photo taken by camper Samuel Naylor

photo taken by camper Rylie Glogovi

photo taken by camper Garret Wallace

SPEC's Ubuntu Journey

This year our SPEC theme, “We Are” was inspired by the South African word ubuntu (pronounced oo-BOON-too). In English, it roughly translates to “I am, because we are.” The Honorable Bishop Desmond Tutu described ubuntu as the essence of being a person. It means that we are people through other people. We cannot be fully human alone. We are made for interdependence, we are made for family. When you have ubuntu, you embrace others. You are generous, compassionate. If the world had more ubuntu, we would not have war. We would not have this huge gap between the rich and the poor. You are rich so that you can make up what is lacking for others. You are powerful so that you can help the weak, just as a mother or father helps their children. This is God’s dream.

More than 1,200 campers and staff members from Australia, British Isles, Canada, Europe, French Polynesia, Pacific Islands, and the United States came together for this ubuntu journey. They remembered that “I am, because we are” and recognized that “We are because God is!”

We can’t wait to share in the next SPECTACULAR experience: “Revolutionary” from July 24-31, 2010.

—Jenn Killpack reporting