Last week a couple of other adoptive moms and I hosted our second annual heritage camp. I blogged about last summer’s experience with our camp a couple weeks ago, and now that the second one is over I thought I would share some of the activities and insights that the other parents and I got from this year’s event.
One thing I learned? Less is more!! Last Wednesday about twenty kids–campers and their friends–converged on my house to prepare a traditional Indian meal, and I’m STILL eating leftovers!! We had a LOT of different food and it all tasted good, but it’s clear that we prepared too much. But while the girls were here, it was crazy–girls were making mango fruit drinks, peeling carrots, grinding spices, sampling various chutneys, making crackers….It was wild!
On the first day, one of the moms–the main organizer of the event–asked the girls to think about “adoption” and write down what it means to them. It was all done anonymously, so I don’t know what my daughters said, but I thought other parents might be interested in the comments the kids made. The girls ranged in age from 10-17, and here is what five girls wrote:
What Adoption Means to Me
“I don’t know. I think of it a lot.”
“Adoption is something special to me. I don’t feel different from my family because I have two brothers from India.”
“I think if I didn’t ever get adopted, I probably wouldn’t be alive. So, I was saved with a new life. Even tho sometimes I feel very different from my friends and kids at school. It’s hard to fit in, but I realize I am different and I’m just going to have to deal with it.”
“If I wasn’t adopted I know I wouldn’t be here today celebrating the same holidays or wearing the same clothes. Being adopted is the best thing ever!”
“Adoption: Bad–I don’t know what I feel, and I HATE explaining why I am different. Good–Everyone in the family tries to understand and show love.”
I think one of the best things about the camp is to help those girls who feel “different” to see that there are kids who have had exactly the same experience.
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