Refugee children from Honduras, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Russia, Venezuela and Fiji were welcomed to Camp Nefesh this year.
The free summer day camp, hosted by Congregation B’nai Israel in Sacramento, was founded by founder Lucy Beckett when she was 16. The camp has been offering free, fun summer activities for refugee children since 2018.
Camp Nefesh Board of Directors Member Jason Weiner said the production is organized and run by teenage members of the congregation and volunteers with the goal of giving refugee children an opportunity to have fun and let go of their problems.
A planning committee works all year round on the preparation; this includes raising money, hiring volunteers and planning the activities, according to camp director Gali Schwarz.
Schwarz, 16, has been involved with Camp Nefesh since she was a child. “I was 11 and I was probably more annoying than helpful, but I really loved it and I’ve been coming back every year since,” she said.
Led by fifty teenage volunteers, the team works every day to implement a theme of the two-week camp, which started on Monday and will continue until the end of next week.
Friday’s theme is under the sea, and campers can prepare to cool off with a slip ‘n slide and ice cream.
The day camp experience starts bright and early and offers campers the opportunity to make friendship bracelets, play board games and get some recreational time in the playground.
This year, Camp Nefesh has 43 campers, all with varying English-speaking abilities. Schwarz said they can translate through an older sibling, use hand gestures or use an app.
“Without Google Translate, I don’t know where we would be,” said Ross London, co-camp director.
Because the camper demographic is multi-faith, Weiner said they have time and space available throughout the day for campers to pray as needed.
A safe place at camp
The Rahmani family is just one of many refugee families who have found a safe place in the camp.
Siblings Samina, Zenat and Abuzaid left Afghanistan in 2019 and are spending their second summer at Camp Nefesh.
Abuzaid, 9, said his favorite activity at camp is “playing with the new kids.”
“I play football, tag and basketball,” he said.
His eldest sister, Samina, 12, said she learned many things during her time at the camp, but one of them was “taking responsibility.”
The campers aren’t the only ones learning new things: Schwarz said she has learned resilience from her campers.
“It’s incredible to see that they can act like children after everything they’ve been through,” she said.
Schwarz said she loves sitting down with an individual child and making a connection.
When the campers were picked up by their parents, 16-year-old London said his favorite thing is hearing from the parents how happy their children are and what a good time they are having.
Schwarz, London and a majority of the teen volunteers are members of Congregation B’Nai Israel. The council is working with two immigration refugee organizations, World Relief and Norcal Resist, to promote emergency services and provide support to refugee families.
London said the Temple is “really focused on trying to give back to the community.”
Weiner said social action is a core value of being Jewish, “changing the world, or we call it, fixing the world.”
“We have members involved in every cause you can imagine,” he said.
The Hebrew words tikkun olam, means to repair the world, Weiner said.
Congregation B’Nai Israel uses a Social Action Committee that offers members several methods to fulfill that principle tikkun olam.
Subcommittees include an LGBTQ+ Rights Committee, a Racial Justice Committee, and an Immigration and Refugee Assistance Committee, under which Camp Nefesh operates.
Nefesh means soul or spirit in Hebrew, Weiner said, so Camp Nefesh is intended to be a “universal welcoming place” for the spirit and soul of everyone in the community.
