Abeshack & Friends

IndiCamp 2014 is over! This experience has been amazing. The kids here are very respectful, and all of my doubts and fears about this trip were crushed as soon as camp started on tuesday. I had the privilege of counseling boys 1 which consisted of 15 boys that were 9 and 10 years old! They were all so nice, and the love we all felt for each other was great despite the evident language barrier caused simply by accents. One camper that stood out to me was a 10 year old named Abeshack. He was the nicest, smallest, most adorable little kid I have ever seen. His english wasnt too good, but he would always smile and yell "Jacob ana!" with a big smile whenever he saw me (ana is Tamil for older brother). He clinged to me all week and would run up from behind me and grab my arm when we were walking places. When he left today, it was so difficult to hold all the tears back (I'm even trying to hold them back while typing this), and now I miss him so much. It is amazing how God allows us to make strong friendships and love people so much after knowing them for just a few days. Another camper that I just met yesterday became one of my favorites in the whole camp. The camper knew no english, but that did not stop us from bonding these last two days. I was surprised by the happiness that was so evident in this camper's personality because of the background they have. This camper lives in an orphanage with many children that have HIV and AIDS. I could not believe that, just because of the joy I could see in this campers eyes. Today I saw this camper walking to the bus that was driving all the kids, and I waved to say goodbye. They got a huge smile and ran over to give me hug. I am so grateful to have a God that gives us these joys and relationships regardless of everything that stands in the way of that happening!

Jacob Williams