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JDAIM: A Recap from Kayitz 2016

Masa 2016
Mushon Samuels, Tikvah Summer Director

For chalutzim (campers) at Ramah in the Rockies, the masa (outing) is an integral part of camp. This summer, our Tikvah campers spent three days and two nights at Chatfield State Park, a very well-organized site with all of the necessary facilities for our campers, including showers, toilets, lake, playground, etc.  

After setting camp up, our group headed over to the lake and took a stroll along the beach. When we returned to ourcampsite, we cooked a delicious meal of veggie burgers accompanied with roasted sweet potatoes and onions. We played some games by the campfire and headed to bed early. The following morning, we hiked along the dam overlooking the lake and then went swimming. After lunch, we met up with Amber, one of the park’s rangers, and she taught us about the wildlife in the park. She showed us skulls, skins, and furs of the different animals. Then Amber took us to clean the beach of the lake as part of our service project. We concluded with a scavenger hunt along one of the park trails. That night, we had a Mexican fiesta, complete with salsa, chips, guacamole, rice, and beans. Each of our campers enjoyed a different part of their masa experience. The facts that we had such an organized site and that our vans had all of the food and games needed to keep our campers occupied and entertained made it very easy! 

Other than some rainy moments, our campers had a great time. All agreed it was a positive experience and that they would happily do it again! 

Howard Blas, director of the National Ramah Tikvah Network, was very impressed when he learned details of our masa during a recent visit to Ramah in the Rockies. “I have been taking Tikvah campers on masa (we call it “Etgar”) for the past fifteen years at Ramah New England. Many Tikvah programs don’t have such camping trips. I thought our one-night, two-day hiking, canoeing, and rafting trip was impressive. But, wow! The Rockies’  three-day masa is amazing!” 

This blog is being reposted in honor of Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month.

 
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An Update On Our Tikvah Program

At Ramah in the Rockies we believe that all Jewish children should be able to experience the transformative experience of Jewish summer camp. We know that each child has his/her own special needs, and whenever possible work closely with parents and guardians to develop a customized plan to enable their child to succeed in our community. At the same time, we know that there are some children we are not able to serve for a variety of reasons, and whenever possible will work with parents to find a Jewish summer camp that is suitable for their child.

The Ramah Camping Movement has been a pioneer in serving campers with developmental disabilities. Our first Tikvah Program started in 1970. Since 2011, Ramah in the Rockies has run a Tikvah program for children with developmental disabilities. What began as a standalone program, where campers with disabilities lived in their own tents, has evolved into a combined integrated and stand-alone program. We have served over twenty campers in this program for the past few summers.

Starting in 2017, Ramah in the Rockies will only run an integrated program for children with special needs. We will focus our efforts on providing a high level of integration and support for young people with autism spectrum disorders. Potential campers must:

1. Possess ADLs (activities of daily living/self-care skills)
2. Participate in daily activities at the base camp and on extended masa’ot (excursions) with their neuro-typical peers.

Campers who exhibit self-injurious or violent behavior will not be accepted for this program.

Ramah in the Rockies is committed to providing a number of special services and supports before, during and following the summer. We believe these will help participants integrate more successfully into the broader community.

Prior to the summer:
Parents of our campers in the Tikvah program will meet, virtually or in person, with our head inclusion specialist (i.e Rosh Tikvah) to design an appropriate program for their child. Our goal is to work with parents, teachers and therapists to learn what supports and strategies their child needs to succeed at camp.

During the summer:
-All bunk staff at Ramah in the Rockies with Tikvah campers will receive additional training to help integrate campers.
-Inclusion specialists will help Tikvah campers integrate into their bunks and activities, and better manage transitions and free time.
-There will be a space at camp for campers in our inclusion program to go when they are in need of sensory breaks/respite from the broader camp community.
-Staff will work with each camper to develop skills to better integrate into communities at camp and at home.

After the summer:
-Tikvah Director or one of the inclusion specialists will provide a written report on the child’s progress at camp.

Ramah in the Rockies is committed to offering the highest level of care for our Tikvah campers, and will limit the number of campers in any given session.

For more information or to be considered for the Tikvah program, please contact the Camp Director, Rabbi Eliav Bock eliavb@ramahoutdoors.org or our Rosh Tikvah at Tikvah@ramahoutdoors.org

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A Full Sensory Experience!

The new sensory tent at Ramah in the Rockies is a huge success!

Thanks to a grant from the Harvey and Gloria Kaylie Foundation, we were able to build a new space filled with therapeutic equipment for use by campers with special needs. Shai, a counselor in Amitzim [the division for campers with developmental/intellectual disabilities] said, “It is a safe and relaxing haven, a place that instantly puts kids at ease.”

One half of the sensory tent is a quiet oasis where chalutzim [campers–literally “pioneers”] who feel overwhelmed can relax, while the other side is for chalutzim who need to expend excess energy or experience sensory stimulation. “The sensory tent is a very beneficial addition to the Tikvah program here at Ramah in the Rockies,” said Alec, another Amitzim counselor.

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The active side of the sensory tent

The active, bright side is filled with equipment and sensory tools such as a ball pit, a table with balance-ball chairs, Playdough, dry rice and beans, mini-trampolines, balance boards, and weighted balls. On the more calming side, we hung light- absorbing, noise-reducing, stage-quality black fabric, installed a carpet, and furnished the room with a large bean bag, pillows and a small backpacking tent. This side allows campers to relax in a quiet and darkened space.

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The calming side of the sensory tent

Behind the tent we built a fenced-in privacy area and installed hammocks. We will be hanging an additional “birdsnest swing” in the next few weeks. This outdoor space enables campers to relax outside and experience motion while being cradled in a hammock or on a swing.

The sensory tent is used on a regular basis. Campers use the space during free time, and also as a safe place to go when they are feeling overwhelmed.

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An Amitzim camper in the ball pit

Ramah in the Rockies Tikvah Director Elyssa Hammerman remarked: “I see the effect of the sensory tent on a daily basis. Campers who are upset or frustrated with something going on in camp can go into the tent, curl up on a beanbag, or lay in the ball pit and over time become more calm and able to reintegrate into the group.”

We hope other Jewish camps can also learn from our experience to build their own spaces for their children with special needs. While this is not a space for intensive therapy, for which some Snoezelens (sensory spaces) are intended, it meets the needs of our relatively high-functioning children who need their own space within the broader camp community. “It feels like a shelter from the crowds and outside noises,” says Michal, another Amitzim counselor.

We expect that the sensory tent will continue to be used for years to come and look forward to keeping you informed about how this space continues to help children with special needs succeed at Ramah in the Rockies each summer.

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Kaspar’s Reflection on Summer 2014

This post was originally posted here.

Kaspar M. Wilder, 12, is a published poet, National Latin Exam Gold Medalist, a mythology buff, and all-around science fiction geek. She was diagnosed with Asperger’s, Attention Deficit Disorder, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder while in early elementary school. She recently celebrated her bat mitzvah by leading services at Temple Beth El in her hometown of Portland, Maine.

For the past four summers, Kaspar has been a camper at Ramah Outdoor Adventure (ROA) in the Colorado Rockies. Kaspar has participated in ROA’s Tikvah Program for campers with disabilities, both as a participant in the Amitzim edah (division) for campers with disabilities and, most recently, as part of the camp’s inclusion program.

Ramah Outdoor Adventure has become her second home and, according to her parents, has been a big part of her everyday happiness and success. Kaspar hopes someday to become a member of ROA’s tzevet susim (“horse staff”). Below is her take on life at Ramah Outdoor Adventure.

Four summers. Four summers bursting with the harmony of cycles. Every year, the drive up, and up, and up. That in itself is enough to break some spirits.

But there it is: the homecoming. The cheering, the screaming of names. If you are a returning camper, you are passed around, admired, and soon bear the mark of a hundred dirt-encrusted hugs. Newbies are taken in, enveloped in a new universe that welcomes you with every ventricle of its beating heart.

The first day is a whirlwind. Pick your chugim (electives), be assigned your ohel (tent), unpack, meet new people, write your ohel brit (tent “covenant”), and crash into an unfamiliar bed. Even the hardness of the bunk feels like down pillows after your day. A million new names have overwhelmed your mind: kfar (village), amitzim (“brave”–the name of the division for campers with disabilities), mitbachon (cooking), beezbooz (waste, usually waste of resources).

This is the pattern of life at camp. Up at 6:30. The weight of your bakbuk mayim(water bottle) feels strange? Get used to it. Time to throw yourself into prayer, song, and dance. Some days this feels beautiful, even ecstatic. Other days you are only praying for breakfast.Kaspar dancing before ShabbatThen you wake up your body, wondering when your mind will catch up. Relax. You are home, in the calming shadow and soon-to-be-warm arms of the Rockies. Then finally breakfast, but it’s over all too soon. Your electives become normal, eventually. Things settle into a rhythm of heart and mind and body and soul. You grow stronger. You make friends. You begin to understand not only the dances at shira (singing activity), but the dance of the earth. You begin to realize why we eat everything we’re given, even those awful sun-nut butter sandwiches. (Be glad. My first year they had something even worse.) Dreams are a rarity. Sleep is essential. So is water. Your stomach hurts? Drink water. You’re dizzy? Drink water. You have a twisted ankle? Drink water. Trust me, do it. It’s not as crazy as it sounds.

Finally, after six days, there comes a soft undertone to this wild rhythm. It swells, overtakes you. Take a deep breath. There’s time for a shower now. The drumming stops. Finally, it is Shabbat.

This is a day that moves to a different song. Hours to yourself, to spend in the village playing cards or reading in one of the numerous hammocks that inevitably pop up. Prayer becomes less of an ordeal, even though you have to do more of it. You get to eat more, and better. It’s time to let your body rest and your soul soar.

Shabbat ends when three stars are in the sky. Havdalah begins. The drumming starts up again, filling your mind, awakening your heart. Another week. Masa week.

My first year at camp, when we were still young and over-simplified things, “masa” was defined for me as “outing.” This invoked, for me, undirtied picnic wear and parasols–even perhaps, since we were at camp, a tent, complete with a blow-up mattress for inside. Psych!

Masa

“Masa,” correctly defined, means “journey.” That means rain. That means sleeping on the ground and freezing your eyes out in your pitiful so-called sleeping bag. That means waking up at the crack of dawn to climb that mountain, by God. But it also means triumph. It means beauty. It means camaraderie and strength that will change you, inside and out. It means Ramah. High place (the literal translation of the word “ramah”).

Eventually you must return to the faraway world you once called home. Where showers are daily and machines a common sight. But you are different. You have returned from a high place. So when your friends ask, “You went to the mountains?” your response will be, “Even higher.”

This post is part of a three-part series sponsored by the Ramah Camping Movement. The National Ramah Tikvah Network of programs serves children, teens, and young adults with disabilities. All eight North American Ramah overnight camps offer programming for campers with disabilities. To learn more, click here.

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