The three summer camps for girls were organized in the village of St. Joan the Vladimir near the city of Elbasan on the following dates: July 1 to 10, July 13 to 22 and July 26 to August 4. The girls were respectively of ages 10 to 12, 13 to 15 and 16 to 25 years old and they came from the entire country. The camp was organized by the female students studying at the Theological Academy and the activists of the Youth Centers in Tirana and Durrësi. The overall goal of these camps was to experience and to manifest God’s love through prayers, close reading of the Holy Scriptures, part-taking in the church services so as to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit and to love God who is The Way, the Truth and the Life itself, as our Archbishop Anastasios states.
Life in the camps was centered around the Church as the place of spiritual upbringing. The girls learned about the Creator, they were taught prayers and were introduced to the holy services; they studied the Holy Scriptures and listened to several preaching. A number of discussions were held by His Grace Nikolla, His Grace Andon, Ms. Rozeta Baba and Ms. Sonila Rëmbeci. Through these discussions they aimed to motivate the girls to enrich their knowledge about orthodox faith, to learn the true goal of life and to get familiar to the models that they should follow in their life.
Also girls performed different drama plays which themes had a social background. They involved the use of cell-phones, internet, television, drugs and the theme of abortion. These performances were followed by discussions which would help girls to get to know much better the reality in which they live but also to keep in mind the calling for staying awake. Other important activities of these camps were the visits that the girls paid to the people in need, the craftwork, the songs, the walking in the mountain, as well as the impressing excursion they had in the city of Korca where they visited its beautiful churches.
At the end of each camp session the girls were given little spiritual books to help them with the progress in their spiritual life.
Marina Baba
Translated by Juliana Kodheli
