Love for all the children was everywhere and they felt it! Encouraging, positive warm fuzzies were evident in every camp program. As you walk through the halls of our camp, you enjoy the sounds of young voices and the smells and sights of the different kinds of things that gave a representation of a culture. It is very obvious that children love being around each other and learning about their birth land ethnic cultures. You could see it on their faces.

There is so much that goes into each program. During the current year’s camp, each of the culture program coordinators and their volunteer parents start to plan what they would like to do the following year. They decide upon a theme and discuss what they are going to do and follow up during the year. Each program has been developed to accommodate ALL ages of children even if they have some disability. We have a few programs that include many different countries within it. We make sure that each child’s country is recognized during the week. Each program’s basic structure can include - music, art, dance, festivals - holidays, language, songs, food - cooking, history, crafts, hands on activities, games, and where possible, a teacher or guests from that specific ethnicity plus a bunch of wonderful other things that each program can develop. Each program is unique and exciting. Click here to see a slide show of some of activities from HATW 2009! We hope you join us for the 2011 Hands Around The World!

submitted by Gail Walton/Dan Johnson 2008