Last week I had the good fortune to volunteer with Camp Mauchatea, a summer camp for children who are blind and visually impaired; an event we thought would be foregone due to COVID-19 because all of the residential camps in the state, which we could have used, were closed. Additionally, all of the spring fundraisers to pay for the camp were canceled, so full financing was not available. Despite clamoring from the children and the parents, (along with a few of us volunteers,) it looked like we were not going to get together this summer.

The Narragansett Lions Club came to the rescue. It was a happy day when I got the call offering not only the money to pay for the camp, but a very suitable location in the form of a 12-bedroom “cottage” in Narragansett. With Health Department Regulations being what they are to keep everyone safe, we divided the week up among younger and older campers, having two groups of 10 each session. We purchased a commercial fogging machine, along with children’s masks, spray sanitizer for the tables, doorknobs, and chair backs and lots of hand sanitizer. Three or four children were assigned to one of the six bathrooms, limiting the number of children in each.

Although it all sounds daunting, it became, in fact, routine. Warwick resident Chris Bove served as our Sanitation Director, fogging each and every room daily, along with the pool area, which was also used by the general public. For sanitation safety in the pool, the children wore full-face snorkeling masks, with which they had great fun looking for all of the trinkets on the bottom of the pool.

One unique advantage to camp this year was a visit to Scarborough Beach after dinner, when parking was free and the beach was not crowded. Many of the children who attend are from low-income, inner city families who had never before been to the beach. With the guidance of one-on-one counselors, even the most timid of campers eventually made their way into the shallow waves with looks of joy and amazement on their faces. Some also made the proverbial sand castles, laughing hysterically when the water finally reached the point of their creations and swept the sand away out to sea. Who knew such delights were available in Rhode Island?

Because we were staying in a house instead of a camp, it was necessary for us to prepare our own meals. Using this as a teaching activity for the children, they learned to make their own pizzas, salads, brownies, pancakes and scrambled eggs. Pictures taken of their intensity preparing their food showed only the tops of their heads as they used what vision they had to crack eggs for scrambled eggs, measure the ingredients for brownies, and carefully cover their pizzas with cheese. They had to get so close that many of their noses were dotted with brownie mix. (Fortunately, each child made his/her own brownie with the ingredients never touching another camper’s.)

Other activities of daily living were practiced, such as making their beds, washing their own dishes, and cleaning their bathrooms, (with rubber gloves, of course.) This year’s camp was more work than other camps, but it was that work that taught the children that they are as capable of caring for themselves as anyone else.

Of course, the campfire with s’mores was a success, as was the trip to Aunt Carries Ice Cream where each child ordered individually, some so shy that it was evident that this was a new experience.

The ever-present camp activity of doing crafts was also unique this year, with campers bedazzling their masks and tie dying their t-shirts. They also made hand crafted cards to give to the homeless, along with little bags with a toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, soap and deodorant. It is important for the children to give back to others, and to learn that there are many people less fortunate than they are.

The biggest take away from camp was the knowledge that they had friends with issues just like themselves. Many of the campers were the only children with vision impairments in their schools, sometimes in the whole school district. In school they are treated differently, often seen as disabled. At camp, they are completely “normal,” just a six, or ten or fourteen year old child living life to the fullest amongst friends and counselors with similar impairments. This would be a lifelong lesson that, hopefully, will provide the confidence and skills needed to become fully functioning adults (and, if they are lucky, to one day return as a camp counselor).