Every summer, we run a six-day overnight camp for 7–14 year olds at our base in Dapeng. The kids sleep in dorms, wash their own clothes, write a journal every night — and slowly stop asking when Mum is coming to pick them up.
The model is borrowed from international Scouting. On day one, the group sits down and writes its own FVC — a Full Value Contract — listing the behaviours they promise to live by for the week. They sign it. They sign it again the morning after someone breaks it. That simple ritual is what holds the rest of the six days together.
The days are deliberately full. Mornings start with a 5 km run. After breakfast, the morning block rotates through skill stations: knot-tying, water-rocket building, first-aid basics, fire-safety drills. Afternoons are team challenges — card-flip puzzles, tower builds from sticks, rope bridges over the low ropes course. Evenings are quieter: a night walk to look for insects, a journal reflection, lights out by 9:30.
By the fourth day, the same child who cried on the bus starts helping the new arrival find their bunk. By day six, every kid walks off the bus with a stack of earned merit badges, a journal full of drawings, and a story about the team challenge they thought they would never finish.
