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“Staying
positive is one of the first lessons that kids are taught in
Camp Fire USA,” says Gerna Williams, Kids
Club Area Director.
“Kiesha has taken this lesson to heart, and her positive
attitude shines out to her friends and group leaders.”
Although she is now a joy
to her friends and family, Kiesha struggled to get to this
point. Last year, she stopped coming to the Kids Club program
around the same time that some difficulties at home were putting
a lot of stress on her and her family. Unsure how to deal with
her problems, she ran away from home . . . but not from Camp Fire.
Kiesha’s Camp Fire leader, Robin Nedd, met
with Kiesha after she ran away from home. Robin was very
concerned about Kiesha and wanted to do everything that she
could to improve Kiesha’s life. However, rather than simply
lecture Kiesha about her bad decision,
Robin started simply by
listening to Kiesha express her feelings.
“Before I could give her any
advice, I had to make sure that she felt that she had been
heard,” said Robin. “Once she knew that she could come to me
to talk, she discovered that she could also come to me to
listen.”
Robin soon began to help Kiesha
improve her situation and brought her back to her family. Thanks
to Camp Fire and Robin, Kiesha has
worked very hard at opening up a better line of communication
with her mother. She has learned not to bottle up her problems
and now talks to her mom about what is happening in her life.
At Camp Fire, Kiesha talks to the
younger children about the choices that she has made in her life
and encourages the children to find an adult to talk to when
they are having problems.
“I don’t want the kids to make
the same mistakes that I did,” says Kiesha. “Because of Camp Fire and Mrs. Nedd, I have a
place that I feel safe and secure.”
Camp Fire USA
is thankful to have caring, confident leaders like Robin and
promising youth like Kiesha! Because of them, we know that the
world is becoming a brighter place. |
