This summer of 2009 marked the 11th anniversary that the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania hosted summer camps for girls in the beautiful monastery of Saint Joan Vladimir, in Elbasan. This year marked the 33rd camp held at this location. This activity has offered possibilities for entertainment and spiritual growth for the girls that were in different ages and from different parts of Albania. These activities are organized with the blessing and the financial support of Archbishop Anastasios. His Beatitude always supports such activities in order to offer possibilities to youth to know and love God and the Church, and to learn how to love and respect one another.
 
You O Christ, the light of the world,
You came to enlighten me,
The Church, the Sacraments You gave to me,
That through them I might have life.
 
    This passage is from the hymn of the camp which the girls sang with so much enthusiasm and inspired them with the theme of the “In your light, we shall see light.” Often life presents us with many and different crossroads in which light is needed in order that we might choose the right road that we must walk. Light from the light that never end, light that lights our darkness, light that doesn’t make us ashamed; this light is God, who was incarnated for us and invites us to become His sons.
 
    The peaceful Monastery of St. John Vladimir welcomed more than 200 girls between the ages 10-12, 13 – 15 and 16 -25 years old. The participants were from the Dioceses of Tirana, Berati, Korça and Gjirokastra.
    During the days of the camp the girls participated in a very rich program. The program consisted of prayer every morning and evening, bible studies, art and craft projects, learning new songs, sports games, an Albanian cultural evening, dramas – acted out by the campers in order to introduce one another to the lives of the Apostles. In the second and third camps, social themes were developed, according to their age, such as family life, drug abuse, HIV/Aids, violence in the family, abortion, racism etc.
 
    Each day began and finished with prayer. A variety of prayers were said during the camp, such as, morning prayer, the prayer directed to the Theotokos, the prayer before sleeping, the Jesus prayer etc. The Holy Liturgy was a very essential part of the camp. The girls had the possibility during the camp to participate in the Liturgy and take Holy Communion. Over the course of the three camps 29 girls received baptism, joining the Body of Christ, the Church.
    Bible studies this year were based on the books of the Youth Bible Curriculum (YBC). The first camp used the book The Church Grows. The second and third camps used the book Our Reconciliation with God.
 
    A special contribution was given to the camps by Bishop Nikolla Hyka, by Bishop Andon Merdani, by Father Jani Trebicka, the spiritual father (confessor father) of the first camp and by Father Justin Anthimiadhi , the spiritual father (confessor father) of the second and the third camps, and by Father Viktori Bërdufi, who was the priest for all the camps and helped the girls in understanding the Holy Liturgy and the Sacraments of the Church. Other speakers also included: Anastasia Pamela Baksdale, who spoke at two camps, Sonila Rrëmbeci who spoke at three camps providing information on the media channels of our Church, Rozeta Baba, who spoke at the camps and Katerina Papadhopuli was a well received speaker at the third camp.
    As mentioned above, in addition to the spiritual aspects, the camps involved also artistic, cultural, sports and entertainment programs.
    Another special aspect of the camps was the teaching of the hymns of the Church and plays (dramas) prepared by the girls themselves, in which they demonstrated the lives of the Apostles; each of the eight (8) cabin groups were named after an Apostle.
    The Albanian cultural night was a special evening and each group demonstrated the culture of different cities, such as Korca, Berati, Elbasani, Tirana, Gjirokastra etc.
    The handcraft activities were very attractive. The girls learned how to make crosses, decorate different cards, make bracelets, prayer ropes, and paint the logo of the camp on their T-shirts. There were also sports activities and games in these camps. The girls played together and developed many friendships during the sports activities. There were a variety of new games, and the joy was very great.
    On the 2nd of August the first camp participated in the Holy Liturgy at the Cathedral of Annunciation in Tirana for the celebration of the 17-th year of the Enthronement of His Beatitute, Archbishop Anastasios.
    In the second camp the girls traveled to St. Vlash Monastery in Durrës in order to be part of the Holy Liturgy of the feast of Theotokos and in the afternoon they went to the beach and spent the whole afternoon there.
    Also during the third camp, the girls had the possibility to go to the Monastery of St. Vlash in Durrës and to learn more about this holy place and about the life of the Theological Academy and to spend the afternoon at the beach.
 
    During all the camps, the campers often had opportunities for some short trips to the mountains near the Monastery of St. John Vladimir and they really enjoyed the beauty of God’s creations and one anothers’ company.
    What was really special at the third was that the girls, inspired by the expression “liturgy after the Liturgy” of Archbishop Anastasios, tried to apply this in their lives. The campers visited the poorest families around the monastery, they went to visit the place where disabled people live and to the Children’s Hospital of Elbasan, to a residence for the elderly and to a rehabilitation centre. The goal of all of these visits was to teach the girls about the reality of life and to make them understand that is our responsibility to help people in need.
 
    The program of the camps was closed with thanksgiving prayers to God for this great blessing and to all who had made possible the realization of these camps. Lighting their candles and saying their thank you, we heard them say, very often with tears in their eyes, “We thank God for giving us this great blessing, we thank our Archbishop Anastasios for making this blessing true, we thank our spiritual fathers for teaching us the truth, we thank our special leaders who worked tirelessly with us. We thank our families that allowed us to be part of the camp and we thank one another for this beautiful fellowship.”
 
    The first camp was held from 27 July – 5 August with 75 participants from 10 – 12 years old, and led by Elisabeta Shqau and Parashqevi Gega.
    The second camp was held from 7 – 18 August with 70 participants from 13 – 15 years old and was led by Varvara Boço and Nestilda Dangaj.
    The third camp was held from 20 – 31 August with 60 participants from 16 – 25 years old and was led by Marina Baba.
 
    The main coordinator of the camps is Ana Baba, who has been also for almost seven (7) years the responsible person for the students’ ministry of the Orthodox Church in Tirana and for the camp ministry.
 
    With your light, we shall see light. God heard the strong prayers of many people for these camps to be a blessing for everybody that participated. Many thanks go to so many people that made possible the organization of this great activity. Thank you to God, Thank you to the Theological Academy, thank you to the students of Student City and to the young girls of the Youth Centre of Tirana. Thank you to everybody that prayed and contributed for these camps. Thank be to God!
 
Translated by Ana Kercyku
Edited by Anastasia Pamela Barksdale
 
 

 
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