Kompas Park surprises

12 April 2010, 12:00 am

 

Last summer I spent a week at Kompas Park on one of the children’s summer camps.  I’d like to share with you three instances which shaped my memories and challenged my expectations.

I was placed with a team of teenage boys, a daunting prospect, but definitely the team God wanted me to have.  It presented new challenges to me, who’d arrived prepared for lots of craft activities, to adapt to being a first-class cheerleader on the side-lines of the football pitch and riverbank.  But despite my team’s boundless energy during the day, my most treasured times with them were evening prayers.  I couldn’t understand the words they spoke but the passion with which these young men prayed was so powerful and inspiring.  I could really see God working in their lives and felt so privileged to see that side of them.

I’d arrived at Kompas Park with some  trepidation about the language barrier so was surprised to find most of the camp spoke at least a few words of English and we could communicate.  One afternoon one of the older girls sat down beside me.  I tried many ways to start a conversation but she didn’t speak any English.  Eventually she simply turned me around and began to plait my hair.  It was something so basic yet this was our “conversation”, no words were needed, and it really touched me.

Whilst at Kompas Park my husband, David, and I had our 4^th wedding anniversary.  Word soon spread around the camp and we were soon overwhelmed with best wishes, cards, specially written dramas and a lovely bunch of sunflowers.  To have such love shown to us by people we’d only known a few days was very special and very humbling.

I’d gone to Ukraine with many pre-conceived ideas, and totally focused on what I could do for the children.  It never occurred to me that they would do things for me and inspire me in the way that they did.  Being there challenged my attitudes towards so many things; food,  prayer, possessions, language, teamwork and stepping out of my comfort zone.

My lasting memory of Kompas Park will be the friendship, love and feeling of family demonstrated by everyone without exception.  We were all made so welcome by the Ukrainian leaders, and the children were so affectionate that it was incredibly hard to say goodbye even after only knowing each other for one week.

 

Liz Mildenhall