and conference ministries at the United Methodist Board of
Discipleship in Nashville, Tenn. Witt liked the idea, and the agency's
leaders approved it. 

Next, Share Our Worlds had to get approval from the U.S. Department of
State, and the participants had to enter the country with a special J-1 visa
from a U.S. embassy. The State Department finally granted approval in
February 2000, and nine counselors from Africa University arrived. The
students, representing three countries, served nine United Methodist camps
in three conferences. 

"They did so well, the decision was made to continue for another year," Ted
Witt says. The next year, 20 counselors from seven countries served in 16
camps in 11 annual conferences. 

The United Methodist camps and retreat centers for the 2002 summer season
and their international counselors are:
7	Baltimore-Washington Conference: West River Center and Manidokan
Outdoor Ministry Center - Jamie Garlitos, Philippines; Esther Malm, Ghana.
7	Detroit Conference: Judson Collins Camp, Camp Kinawind - Marcos
Tamega, Philippines; Elmer Aroza, Philippines; Lloyd Nyarota, Zimbabwe;
Lifuna Simushi, Zambia.
7	Eastern Pennsylvania Conference: Gretna Glen Camp - Kingsley
Kalusha, Zambia; Vernon Manyemwe, Mozambique; Marisol Escano, Philippines.
7	Memphis Conference: Lakeshore United Methodist Assembly - Rolland
Hayag, Philippines; Julie Balaquidan, Philippines.
7	North Carolina Conference: Camp Chestnut Ridge - Sheryll Sanqui,
Philippines; Pedro Monteiro, Mozambique; Tatenda Mutanga, Zimbabwe.
7	Northern Illinois Conference: Camps Wesley Woods and Reynoldswood -
Henry Dolopei, Liberia; Jennifer Sanchez, Philippines.
7	South Indiana Conference: Camp Indi-Co-So - Kelly De La Cruz,
Philippines.
7	Virginia Conference: Camp Alta Mons - Johnny Curelar, Romania;
Saturn Singian, Philippines.
7	West Ohio Conference: Widewater Retreat and Ministry Center - Hadji
Azurin, Philippines; Lalaine Salting, Philippines.
7	Wisconsin Conference: Lake Lucerne Camp - Marifel de Leon,
Philippines.

For more information about Share Our Worlds, contact Ted Witt at 2484
Highland Lane, Crossville, TN 38555-1468; e-mail: tedwitt@u-c.net;
telephone: (931) 707-7592.
# # #
*Green is news director of the Nashville, Tenn.,-based office of United
Methodist News Service.

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United Methodist News Service
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