Totoranui, Golden Bay, South Island

Even with two JYF camps already under many of our belts most people who attended the camp could not deny that the weaving of activities and location with the theme was perhaps the tightest merging possible. In an isolated environment like Totoranui two hours away from any convenient store or cellular telephone reception, people were forced sometimes unwillfully to engage with their immediate surroundings and do as the theme suggested “more with less” . The outdoor activities were mostly generated by the imagination of Albie Burgers who pulled many people out of their immediate comfort zones. Be it kayaking in the open sea, planting 120 trees or doing a 15-minute ropewalk through the bush without the use of our eyes ignited the glorious spirit of adventure.

By providing the camp with a highly relevant theme and compiling people that usually would never have the chance to meet, people ended up relishing the differences from their usual company. With such an accepting environment many people were able to be themselves and express their own opinions to accepting and open minded listeners. This ranged from highly scripted and predictable to highly intellectual and politically aware discussion. When compared to other camps, Totoranui was far less structured which was a welcomed contrast to the previous year.

The lush native bush, great golden sands and beautiful blue sea surrounding our location was certainly inspiring to many environmental activists and was aided by the flamboyant guest speaker Green MP Mike Ward sharing his ideals. But perhaps more inspiring was Albie Burgers’ demonstrating simple yet effective and bizarrely cheap methods through his inventions to save electricity in the realm of solar heating.

Without any interruptions from combustion vehicles or other creators of unwanted distractions, Quaker silences were actually… silent. Many people took this opportunity to gather their thoughts and emotions, this process aided people by supplying them with the courage and determination to express themselves in whatever way they saw fit.

Overall most people would be hard pressed to argue that JYF didn’t make them a more complete, kinder and when all was said and done, a better person. Hopefully.

(posted by Anna, but written, as far as I know, by Jesse & Johnny! Sorry it's taken me so long to put up...)