Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 11/99) - The Rankin Inlet Drop-in Centre's summer day camp will be wrapping up its yearly activities next week as another summer of teaching, guiding, caring and nurturing comes to a close.

Jacintha Howard has been the centre's program co-ordinator for the past three years and says this year's edition of the day camp had to overcome its share of adversity to meet the needs of the children enroled for the summer.

The program was late starting and a lack of funding combined with a rash of break and enters in the community made for some rough sailing at the start of the program.

"We had very little access to various places this summer because of those break and enters," lamented Howard. "Venues such as the library, the computer access centre and the elementary school gym weren't able to find anyone to staff them for security reasons and they were sceptical about passing out keys.

"We did, however, have access to the swimming pool, the recreation centre and the ball diamond, and we're hoping to get the kids out to Qaqmaq, the sod hut, before the program ends.

Workers at the fire hall were also good enough to give of their time so we could take the kids there for a field trip."

Howard says day camp is available to kids aged six to 16 and plays an important roll for both its participants and their parents. There were 84 kids registered in this year's camp.

"I had a lot of parents tell me they wouldn't have known what to do if it weren't for our day camp," says Howard. "We averaged about 40 kids a day throughout the summer and we, basically, work on the kids' ideas. They learn a lot about sharing with others and their success in the various games we play helps build their self-esteem.

"They learn to express their ideas and they're made to feel like their views are valued. As a result, they learn not to be afraid to express their ideas and they start to feel like their views and ideas are valued."

Kids who attend day camp also gain a sense of team spirit and sportsmanship from the various games and activities. More and more parents have been volunteering to help out with the program and Howard says the older kids really enjoy being a mentor to their younger friends.

"They don't always know what to do with the younger kids at first, but, as they come to the day camp more regularly, they learn lots of games and other activities they can teach the younger kids and play right along with them.

"The fun part is sometimes the rolls reverse and it's the younger kids who actually end up teaching the older ones and that's a great experience for both age groups."