Bombay YMCA Camp Lakeside

I have always been a camp person. I love the atmosphere, I love the woods and most of all I love camp people. There is something about being miles away from civilization that seems to bring out the best in everyone and I have been lucky enough to get chance to experience some camp love while in India. On March 13th I set off from Madurai to spend a few weeks in Mumbai with the Bombay YMCA. When General Secretary of the Bombay YMCA Jacob Abraham offered me the chance to spend the first few days of my visit at their campsite in Nilshi I jumped at the opportunity. I had heard some stories of the beauty of Camp Lakeside but what I didn't know is just how wonderful a time I would have an how many amazing new friendships I would make.

Having left Mumbai around 6:30am, after a long and winding drive through the mountains of Maharashtra (the state where Mumbai is located), we finally arrived in Nilshi at about 1:30pm. I knew I was in for something special simply judging by the reaction of the volunteer counselors when they saw the arrival of the new group and Bombay YMCA secretary, Chris. Not knowing what to make of the over enthusiastic counselor running full speed towards us with his bright red whistle swinging from his neck I simply smiled and hoped for the best. I didn't know it then but this over-enthusiastic counselor would soon become one of my best friends. His name is Gideon.

On first sight I was truly struck by the absolute beauty of Camp Lakeside. With final construction being completed only a few years ago by a Canadian architect, the buildings were all created to coexist with the surroundings. Rather than blasting the land that exists there and putting in large structures that obstruct the land and take from the beauty of the area, all of the buildings were built into the topography of the land making for some really interesting and stunning spaces. With a beautiful mixture of bamboo, jungle mango trees and naturally occurring flora and fauna the campsite is absolutely breathtaking.

Outside of the beauty of the camp there was one additional thing that really impressed me about Camp Lakeside. Where I expected that I would be the only volunteer at camp, that proved to be very wrong. In fact, virtually every counselor working at camp was there on a volunteer basis. For some, the volunteer stay only lasts 5-10 days but for others the stay will last to full duration of all camps, nearly one month.

The first day of camp was pretty low-key. We spent some time getting to know the campers who turned out to be a really interesting group of kids. The camp I attended was initially intended to be a senior camp for 18+ but due to a lack of interest, registration was opened to all ages. This meant that within our group of 30 there were campers from age 6-22. There was some concern that there would be a lack of cohesiveness in the group due to the age differences but as it turned out, the group really bonded incredibly well. The older kids had a great time playing with the little ones and everyone in between looked to the older campers as role models.

To finish out the first day of camp Carlos, the head counselor at the camp, and Gideon lead the group on a nice nature trek where we got a chance to see the lake (my personal favorite part of camp), as well as the traipse and some other beautiful spots around the oasis I learned to call Camp Lakeside. The trek was then followed by some super camp get to know you games, a bit of camp exploring and finally some much needed r&r.

Starting the following day nice and early with morning exercise led by the one and only red-whistled, high energy Gideon, day two had an excellent surprise in store for the campers as well as myself. We were going to the lake! I was so excited to go down to the lake but I was not sure that any of the other volunteers really understood my extreme enthusiasm. You see, the things is that since being in India it had been more than two months since I had been in the water! Now for some people that may not seem like such a big deal, but for me, it has been more than 10 years since I have gone that long without being in the water. I was literally beginning to feel like a fish being dried on land.

The lake in Nilshi is just amazing. Stretching over a distance of more than 40k, the water is impeccably clean and just a joy to swim in. All the campers suited up with life jackets and we headed down to the lake. I don't think that I am aware of it so often when I am teaching multiple hours a day at the Y back home, but I really love being with kids and adults in the water. It is truly amazing and so interesting to watch as people step into a foreign environment and being there to comfort them and act as an additional sort of life jacket is a really wonderful experience. For some, the water is a natural place to be but for many others being surrounded by water and a significant distance from land can be pretty unnerving.

For one counselor in particular swimming across the lake (about 300m each way) had been taunting him since his first year at camp four years ago, so this year I told Gideon that we would swim the lake together. Beginning our first attempt with only a half swim to get a feel for the distance I did my best to make small talk and random conversation to distract him from his fear. Finally, assuring him that I would be there if he needed any help and having seen that he was more than capable to complete the swim, with only a little convincing he completed swimming across the lake with no problem. It was obvious that Gideon was satisfied with himself but for me the experience was equally satisfying. Even though he is an extremely good swimmer and there was no question of ability (he is so good in fact I am hesitant to admit he beat me in a 50m race...twice), having the chance to help someone overcome their fear of the water, no matter what that fear may be, is one of the greatest feelings.

On the third night of camp the counselors decided that because of the intimate size of the group and the full moon on our horizon, we would trek out to a beautiful site called Camp 18 and sleep under the stars with the kids. After only a few hours of trekking we arrived at Camp 18 located on a cliff side overlooking a beautiful village. Although we got a bit wet in the morning being woken up by a slight drizzle, the site was beautiful and making a nice big campfire always makes me happy.

After a nice drive back to camp to prevent any additional campers from getting too wet we arrived back at camp for some fun and games. My personal favorite was the unforgettable “Candyman”. Now as some of you may already know the urban legend of Candyman is pretty horrifying but this game was equally horrifying and amazingly fun in it’s own way. The way the game is played is four or five unsuspecting counselors are chosen (or volunteer in my case as I am always happy to step up to any challenge) to have a bunch of pieces of candy taped to their body and then essentially go hide in the woods and wait as children hunt them down.

It took some time to choose my hiding place. I tired to think where the best place to go would be in a zombie apocalypse. “Where could I go that has good visibility, high ground and multiple escape routes” I thought. I finally chose my spot and waited like a sitting duck as I heard my name being called from the small voices of children all throughout camp. “Jessica, where are you? We want your candy.” Fear shot down my spine as I felt like an animal being hunted by vicious hungry beasts. It took a bit of time but finally they surrounded me and viciously ripped the candy from my body. With the children very satisfied with their hunting skills and my side aching from laughing we headed back to our central meeting point having finished the game.

Before we knew it the last day of camp had arrived and what better way to celebrate the end of a wonderful camp than with a great big bonfire and sharing night. Every camper took the time to put something together to share for the group and each was proud of what they had prepared. As the fire died down on that last night and the campers went back to their bunks for one last night in their cabins I couldn’t help but be a little sad to be leaving such a fantastic place. In only five short days I had gotten to know a pretty incredible group of kids and made some really wonderful friends but I also knew that I had 10 glorious days ahead of me in Mumbai where I would be spending more time with the fantastic friends I made at camp.