Connie went to Spain?

What was I doing in Spain?!

Dear Friends,

I would like to share my experience in Spain with you. The International Camping Fellowship was holding
their Congress – a conference held every three years in different parts of the world. The ICF is an all-
volunteer operation with small and large organizations like ACA in many countries involved. This
Congress was held in Tarragona, Spain for the first time in 6 years. The Congress scheduled for China in
2020 was canceled due to Covid. So, this gathering of international camp professionals was very
important.

Prior to each Congress a five-day International Camp Director Course (ICDC) for camp directors or
wanna-be camp directors is scheduled. Concurrently there is an eight-day course to train trainers to
deliver this course around the world. The first course was in Quebec in 2008. After serving as part of the
facility for the first course I was asked by ICF to be the International Coordinator and write the
curriculum for future courses. I had been on the national staff of both Camp Fire USA and the American
Camping Association in professional development positions and have been a camp director in four US
states and Malaysia. To date there have been ICDC Trainer courses in Hong Kong, Australia, Turkey,
Japan, Russia, and Canada. I have been on the faculty for all of them and completed updated materials
for each.

Participants are from a variety of private, non-profit, religious, and government camps.
This year there were six trainees and 21 participants. They were from 15 different countries. The course
was held at a camp above the Mediterranean near Tarragona. The course has 14 core areas of
management content and were taught in English, a challenge for both the trainers and participants. I
was one of the three faculty members. After living and working together for the 5 to 8 full days of
training, sharing experiences and team building the group becomes quite close and supportive of each
other….just like camp. At the end there were lots of hugs, certificates and best wishes as we loaded the
buses for the hotel and Congress in Tarragona.

Following three disrupting years of pandemic and politics since the last Congress in Sochi, Russia
approximately 300 participants attended an excellent program and toured local camps in the nearby
mountain area. While I helped with the Congress program my delight was renewing contacts with past
course participants and hearing their stories. I was honored to be asked for a picture with 12 of the
original ICDC participants in 2008 that were at the Congress and still involved with camps in their
countries.

Don’t worry, I did have a little time at the end to visit the Montserrat Museum and the Basilica Sagrada
Familia in Barcelona with two friends, one from London and one from California, 3 generations apart,
but Camp Fire friends from the past. We were shoulder to shoulder with thousands of people from
around the world peacefully touring these beautiful historic places. My shock upon returning was
hearing the atrocities that were currently happening in the world. Although it may seem small, the
children of the world need the camp experience and the camping world needs to build fellowship more
than ever. My thanks to our board and staff for keeping the work of Camp Wyandot moving forward
while I was gone.

WL,

Connie