The first volunteer camp just ended with success at Le Saisonnier camp, in Lac-Beauport!
This year, an all-new 18-to-30-years-old volunteer camp popped up at Le Saisonnier camp in Lac-Beauport, Quebec. Our new partner, a summer and day camp, asked volunteers to help the organisation freshen up the on-site buildings that allow them to welcome visitors of all ages safely.
Our volunteers arrived on Saturday, June 29th. Stratego, a camp counsellor, showed up with a smile and gave them a warm and kind welcome. The campers were waiting impatiently for their arrival so they could understand what this partnership would mean for them. Afterwards, Stratego gave them a short guided tour of the camp and dorms.
The volunteers stayed in the camp dorms. The easy access, beautiful design and private bathroom were greatly appreciated. It was even the newest building on site! A nice welcome for our volunteers who came from all around the world.
Optimized group living thanks to the hosting partner
The young volunteers, who came from different backgrounds, got to know each other fast and learned quickly how to adapt their cultures and languages to communicate. It was a great intercultural encounter for our volunteers and the first challenge they overcame! They learned how to work together, how to share the daily tasks and even how to say different words in each other’s mother tongue. One of the Mexican volunteers drew the five flags of his fellow volunteers’ native countries—France, Canada, Italy, Spain and Mexico—with the word “friends” in every language in his camp evaluation.
Unfortunately, after a team change at Le Saisonnier camp, the volunteers didn’t have the chance to do activities with them. However, when our camp leader asked them for a helping hand with motivating the volunteers after working a week under a blazing sun, the camp’s team recognized their hard work by inviting them to the end-of-camp show. A surprise awaited our volunteers—the 300 campers gave them a round of applause and t-shirts were even gifted!
The volunteers had the opportunity to do some activities on site. Every morning, one of the volunteers took the initiative to lead a stretching session to start off the day well. Many games were organized as well—jeu de la boulette (a guessing game), truth and lie, compliment battle, house rules creation and even some authorized rock climbing at the camp!
During their free time, they had the chance to hike at Jacques-Cartier National Park and Mont Wright, visit the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, the Canyon Sainte-Anne, the city of Baie-Saint-Paul and Quebec City, go to the Festival d’été de Québec (Quebec City Summer Festival), relax at Baie de Beauport’s beach or even go to clubs. Campfires were also a must during many of their evenings.
A sneak peek of the work done
Volunteering with Chantiers jeunesse and its partners, it’s a workweek of 30 hours that allows our volunteers to develop practical skills a lot more than they think.
Our volunteers had two four-day weeks to help the camp scrape paint off buildings and to give them a fresh coat. During the second week, the technical expert suggested building a structure in the river so the water can flow to the on-site artificial lake and redoing a trench on the side of the lake. The camp’s board of directors also provided a sawing machine so that the young volunteers could help with wood cutting during their last days.
“The volunteers were quite courageous and resilient to work under a blazing sun,” says Mylène, the camp leader.
They left happy knowing they supported the technical team redevelop and revitalize the camp’s infrastructure, which was built decades ago, in two short weeks! Congrats to our engaged volunteers!
Check out our volunteer camp pHOTOS!
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You did a volunteer camp and would like to share your experience? Share your stories, photos and videos to cj@cj.qc.ca