Camp Langano, Ethiopia
God opened the door for the two of us to serve at Camp Langano. So we wanted to share a little more about the camp and ministry with you. The camp is located on Lake Langano about 4 1/2 hours south-east of Addis Abba, which is the capital of Ethiopia. SIM has been working on this particular site for many years. Currently Camp Langano shares the 95-acre compound with a local church, school and health clinic, which are all ministries of SIM/EKHC. About 6 years ago, Sports Friends began developing part of the compound into a summer camp. The idea of a summer camp is a very new concept to Ethiopians as this is the first summer camp in the country. The unique atmosphere created at a summer camp allows relationships to grow much deeper much faster when compared to daily life at home. For this reason camp is a vital aspect of the Sports Friends ministry in Ethiopia.
Each week that camp is in session, the Ethiopian staff select a different region of the country to bring kids from. To be eligible to come to camp, each player must have been consistently involved with their Sports Friends team for at least one year. The coaches hand pick a few of the players - of all skill levels - on their team to bring to camp. The local churches help to pay for the expenses for each player to go to camp. Each coach comes to camp with their players and spends the entire week them. The week at camp consists of 3 meals a day, a bed, showers, teaching, skits, singing, question and discussion times as well as lots and lots of soccer! The coach is there, along with camp staff and counselors to interact with, love on and encourage the campers. When camp is over the coaches travel back home with the kids to follow up on everything that happened at camp. This is a very important aspect of Camp Langano and Sports Friends. The constant contact and presence of a mentor in each child's life is the key to not only spreading but also growth in the Gospel.
Since opening, hundreds of children have committed their lives to Christ while at Camp Langano. Currently it is only possible to run camp for 8 to 10 weeks each year with less than 100 campers each week. The ultimate goal with Camp Langano is to reach a point where camps are run nearly year round with a capacity of over 200 campers each week. There are currently more than 76,000 kids on Sports Friends soccer teams throughout Ethiopia, so the demand for more kids to go to camp is very real and very urgent.
The map of Camp Langano shows the rough lay of the land with the current facilities and proposed facilities. Bryan will be working with a group of Ethiopian men to continue building the camp facilities while maintaining the existing facilities. The lack of buildings is a major part of the constraints on the number of kids that can come to camp. We want to make a big impact on this camp and help to provide the facilities that are needed in order for the Gospel to be preached to even more kids in Ethiopia. Our desire is to see the Holy Spirit move in the hearts of campers and see the Gospel become real to them.
Download the file below for more specifics about the vision, purpose, impact and results of Camp Langano.
Each week that camp is in session, the Ethiopian staff select a different region of the country to bring kids from. To be eligible to come to camp, each player must have been consistently involved with their Sports Friends team for at least one year. The coaches hand pick a few of the players - of all skill levels - on their team to bring to camp. The local churches help to pay for the expenses for each player to go to camp. Each coach comes to camp with their players and spends the entire week them. The week at camp consists of 3 meals a day, a bed, showers, teaching, skits, singing, question and discussion times as well as lots and lots of soccer! The coach is there, along with camp staff and counselors to interact with, love on and encourage the campers. When camp is over the coaches travel back home with the kids to follow up on everything that happened at camp. This is a very important aspect of Camp Langano and Sports Friends. The constant contact and presence of a mentor in each child's life is the key to not only spreading but also growth in the Gospel.
Since opening, hundreds of children have committed their lives to Christ while at Camp Langano. Currently it is only possible to run camp for 8 to 10 weeks each year with less than 100 campers each week. The ultimate goal with Camp Langano is to reach a point where camps are run nearly year round with a capacity of over 200 campers each week. There are currently more than 76,000 kids on Sports Friends soccer teams throughout Ethiopia, so the demand for more kids to go to camp is very real and very urgent.
The map of Camp Langano shows the rough lay of the land with the current facilities and proposed facilities. Bryan will be working with a group of Ethiopian men to continue building the camp facilities while maintaining the existing facilities. The lack of buildings is a major part of the constraints on the number of kids that can come to camp. We want to make a big impact on this camp and help to provide the facilities that are needed in order for the Gospel to be preached to even more kids in Ethiopia. Our desire is to see the Holy Spirit move in the hearts of campers and see the Gospel become real to them.
Download the file below for more specifics about the vision, purpose, impact and results of Camp Langano.
camp_langano_overview.pdf | |
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