Dartmouth Hitchcock

My time at Aloha has passed so quickly,  but at the same time it feels as though i was there for ever. I met some great people and we ended Aloha 2015 in style, with a banquet, pretty dresses, awards (I won't even tell you what some of them were for! !), a big fire and a hell of a lot of cleaning!

For some reason I can't upload pictures right now, and it hasn't let me for a few days. I will add them at a later date, so you can see all the pretty places and people, but right now there's too much more to tell you to wait.


It's full steam ahead and into Camp Part II. I spent a day at Aloha's 110th reuinon weekend where campers and councilors of the past returned. And then I moved across to Lanakila which has reverted to it's year-long name of Hulbert Outdoor Centre. I am now working for Dartmouth Hitchcock camp. DH is a camp for 8-18s who have JRA; Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. Its a much smaller scale, with only 46 campers, but the individuals are far more diverse and their needs and personalities are very different. There are 10 members of staff, including me, and 20 volunteers who are nurses, doctors, students and people who were at the camp before.

DH is only a week long, but for many of the kids it is the highlight of their year. And it's easy to see why. Already there is such a great atmosphere here, full of noise and excitement and positivity. The condition affects them all differently, but modern medicine means there is much greater control than there used to be. 10 years ago the majority of campers were in wheelchairs with 2 personal carers looking after them. Now it's hard to tell that most of them have any problems at all. And it's great to see how open everyone is, because they are somewhere they feel at home, and somewhere they don't have to try to fit in.

I'm excited to see how the week plays out!