Camp Ray of Hope 2012
This year we hosted one week for children with blood disorders and the following week for children with cancer. The movie below is a combination of both weeks. A great time was had by all! Thank you to all those who made this possible for these children. Enjoy!
Hemophilia Camp
Circus! Circus! Camp Ray of Hope 2012
Camp Ray of Hope’s annual summer camp for children with serious illnesses in Romania took place this year in Balvalnyos in central Romania. This was our seventh year of providing a camping experience for children with hemophilia in Romania and our first oncology camp. Our theme this year was the circus and what an opportunity this was for children and adults alike to clown around. Our wonderful volunteer staff did an amazing balancing act of entertaining the troops. We had a menagerie of big and small cats (children) ages six to eighteen, while the ringmasters (a hematologist and an oncologist) somersaulted between the Medical Clinic, a.k.a the Clown’s Room, and the big top where all the activities took place.
The activities included arts and crafts, games, sports, dancing, swimming and water fights. We took the children with hemophilia to an Activity Park where they experienced a wide range of thrill rides, zip lines and a variety of obstacle and rope courses.
To keep up with the theme, we brought in a magician to the first camp and a theater group to the second camp. The theater group performed what else, a circus play! The magician taught the children how to juggle, do vanishing acts and many magic tricks.
We jumped through hoops trying to give the children a fun circus experience. We organized a carnival where the children played games. We created our own unique clown costume and had a clown parade. The children performed a talent show where they were magicians, ring masters, and strongmen. We had our own version of contortionists, rope walkers, acrobats, snake charmers, and all kind of knockout acts. Watch out Cirque du Soleil!
A great time was had by all. In fact one young boy said,” I am so grateful you were here for me during this time, I will never forget you.” Thank you to all who made these camps possible for these great kids.
The activities included arts and crafts, games, sports, dancing, swimming and water fights. We took the children with hemophilia to an Activity Park where they experienced a wide range of thrill rides, zip lines and a variety of obstacle and rope courses.
To keep up with the theme, we brought in a magician to the first camp and a theater group to the second camp. The theater group performed what else, a circus play! The magician taught the children how to juggle, do vanishing acts and many magic tricks.
We jumped through hoops trying to give the children a fun circus experience. We organized a carnival where the children played games. We created our own unique clown costume and had a clown parade. The children performed a talent show where they were magicians, ring masters, and strongmen. We had our own version of contortionists, rope walkers, acrobats, snake charmers, and all kind of knockout acts. Watch out Cirque du Soleil!
A great time was had by all. In fact one young boy said,” I am so grateful you were here for me during this time, I will never forget you.” Thank you to all who made these camps possible for these great kids.
Oncology Camp
Camp Ray of Hope 2011
CAMP RAY OF HOPE ROCKS!
July 3 – July 9, 2011 Camp Ray of Hope celebrated our sixth consecutive year of camping experience for children with Hemophilia in Romania -rock style. The theme Rock and Roll featured the one and only King of Rock, Elvis Presley. We can attest that Elvis is indeed alive and we saw him with our own eye
We started camp this year on a cold and rainy day but if the weather did not cooperate with us we warmed up the atmosphere by kicking off the first day of
camp with an all day 4th of July celebration. We decorated the camp in red, white, and blue. Everyone made hats and carried a small American flag. We even had our own Statue of Liberty. We ate hamburgers and hot dogs, French fries, and for desert apple pie and Coke. Our American parade in the small village attracted everyone’s attention and inquiries like, “What is going on?” prompted the children to respond, “Today is America’s birthday!” Later on in the evening we distributed sparklers and the atmosphere truly became a celebratory one. In the following days the weather improved and the children were able to do what they came to camp for: swimming, soccer, basketball, archery, and boating. For arts and crafts the boys made Elvis costumes and the girls made poodle skirts. We received donated Elvis wigs and glasses for the boys and cat eye glasses for girls. We truly looked ’50’s style
The Rock and Roll theme carried out throughout the week. We woke up and rounded up to Rock Around the Clock. We learned about the life of Elvis and
carried out cabin chats at night with questions like: “What would you do if you had Elvis’s money?” We were all impressed at the children’s answers. They all
wanted to give most of the money away to other suffering children.
Our field trip this year took us to a salt mine with a lunch stop at a pizza parlor. The mine was so large and the main room so big it included a bowling alley, a game room, a small soccer field, a lake with boats, and a large Ferris wheel. The kids totally enjoyed this trip. The highlight of the camp was a two hour classical and pop music concert performed by a piano quartet affiliated with the Symphony Orchestra in Cluj. The quartet also accompanied our campers in recording the song Together (in the video above)which has become the camp anthem. Our Talent Show featured Elvis with other guest appearances like Alice Cooper and Michael Jackson!
Once again this year we had the pleasure of welcoming our own Andrew Clements, Specialist Hemophilia Physiotherapist from Leicester Royal Infirmary
in England, also appearing as Alice Cooper and the Chicken Man. Andrew gave a very informative presentation on Hemophilia and taught the children different techniques to target their specific joint problems.
This year Camp Ray of Hope rocked. Take a look at the pictures and be amazed! for more pictures visit our Facebook page facebook.com/S.T.A.R. Children Relief / Camp Ray of Hope
July 3 – July 9, 2011 Camp Ray of Hope celebrated our sixth consecutive year of camping experience for children with Hemophilia in Romania -rock style. The theme Rock and Roll featured the one and only King of Rock, Elvis Presley. We can attest that Elvis is indeed alive and we saw him with our own eye
We started camp this year on a cold and rainy day but if the weather did not cooperate with us we warmed up the atmosphere by kicking off the first day of
camp with an all day 4th of July celebration. We decorated the camp in red, white, and blue. Everyone made hats and carried a small American flag. We even had our own Statue of Liberty. We ate hamburgers and hot dogs, French fries, and for desert apple pie and Coke. Our American parade in the small village attracted everyone’s attention and inquiries like, “What is going on?” prompted the children to respond, “Today is America’s birthday!” Later on in the evening we distributed sparklers and the atmosphere truly became a celebratory one. In the following days the weather improved and the children were able to do what they came to camp for: swimming, soccer, basketball, archery, and boating. For arts and crafts the boys made Elvis costumes and the girls made poodle skirts. We received donated Elvis wigs and glasses for the boys and cat eye glasses for girls. We truly looked ’50’s style
The Rock and Roll theme carried out throughout the week. We woke up and rounded up to Rock Around the Clock. We learned about the life of Elvis and
carried out cabin chats at night with questions like: “What would you do if you had Elvis’s money?” We were all impressed at the children’s answers. They all
wanted to give most of the money away to other suffering children.
Our field trip this year took us to a salt mine with a lunch stop at a pizza parlor. The mine was so large and the main room so big it included a bowling alley, a game room, a small soccer field, a lake with boats, and a large Ferris wheel. The kids totally enjoyed this trip. The highlight of the camp was a two hour classical and pop music concert performed by a piano quartet affiliated with the Symphony Orchestra in Cluj. The quartet also accompanied our campers in recording the song Together (in the video above)which has become the camp anthem. Our Talent Show featured Elvis with other guest appearances like Alice Cooper and Michael Jackson!
Once again this year we had the pleasure of welcoming our own Andrew Clements, Specialist Hemophilia Physiotherapist from Leicester Royal Infirmary
in England, also appearing as Alice Cooper and the Chicken Man. Andrew gave a very informative presentation on Hemophilia and taught the children different techniques to target their specific joint problems.
This year Camp Ray of Hope rocked. Take a look at the pictures and be amazed! for more pictures visit our Facebook page facebook.com/S.T.A.R. Children Relief / Camp Ray of Hope
Camp Ray of Hope 2010
In 2010 Camp Ray of Hope celebrated its 5th year of providing a camp experience for the chronically ill children of Romania. The first children to arrive gave us some concern as we realized that their condition was more serious than in years past. We discovered this was due to the economic conditions which had caused a cut back in medical treatment and availability of medicine. However, due to the generosity of our partners, we had sufficient supply of medicine to make sure all forty children had what they needed for prophylactic treatment which would allow them to have a week of fun without complications. We had a great medical team on hand, a doctor and three nurses, who took care of the children and also joined in on all the fun.
We had many programmed activities such as boating, archery, swimming, golf and a host of arts and crafts projects. A travel trip was planned and we
took everyone to one of only three golf courses in Romania. We attempted to teach forty children plus the staff how to play golf. This was a great day and
everyone had fun. We were blessed again this year in that not one activity was affected by the weather and there were no medical emergencies. We also
celebrated birthdays with an ice cream party with a twist. All the people celebrating had to feed each other being blindfolded. That was a fun day for sure.
The year’s theme was Island Fun and featured calypso music, straw hats, and mugs that looked like coconuts. Our two announcers were garbed in
dreadlocks and Caribbean hats to make this island theme complete. Everyone, staff included, created their own hula skirts and participated in a pirate
treasure hunt. As usual we had our annual talent show the last day of camp, an event that brought lots of laughter and joy. The success of the camp was such that every volunteer staff asked if they could return the following year.
We had many programmed activities such as boating, archery, swimming, golf and a host of arts and crafts projects. A travel trip was planned and we
took everyone to one of only three golf courses in Romania. We attempted to teach forty children plus the staff how to play golf. This was a great day and
everyone had fun. We were blessed again this year in that not one activity was affected by the weather and there were no medical emergencies. We also
celebrated birthdays with an ice cream party with a twist. All the people celebrating had to feed each other being blindfolded. That was a fun day for sure.
The year’s theme was Island Fun and featured calypso music, straw hats, and mugs that looked like coconuts. Our two announcers were garbed in
dreadlocks and Caribbean hats to make this island theme complete. Everyone, staff included, created their own hula skirts and participated in a pirate
treasure hunt. As usual we had our annual talent show the last day of camp, an event that brought lots of laughter and joy. The success of the camp was such that every volunteer staff asked if they could return the following year.
Camp Ray of Hope 2009
THE WILD WEST COMES TO ROMANIA! by Bill Boughton, Volunteer, United Kingdom
With the help of our many sponsors and donors, The Gunfight of the OK Corral was fought out at Ighiu, near Alba Iulia, Romania, together with The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. This gunfight took place in front of thirty nine Romanian boys and one girl suffering from hemophilia, and they enjoyed every minute of it. S.T.A.R. Children Relief was responsible for arranging and managing a holiday camp at Ighiu for the second year running. S.T.A.R. Children organized other hemophilia camps at Venus, on the Black Sea in 2006, and at Bazna in 2007.
The theme for this year’s camp was “The Wild West”, the Hacienda was the Terra Mythica Pension and the whole event was staged in June/July, 2009.
The Gunfight at the OK Corral was only one of the many activities enjoyed by the boys which included horseback riding, archery, soccer, basketball,
swimming, boating, model making, and fashion and talent show. Because of the nature of many of the activities and the children’s condition, medication was necessary to offset any effects of play and to administer infusions of needed factor. Doctors and Nurses were on hand to help. The best exercise for the children is no doubt swimming and the pool which, although small, was almost continually in play with the Physiotherapist, Andrew Clements, to assist. For the smaller children a large inflatable above ground pool was used and there was a separate area of water provided with inflatable boats and paddles for supervised use by the children. All camp activities regardless of age are supervised.
Horseback riding took place at Deva, at a riding centre. This was a novel experience and they thoroughly enjoyed it. A meal was also provided by the riding centre. Arts and Crafts covered several projects: model making, decorating horseshoes, making cowboy vests, and making flying paper aeroplanes among others. Probably the most innovative project was the modification of stout paper bags to represent cowboy waistcoats which the children proudly presented during the fashion show.
S.T.A.R. Children, well done, you worked hard and you succeeded admirably in your aim to keep the children safe, happy, and active. I know I was happy and active!
With the help of our many sponsors and donors, The Gunfight of the OK Corral was fought out at Ighiu, near Alba Iulia, Romania, together with The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. This gunfight took place in front of thirty nine Romanian boys and one girl suffering from hemophilia, and they enjoyed every minute of it. S.T.A.R. Children Relief was responsible for arranging and managing a holiday camp at Ighiu for the second year running. S.T.A.R. Children organized other hemophilia camps at Venus, on the Black Sea in 2006, and at Bazna in 2007.
The theme for this year’s camp was “The Wild West”, the Hacienda was the Terra Mythica Pension and the whole event was staged in June/July, 2009.
The Gunfight at the OK Corral was only one of the many activities enjoyed by the boys which included horseback riding, archery, soccer, basketball,
swimming, boating, model making, and fashion and talent show. Because of the nature of many of the activities and the children’s condition, medication was necessary to offset any effects of play and to administer infusions of needed factor. Doctors and Nurses were on hand to help. The best exercise for the children is no doubt swimming and the pool which, although small, was almost continually in play with the Physiotherapist, Andrew Clements, to assist. For the smaller children a large inflatable above ground pool was used and there was a separate area of water provided with inflatable boats and paddles for supervised use by the children. All camp activities regardless of age are supervised.
Horseback riding took place at Deva, at a riding centre. This was a novel experience and they thoroughly enjoyed it. A meal was also provided by the riding centre. Arts and Crafts covered several projects: model making, decorating horseshoes, making cowboy vests, and making flying paper aeroplanes among others. Probably the most innovative project was the modification of stout paper bags to represent cowboy waistcoats which the children proudly presented during the fashion show.
S.T.A.R. Children, well done, you worked hard and you succeeded admirably in your aim to keep the children safe, happy, and active. I know I was happy and active!