It’s Friday afternoon. Everyone’s busy getting ready. We go down to the stairs and meet with our mishpachot, our families of people who live in our region. There are groups from British Columbia, Alberta, Washington, Oregon, and even as far away as England and Israel. Everyone is relaxed as we talk about our week. Then its time to walk to the Point.

The Point is beautiful and peaceful, our special place overlooking the ocean. After a Shabbat story we all go and relax in the amazing landscape: Shabbat on the ocean.  After a delicious Shabbat dinner, we have Shabbat singing, led by the oldest campers. It’s amazing, there’s just so much ruach.  Then we all go up to the sports field for Israeli folk dancing. It’s so much fun. Some of the dances are exclusive to Habonim Dror, the movement that Miriam belongs to. If you are older, you can dance until 11, and play soccer ‘till 12!

I go to Camp Miriam, a beautiful camp on Gabriola Island, 20 minutes by ferry from Nanaimo.  Camp is nestled in a thick coastal forest right across the road from the ocean. The camp is covered in murals, some dating back to the ‘70’s, so you can feel the history of camp.  Campers range from 7 years old (after grade two) to 16 (after grade 9).

Camp Miriam is part of the socialist Zionist movement, Habonim Dror, with seven camps in North America, as well as in Australia, South America, and many other places. It is connected to Hanoar Ha’oved in Israel, and has camps and programs in Israel.  This past summer, four counselors from another Habo camp came to share some of their traditions with us. They said that a lot of the traditions were the same. That’s a bonus of being part of a movement; you can go to other camps and still feel at home.

Miriam is big on cultural Judaism. If you like singing and dancing on Shabbat, learning about Israel, and chilling with Jewish friends, you’ve come to the right place. Over the years I’ve re-enacted the proclamation of Israel and been woken up in the middle of the night to ‘make Aliyah’.

The days are packed with fun activities that also teach you about community and Habonim Dror. Everyday we have avodah or work, where you can make lunch, sweep, serve breakfast, or paint murals. Everybody helps and works together to make the camp community so amazing.  You can pick activities that interest you like sports, music, arts and crafts, or just chilling on the chof, or beach. We learn about Zionism, Social Justice issues such as Darfur and poverty, and how we can help to make our world better through actualization or hagshama. Every year we all bring a small amount of money to donate to kupah. Camp is also a great vacation from electronics and technology.

During the three-week sessions each age group goes on an overnight camping trip, or tiyul. The youngest kids stay on the island, but most people go to Vancouver Island to places like the Juan de Fuca Trail or Strathcona Park, so that over the years we get to see different parts of the area.

There are three special days that we look forward to. One is put on by the staff, one by the junior counselors, and one by the oldest campers. We do activities like giant waterslides, soap hockey, blindfolded mazes through the camp, and giant mazes in the dining hall. Those are so much fun!

Camp Miriam is very unique. Where else can you go and sing songs about aardvarks, surfing in Israel, and Beatles tunes all in half an hour. We are divided into eight age groups of campers, so that we hang out with our own ages and learn about ideas and topics that are age appropriate, but there are plenty of opportunities to be with other age groups, during work time, free time, interest groups, and many others. It’s special to make new friends from different parts of the world knowing that you will share special moments year after year.

How many days till the next season…….??!!