|
Camp Castaway for kids 9-15
Camp Castaway is for Kids
Camp Castaway is an away-from-home
holiday camp for children ages 9 to 15. Every June and July since
1983, kids from international schools in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and
Jakarta have had the times of their lives at Camp Castaway. They are
always busy, always having fun and always begging to return the
following year.
The camp is located on Pulau Besar,
an island near Mersing, off the east coast of Malaysia, and four hours
by bus from Singapore, which is the departure point for most campers.
It is owned and operated by Jim and Junia Baker, Americans who live
and work in Singapore. The counselors are teachers and college
students from the United States. There is one counselor for each group
of six campers and each group makes up a team that does chores and
activities together.
The island has beautiful white
beaches, colorful coral reefs and dense tropical rain forest. Campers
and counselors take a one-hour boat trip from Mersing to the island.
There are several small resorts but never very many people. The camp
is in a fences coconut grove 100 meters from the beach.
The camp is small and campers feel
as if they are part of a big family. There are 30 campers and 6
counselors per session. They sleep with their counselors in open-air
dormitories on comfortable canvas cots.
Camp Castaway offers two different
programs during the summer holidays. One is 13 days long the other is
19 days. Both programs are packed with things to do. Both feature
water sports, serious and silly competitions and quiet times, during
which the campers create a newsletter, write home and do crafts.
Campers also hike through the rain forest and ride the surf on
boogie boards.
The campers learn to sail, snorkel
and water ski and participate in a regatta at the end of each session.
Counselors are on hand to help them learn or improve their skills.
There are talent shows and campfires, featuring camp legends, songs
and ghost stories. Other evening events are bingo night, a human
scavenger hunt and flashlight tag. All these activities and new
experiences build self-confidence and awareness of self and
others. Best of all, the campers find new friends and make memories to
treasure for a lifetime.
The 19-day session is even more
fun and highly popular with campers who are returning for their
second or third years. The first part of this program is described in
preceding paragraphs. By day 13, when the short-session campers leave,
extended-session campers have learned to sail and water ski and are
ready for new challenges. And we provide them!
They sail in
two-man Toppers to other islands in the area and camp out; they climb
a 2,000-foot mountain and view the South China Sea from an
exhilarating height. They also are allowed a degree of choice
during this time to zero in on special interests or learn more
about some aspect of camp life that particularly interests them.
Contact: Castaway Recreational Program
3 Jalan Anak Bukit, #15-02
Singapore 588998
For more information,
telephone Jim or Junia Baker at 6468-7615, 6468-8768 (fax) or
junia@pacific.net.sg
|
