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 Nitni Wilson has fond memories of ECWA Camp Youth Alive. “I was 15 the first time I went to camp. It was the first time I’d ever left home. I was shy and nervous, but I soon made friends. I learned how to read and apply a Bible passage and find the promises, warnings, and sins. I loved meeting friends, singing and drama, and outreach. Many of the children at camp gave their lives to Christ.”
Ten Years of History
ECWA Camp Youth Alive began in the early 1990s, when SIM missionary Leslie Pelt approached Claudia Long about beginning a youth camp. At the time, Claudia taught at Hillcrest, the local Christian school for Nigerian and missionary children. But that summer commitment became Claudia’s main ministry, and now she is the project director.
In 1998, the camp bought land and began to build. The camp now covers 36 acres, but Claudia dreams of having 120 acres of land.
A New Idea
The idea of a Christian youth camp is a radical one for the Nigerian Church. Claudia says, “The church knows what conferences are but hasn’t seen much organized Christian camping. We see a lot of youth not doing anything, a lot of idleness.
"We’re not going for masses, but one-on-one discipleship. For some kids, it’s their first time for studying the Bible for themselves instead of just believing what their parents tell them.”
Vision for the Future
On a recent visit, I stood with Claudia squinting over the campground. I could tell she saw more than weeds poking through the sun-baked earth. She envisioned young people romping over the grounds and learning about God together.
Camp construction is still in progress. Currently, ten huts (one-room cement houses) are completed. Each hut houses about 10 campers, who sleep on mattresses spread out on the floor. Two hut leaders stay with eight or nine campers in each hut. “Later we hope to get bunk beds in each hut,“ says Claudia " We also have lights up, but we’re not yet connected to electricity.”
The camp has enough room to house 80 youths comfortably, but the attendance at each camp generally reaches 100. Claudia hopes to expand the camp to a capacity of 200.
Future plans include:
- finishing the girls’ washroom and building a boys’ washroom,
- a hut for the cook, who for now sleeps in the kitchen
- a camp office,
- chapel,
- caretaker office,
- craft building, and
- 14 more huts for campers.
After fourteen years of leading the camp, Claudia plans to hire a director. The project has already built a camp director’s house to accommodate a family. "It will be great to have a director who can speak to the children in Hausa, the main language for this part of Nigeria," she says.
More about ECWA Camp Youth Alive
Pray
- for God to work in campers’ lives.
- for the right Nigerian camp director.
- for the camp staff to grow spiritually.
- for church teams to come work at the camp and lead local Bible studies.
Give
Your financial partnership is needed so that Camp Youth Alive can continue to reach Nigerian young people for Christ. Some specific needs are:
- Ceramic tiles for girls’ shower stalls.
- Ten camper huts. Each hut costs about $10,000.
- Partial scholarships The camp charges $35 per camper, but the real cost is $53.
- Additional land. The surrounding land is being rapidly bought up, so this is an urgent need.
Go
You can serve at ECWA Camp Youth Alive for a short-term mission. Find out how God can use you
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