Barton Trust ist der Vorläufer von campbridge und hat von 1992 bis 2010 Aktionscamps in Großbritannien, Irland und Kanada mit über 2.000 Kinder und 600 Mentoren durchgeführt. Was berichten ehemalige Mentoren über „ihr“ Camp? Und wie wirkt das Erlebte heute – zum Teil über 20 Jahre später – noch nach?
Jonathan Pine, Teamer in 1993 (Rückblick auf das Erlebte aus 2015)
Combining child psychology with a corporate development programme in a 'live' environment is a stroke of brilliance. The camp was worthwhile both in terms of personal development and satisfaction by making a difference to a number of children form disadvantaged backgrounds. I still remember the little kid (must have been about 9 or 10 years old) from one of the proverbial 'rough' areas of Bristol with a plastic shopping bag and a few dirty clothes nearly missing the bus because his single mum was drunk and asleep on the couch. He had not eaten for a day, but was determined to go on this trip, and I was determined to ensure he had an enjoyable and worthwhile time.
Tony Armstrong, Teamer in 1993 (Rückblick auf das Erlebte aus 2015)
I am a big believer in that concept. For me the camp was a massive experience about helping under privileged kids socially, whilst also testing your own team and personal skills. It served me well in my career and it was a game changer for me personally. I think the experience is invaluable in shaping future leaders and contributors in the corporate world for sure.
Ian Franks, Teamer in 1993 (Rückblick auf das Erlebte aus 2015)
I got a lot from the camp and also thought it was a fantastic way to help children from some tough backgrounds.
Julian Rodney, Teamer in 1998 (Rückblick auf das Erlebte aus 2015)
It was one of the pivotal development points in my career and it also offered an outlet for the kids to experience something different.
Stephen McComb, Teamer in 1998 (Rückblick auf das Erlebte aus 2015)
The link between management theory and putting it directly to practice was very powerful. The children element was good in making the activity feel worthwhile, rather than building a raft or climbing through string. The children element was also important in pushing people out of their comfort zone.
Media Saadi, Teamer in 2000 (Rückblick auf das Erlebte aus 2015)
I found that experience invaluable to both myself and the kids! It was a great opportunity all round.
Steve Curtis, Teamer in 2000 (Rückblick auf das Erlebte aus 2015)
It’s a great mechanism for training and benefiting kids who just need a break from issues that generally are caused by their environment or from their situation at home. I learnt a lot and, out of all the courses, it’s one that I look back on as a great learning experience.
Kay Johannsen, Teamer in 2002 (Rückblick auf das Erlebte aus 2015)
Der beste Kurs, an dem ich jemals teilgenommen habe. Ein gemeinsames, wertvolles Ziel schweißt ein Team unterschiedlichster Persönlichkeiten zusammen. Von dieser Erfahrung profitiere ich noch heute.
John A., Teamer in 2000
(Erfahrungsbericht direkt im Anschluss an das Camp)
It’s a week I will never, ever forget. I personally found the course to be excellent and definitely the best I have ever been on in my life. The camp as a whole was probably the most rewarding week in my life and the things that you learn about working in teams, leading the project and other peoples’ feelings are immense and it gave me a whole new focus in my personal and work life.
When the kids arrived we had to have in place a plan on who is picking the kids up from the coach, room arrangements, activities to do, meal times, getting the kids up, putting them to bed, ensuring they get showers, wash their hands, meal manners etc. It is down to the team to sort all this out. The activities have to be varied, and education needs to be fitted in as well. There are two social workers on standby to help out if you are struggling. Obviously you get some undisciplined children. So you have to decide on a common method of disciplinary action for when a child misbehaves, i.e. verbal telling off, removing child from the group and in extreme cases where the child still will not fall in line, then you can ask the childcare worker to take over.
This is a live project, it’s not theory. To attend the course you have to really want to work with all the kids and get thrown into a bunch of strangers and form a team that need to use each
other day in, day out for a week to achieve a great week for the kids. It is tiring and can be tough. There were a couple of established project leaders in the group who were really starting to
struggle and were strained throughout most of the week. So it’s no holiday as people might joke, 7am to 2am actually WORKING and planning out activities is no holiday. And that's not sitting up
in some hotel lounge drinking.
Rhonas W., Teamer in 1994
(Erfahrungsbericht direkt im Anschluss an das Camp)
This was a week which I will remember for a VERY long time. The task was to give 30 children a holiday they would never forget. We had one day to prepare for the children’s arrival including a three-hour course on child care. The peace and quiet of the camp was then shattered by a bus, and later by 35 squeaky voices. We managed to keep the kids entertained, until we could get them to bed. By this time we were dying on our feet. We had to plan how to make the camp more successful. We were putting so much into entertaining the kids that we were not taking care of each other in the team. We then decided to structure ourselves differently. Our new strategy involved having someone in charge who would have very little to do with the children, but would organise everyone. It worked! We were now working much more efficiently.
The next day we took the children for a walk. When we got the kids back to the camp, a crowd of children from a local school were in THEIR swimming pool. I have never seen children so shell-shocked. Our kids sat silent on the grass, the only comments they made were about how naughty the others were. It was at this point that my heart really went out to some of the children. On the last evening - the children knew they were going home the next day - I have never had so many hugs in my life, as when we put them to bed that night. Afterwards, the care worker from the school started to tell us some of the kids’ histories along with her thoughts on how the holiday had gone. It was extremely emotional for all of us.
Julie R., Nortel Networks, Mentor in 1994
(Erfahrungsbericht direkt im Anschluss an das Camp)
I had no idea what to expect when we arrived at the camp on the first day. It was a very strange feeling being in the middle of nowhere with eight colleagues who I knew little about.
I loved the kids and made great progress with one in particular. She was from an abused background and was very mistrustful of adults when she arrived. She would hardly speak or eat and shied
away if I tried to hold her hand. I paid her a lot of attention on one-to-one basis and each day she opened up a bit more. By Thursday she was completely at ease, not only with me but also with
the other team members. She was laughing, eating and letting us hold her hand. That made me feel it was all worthwhile.
The team started off relating on a superficial level. I was working flat out and was completely consumed in the task of running the camp. I did not feel it necessary to become friends with the
other team members. As long as we all did right by the programme, things would be fine. This began to change during the course of the week when it was pointed out by the team supervisor that we
were not looking after each other. It was the jolt we needed. After some painful discussions which almost tore us apart, we reorganised the way we were running things and we became much more
aware of each other needs. I made a point of discussing concerns I had with two of the team members. 5-minutes chats turned into one to two hours of quality discussion during which any
preconceptions we had of each other were completely abolished. That was also a great achievement for me.