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Camp Khanda: Where Sikh children
learn about religion,
life, heritage
 Kavan Rai used
to say very little about practicing the Sikh religion, fearful her
friends would make fun of her or shun her.
But after four
summers at Sikh youth camps in
Maryland,
Pennsylvania and New York, she's a confident, self-assured
13-year-old.
"I used to be
afraid to be who I am," said Kavan, of Vestal, in
Broome
County.
"But not anymore. This is who I am and they need to accept me for
who I am."
Kavan is one of
74 campers, ranging in age from 7 to 18, who spent this week at
Camp
Khanda,
a Sikh youth camp at Vanderkamp in Constantia.
The youths came
from across
New York and
also from California, Florida, New Jersey, Virginia, Wisconsin and
Canada.
"They're pretty
much from all areas of the country, but the majority are from
New York,"
said Upinder Dhillon, also of Vestal, co-director of Camp Khanda
along with Kirpal Singh Nijher.
Life at a Sikh
camp isn't like traditional summer camps. While the children have
their share of games and other camplike fun, the majority of their
days are filled with prayer, hymns and classes.
Campers get up
at 5 a.m.
one day during the week and 6 a.m. the other days. All their
activities are regulated, and they attend class daily from 9:30 a.m.
to 2:10 p.m., with a 45-minute lunch break at 12:30.
Everything
they're taught is geared toward Sikh heritage and history, and
helping the children adjust to their environment in
America while
maintaining their identity as Sikhs.
"One of the
issues that the Sikh face in every community is the case of mistaken
identity" because of the turbans they wear, Upinder Dhillon said.
"They are living in their own culture but they know they are
different. Our job here is to provide them with a strong sense of
identity, to give them a strong sense of who they are."
From
2:10 to 5 p.m.,
it's activity time.
"Soccer,
football, basketball, baseball, Frisbee, whatever they want to do,
they can do," Dhillon said. "Then at 5, they get cleaned up, we have
turban-tying classes at
5:30, evening
prayer at 6 and dinner at 7."
After supper,
it's a variety of things like traditional Sikh games, pillow fights
or dancing. Cookies and milk are served at
9:20, and lights
go out at 10.
"Our philosophy
here is to prepare them for the society in which they live and to
help them become productive members of that society," said camp
volunteer Mohinder Singh Kalsi.
Courtesy: Oswego
County News
16
July, 2008
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