Inside Our Summer Camp Closing Ceremony in Addis Ababa: Five Weeks, One Stage

Throughout summer camp, learning has happened everywhere.

At the art table, imagination became creativity. In chess and robotics, children learned to think, plan and solve problems. Through music and drama, they found new ways to express themselves. Through taekwondo and physical activities, they practised discipline, coordination and perseverance.

But perhaps the most important learning cannot be displayed on a table or demonstrated on a stage. We have watched children become more confident, more independent and more willing to try. We have seen friendships form, teamwork develop and children encourage one another.

Those are achievements worth celebrating.

On Friday 14 August, our first Nucleus International Summer Camp came to a joyful close with a special celebration for our campers and their families.

The children proudly showcased many of the activities they had enjoyed and developed throughout the five weeks:

• Music and singing
• Speaking and presentation
• Taekwondo
• Chess
• Art
• Robotics

Music, singing, speaking, chess and taekwondo came to life through performances, while art and robotics were showcased in individual classrooms, giving parents the chance to see the children’s work up close. It was a wonderful way for the children to demonstrate not only what they had learned, but also the confidence, creativity and teamwork they had developed along the way.

The taekwondo group took the stage in belt order and ran their patterns for a room full of parents, which is a very different thing from running them in the hall on a Tuesday.

Then came the pads, the headgear and the boards. Some of the smallest children in the camp queued up to break through a target held at their own height, and the room made more noise for them than for anyone else.

While the performances ran on stage, the art and robotics rooms were open for families to walk through at their own pace.

Every painting from five weeks of art went up on the walls, portraits stood finished on the easels, and parents went looking for the one with their child’s name on it. Several found their child standing next to it, waiting to explain exactly what it was.

Our celebration ended the way it should have: with Certificates of Participation, camp photographs and refreshments shared together.

Every camper collected a certificate recognising their enthusiasm, their effort and their commitment across the five weeks. Then the families took their photographs, the cake came out, and nobody was in a hurry to leave.

The rest of the afternoon, in pictures: the welcome, the games, the staff who ran the five weeks, and the families who filled the room.