The Camping Trip

Saturday was quite an interesting day. The dorm parents had asked Mr Grove to organize a camping trip, as a dorm activity, for the senior boarders. In the afternoon, at around 3:30, we all gathered together to make "hobo stoves". The pair that made the best stove got a chocolate bar. We were given 45 minutes. After which we were packed into a trailer and taken to the campsite. Everybody was divided into three teams, and we had a competition among us on which team would collect the most firewood. The team names where Chris K, Team Breeze, and Sponyonyo.  Sponyonyo won that competition. We set up the zip line then rushed back to supper, which we gobbled down quickly, so we could get ready.

45 mins and still no clue

We dressed up in warm clothes, at least most of us did. Some of the boys turned up in shorts for the activities before bed. Assembling in the hall, with our bags and sleeping bags, the winner of the hobo stove competition was announced: Memory Samwata, the only single won the prize! We then piled into the trailer a second time and started off to the site. The boys had a couple of chants that we shouted out as we jostled along.

We had several activities through the night. A favourite was ‘Where’s Wally’. It’s a bit like tag with a torch. Everyone enjoyed it as we got to run wildly through the dark bush and chase people. Thankfully, there were no snakes or other creatures of that kind. There was only one injury, which turned out to be not too serious.

The good...

the bad...

and the ugly!

After the games, we had a brief devotion that was about Christ being our solid foundation, which was fitting as we were sleeping on a huge rock. He also talked about stars and how creation tells us there is a God. Most people were pretty tired by then. After a couple marshmallows we settled down to sleep at around 2:00. There were a few hyper girls (ahem Eunice) that did not want to sleep and were making noise. One word from Mr Grove shut them up quite quickly. It was cold but each group had a fire nearby. The boys had one, and the two groups of girls had one each.

Sleeping arrangements

When we woke up the boys, Seth and Caleb had revived our fires, which was kind of them. It was very cold and wet [dew]! We struggled to build our [cooking] fires and keep them burning inside the can, because a constant supply of heat was needed to fry the sausages. They took forever! We had a delicious breakfast (everyone was ravenous) of sausages, bacon, bread, eggs, pancakes and a soft drink each. We started cooking at around 6:00 and we did not finish until 8:00. We now appreciate the job the cooking ladies do for us. We arrived at school at 9:00 and got ready for church quickly.

Hobo stove champ - Memory

Flambee breakfast

All in all it would be an experience worth repeating, although I don’t know if Mr Grove would like to. He got really frustrated and confused by the singing. We all enjoyed it and learnt a lot.

By Joyce Muteb and Lois McCaffery