On the 20th-24th February 2007, a team of 18 Operation Blessing staff and coworkers ran an English outreach camp for 139 Karen tribal children. The camp was held in Huay Kong Village, high in the mountains above Om Koi, Northern Thailand.

After taking over two hours to drive just 35kms along the rough mountain track, the picks-ups laden with supplies and people finally arrived at the beautiful village. There were many warm welcoming smiles to greet the team as the trucks pulled into the village.

The theme for the camp was “Move the Mountain”. At the opening of the camp, each child was presented with a specially designed shirt, bearing the camp theme. During the day, the children rotated through five different classes to learn English: Sport, Art & Craft, Bible Class, English Fun, and Song & Dance.

CBN’s “Kids Only” team hosted games, songs and other fun activities each morning and evening. Three hundred pairs of shoes were given to the children in the village, along with toothbrushes, toothpaste, snacks and daily lunches. At the close of the camp, each class performed what they had learned in front of the other children, and were presented with a camp certificate.

The children were enthusiastic participants and valued the opportunity to study English. Kasem, a Grade Three boy who attended the camp said, “I would like to thank everyone from Operation Blessing Foundation (Thai) for coming to teach us English. I enjoyed it so much and learnt a lot from them.” The teachers at the school were also very appreciative and greatly impressed by the love CBN showed to these very poor and needy children.