“Come out and…WORK!”

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by Yonah Martin

There are some secrets that must be shared.

It is the truth about the real cost and the real value of Camp Korea which took place August 29-31, 2007 in Belcarra, BC.

On paper, the final budget of Camp Korea 2007 is approximately $22, 000. Other than the $90 camper fee, the generous support of the sponsors - which includes Sharons Credit Union, the Consulate General of Korea, HSBC, and Korean United Church among many others – financed the innumerable costs of the camp.

You can visit the C3 website (www.c3society.com) to view photos and testimonials about Camp Korea 2007, but the facts revealed here isn’t published anywhere else.

The fact is I love Korean food.

Everyone at camp undeniably enjoyed the Korean food as much as I did. I watched campers lining up with voracious appetites, and loading up their plates with mounds of rice, gim (roasted sheets of seaweed), bulgogi (marinated beef), ddukbokgi (spicy rice cakes) and more. I witnessed hundreds of people consuming these delectable dishes with smiles of satisfaction. 

The truth about Korean food is that although one can enjoy a meal in about 10-15 minutes, it takes forever to prepare it - days, weeks, and even months. If you have ever prepared a Korean meal, you know the laborious process that is required to create one single dish (let alone an entire meal for a group of hungry campers).

Aekyung Woo and our amazing volunteers practically lived in the kitchen – peeling, washing, slicing and dicing, marinating, seasoning, frying, steaming, stirring and eventually serving.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. And Camp Korea didn’t just take place in three days.

A side dish like kimchi (pickled spicy cabbage) needs to ferment over a period of days, weeks or even months (in colder weather). I won’t even begin to describe the time-consuming process that Aekyung followed in order to have fresh kimchi sliced and ready for the final banquet.

The planning committee met in December 2006 to begin dreaming up the plans for Camp Korea 2007. There were monthly meetings; then weekly meetings and eventually daily meetings.

Behind the scenes, the amazing team of Angela MacKenzie, Yoonyoung Jahng, Angella Ok, Andrea Shin and Grace Seear did the dirty work – counting every penny spent, coordinating registration forms and wavers, communicating with parents and media, and creating camper badges and program booklets. One night, Angela MacKenzie even stayed up till 5am preparing the badges (take a closer look and you’ll see the quality of her workmanship) and went into work that morning.

Grace interviewed all the volunteers (and phoned their references); and their commitment was put to the test as they were required to devote many hours into preparing much of the  decorations and materials for the camp.

The staff was truly outstanding. Once they understood the vision of the camp and became familiar with one another, they took ownership and enthusiastically prepared for the camp. I am inspired by their leadership and true spirit of volunteerism.

Collectively, the committee and staff invested nearly 4000 hours to the making of Camp Korea 2007.

If it weren’t for the support of the community, the generosity of the sponsors, and the dedication of many volunteers…Camp Korea would still be just a dream.

I overheard one camper say to another between mouthfuls of bulgogi: “See you next year!”

What is the real value of Camp Korea?

Priceless.

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