The COVID-19 global pandemic has prompted many businesses to shift to online operations, and child-oriented businesses are no exception! Camp Explore, one of the most popular summer camps for children in the Philippines, is just one of the many children’s activities that have pivoted to the digital world.
They have been doing outdoor, experiential learning education for the past 20 years. Their origin story and base camp is their Forest Camp at Mount Purro Nature Reserve in Brgy. Calawis, Antipolo city. They have their Beach Camp either in Batangas or in Bataan. They have day and residential programs (3-5 days) for kids as young as 7 and adolescents until college age and also Family Camps!
They have advocated for face-to-face interaction, back-to-basic free play (“No props, no problem”), immersion with nature and the community, and providing an environment to ignite our innate connection with ourselves, forming lifetime friendships with others, gratitude for the simplest things that money can’t buy, and passion and compassion for our Mother Earth. Together with Mount Purro Nature Reserve, they carried the theme, “disconnect to connect”.
When the pandemic struck and quarantine was imposed, husband and wife Camp Explore partners together with their team of facilitators, coaches, and camp masters were faced with the challenge on how to pivot their business given a situation when what is needed seems to be counterintuitive to their “disconnect to connect” mantra. As Conscious Parenting practitioners and certified Coach, Kit and Inaki, started observing how their daughters, Martina, 13 and Natalia, 9 are responding to the situation. They also went into deeper meditation, prayer, and reflection and came the birth of WeBeCamp!
WeBeCamp is still so aligned with their purpose of providing a safe, non-judgmental space to CONNECT with their most authentic selves that seemed to have been suppressed, lost, confused with the fast-paced, frenzy environment of social media and the misaligned expectations to speed up their “growth” process with no room for failure that has to be fashioned perfectly; coupled with the pressure that we, as adults and parents, are experiencing too. There is an essential need to re-wire, re-calibrate, and re-engineer the process based on the disengagement contagion happening globally. Connection needs to happen first before any Correction. We need to BE first to be able to DO more and when we do that, we can ENJOY every moment of the process. Happiness, growth, and freedom are not a by-product and not chased. It needs to be the starting point by creating and widening the space between stimulus and the response. At WeBECamp, it is a place to BE first – there’s no pressure and “shoulds”, just BE present then the camp facilitators guide them, coach them, and provide the space and enough boundaries so they just express themselves then we witness how the kids and teens coming from their innate beings, desires, and talents come out, bloom, and experience that they are truly enough! They learn how to pause, to be mindful and intentional, to acknowledge their feelings and not to judge themselves or others and feelings as messengers to growth. They learn to laugh at themselves and each other. They support, help, and share without force and guilt and there is respect and patience for each other’s growth pace. The campers themselves regardless of age are self-motivated to be present in class and even to produce their own videos, their own scripts, and testimonials!
Camp Explore must have really touched a burgeoning need in our communities now. With just 2 weeks to promote, the first WeBEcamp last May 1-21 reached 60 campers. It’s a 21-day program (21 days to create a habit!) including weekends with the following age brackets: 6-8 years old, 9-12 years old, 13-15 years old, and 16-23 years old. The camp registration more than doubled with their 2nd batch in June with more than 120 campers and they are preparing for the third batch this July 1-21. There were even requests for a class from opposite time zones so they are opening evening classes in Manila especially for Filipinos living abroad for the opportunity to get to know their roots and fellow Filipinos globally! It is Camp Explore’s pool of master facilitators and coaches who skilfully hold the space for these children like cocoons for 21 days until they are ready to fly! The repeat campers are mentored and guided through a junior masters leadership track! It’s truly a school to BE as they BECOME that’s why it is WE.BE.CAMP.
The specific activities vary depending on the class size, temperament, dynamics, and needs of the children. They follow a PRISM curriculum : P.ersonal Self-Awareness, R.esilience, I.ntentional, S.trengths-based, and M.indfulness. Just like a prism, it is a stable structure that allows the inner colors of the children to shine through. For the July international schedule camp, there will even be a cooking/baking class led by Kat Malvar Rodrigo (Kit’s twin sister based in Westport, CT ) and assisted by Toby Malvar Termulo (their sister based in Dallas, TX) with expertise on Childhood Development so the curriculum even becomes more delicious and delightful!
Inaki and Kit recognize that this program MUST be accompanied by a program with the Parents too. They are launching the program for Parents to make a sustainable change and evolution is a constant process. “Decoding our children by Decoding Us” is a 12-day, one-hour Sunday self-care learning session every 2 weeks starting on July 19! They will facilitate this together with Anda del Rosario, a fellow executive coach and a mom to Santino. It is a rich program that the lessons can be applied not only with their children, even with their spouses, and even with their teams in their workplaces! It will be fun also as fellow parents learn from each other and build our support community and network so we can create and evolve into a kinder, safer, more inclusive, and inspiring world for our children and future grandchildren.
Learn more about WeBeCamp by visiting them on Facebook. And sign up for the next session here!
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