Covenant News

Covenant Harbor Draws Staff from Europe, South Africa

LAKE GENEVA, WI (August 17, 2005) - The camp staff of Covenant Harbor this summer can look like a mini United Nations, with a number of camp summer staff members coming from Europe and South Africa.

The European staff are helping with food service, the canteen and cleaning rooms, says Auker. They are college students or students who have just graduated and wanting to improve their English. They camp employs between 10 and 15 students a year.

Most are from Russia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, says David Auker, the camp's executive director

Covenant Harbor works with a group called Camp Counselors of America (CCA) to find the students. After CCA finds possible candidates, the camp's head chef travels to Europe each year to interview the students, Auker says.

"They are Christian in the broad sense of the word," says Auker. "They are not as evangelical as we are."

Several of the students have made commitments to Christ while working at the camp, says Auker. One stayed in the United States and got married.

The employees normally work at the camp from mid June to the end of August or early September, Auker says.

Auker says having the students from Europe helps the camp in several ways. The camp has had a difficult time finding workers to fill the jobs at which the Europeans work.

Hiring the European workers is not an added expense, Auker says. "It costs us about the same here as it is to have local kids." He adds the students add to the cultural diversity of Covenant Harbor.

Most of the counselors at the camp are from the United States, Auker says. "We work hard getting staff with spiritual qualifications to work with the campers."

Not all of the counselors are American, however. For the last several years, Covenant Harbor has been using volunteer leaders connected with YMCA camping in South Africa.

The arrangement began when Darrell Griffin, now the pastor of Oakdale Covenant Church in Chicago traveled to South Africa and met Llewellyn Syce, director of the Cape Town West YMCA and invited him to tour camps in the United States.

"Over there the 'C' (in YMCA) means something so they are very Christian," Griffin says.

Syce was thrilled with what he saw at Covenant Harbor and wanted people at the YMCA to learn how the camp carries out its programs. Over the last three years, 10 volunteers from South Africa have helped at Covenant Harbor. Most have been in their early twenties.

Some stay for the summer as counselors. Others have worked at the camp from January to the beginning of December so that they can better learn camp administration. Auker says, "They learn by doing - what our programs are, how we plan our programs, and how we work with kids."

"One of the things I like about it is our African American kids really identify with the South African staff," Auker says.

High school students from Oakdale continue a connection with the Cape Town YMCA, having just finished a mission trip, says the church's youth pastor, Bryndan Loritts.

The students spent time helping at the YMCA Bible camp and ministering in poverty-stricken areas in other parts of the city, Loritts says.

"There is a passion in the hearts of young people in South Africa," Loritts says. "You can see it clear as day. They are so dedicated to learning. God really did move."

The five students who traveled to South Africa were chosen for the trip following a screening process, Loritts says. The students must have a 2.5 GPA or higher in school and then go through interviews.

The church also tries to stay in touch with the South African students at Covenant Harbor, including a trip to a White Sox game.

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