I have been to three Len Duong Youth Leadership Camps, in 2008 and 2010 as a camper and most recently 2011 as a staff. All three camps presented different memorable moments that lasted the duration of camp and others that lingered on long after camp was over.
In 2008, it was my first time going to a camp like this and had no idea what to expect and the type of people I was going to meet. The first day was more getting to know everyone before splitting off into our separate teams. We were taught Vietnamese camp songs by chu Tuan which were accompanied by coordinated activities with each other. The second day was when we found out our team members and counselor to form the team, Nhan Ai. When I found my team, I realized that some of them I had already knew from UH, VSA, or VCSA, one of my other teammates was the only person at camp that came from Vietnam, a person from California, and a couple ladies from Canada. It was a great bonding experience from old and new friends. The first small game that we did as a team was tag-of-war as the tradition at every Len Duong Camp starts out, but this game was different, it had 2 ropes and required 4 teams, so the objective was the same but instead of head-to-head, it was 3-on-1. It was a difficult but fun game that resulted in our team winning and leaving me with a nasty burn on my arm (because I was stupid enough to wrap the rope around my arm (^.^) Speeding past day 3 to the end of camp 2008, I felt we bonded pretty well but as soon as camp was over, the connections grew weak and the communication simply was not there anymore besides from the occasional “Hello…”.
Nhan Ai…Yeu Thuong!!!
Nhan Ai…Quang Dai!!!
Nhan Ai…Hy Sinh!!!
Camp 2010 rolls around and know what to expect a little, I plan to make the most of my time by doing everything I can. The team that I ended up with was Phan Chu Trinh. Because I sort of knew what to anticipate this time around, I could concentrate more on the networking aspect of Len Duong, getting to know my fellow campers outside of my own team. 4 days go by and the chemistry of the team is still there being that at midnight of the second to last day, we were busy talking to each other getting to know everyone still and by the end of camp some of us still talk every once in a while and hang out every so often.
(CAMP 2011 WAS IN MY EXPERIENCE MY BEST SO FAR, WILL POST THIS PART UP SOON)
