As the time turned 4 am, seven alarms in the mentor’s room simultaneously erupted. Groggy and tired, the campers were woken up and brought for fajr salaat with surprising ease. The sheikhs on the other hand, found it much more difficult to descend from their meraj.

At 8 am we woke to the sound of campers rushing to the bathrooms, and the smell of the cooked breakfast that had got them out of bed. After a good breakfast the Qur’an lessons began, which had been tailored to the campers abilities, enabling us to get the best out of the students.

The biographies of the Sheikhs in class touched all and created foundations of their relationship enabling them to open up and discuss more topical issues. Brother Shoaib took a class entitled brotherhood, which was well received by the kids as they implemented many of his teachings within the afternoon activities.

The activities after lunch and namaaz consisted of fitness training, an assault course, and team building exercises, to help bring the campers together. The warm weather and glorious sunshine boosted their performance, especially through the challenging tasks, and in hindsight they learnt and gained valuable experience with regard to skills in teamwork, communication and much more.

After the roast dinner there were more team building activities in which the campers learnt more about how to solve problems using lateral thinking and working together as a group.

Following a short break the campers took part in a quiz – naming religions and recognizing their holy symbols, and then had the challenge of naming all the campers. This helped to bring the campers closer together and improving communication (theme of the day) between them. The stand out winner of the challenge was none other than Sheikh Abdul Rauf, undoubtedly due to his vast experience gained on Ahlulbayt tv.

Following namaaz the evening was nicely rounded off with a round of milkshakes before the exhausted campers eagerly retired to their comfortable beds.

Alihussein Jaffer and Abbas Sajan

Saturn

We woke up to a surprising fire alarm at 8.15am, which was caused by the boiler overheating as Ali Abbas Walji was in the shower for too long. Then we all ate a full hearty English breakfast.

Our daily classes followed Qur’an classes. Today we had an excellent, thorough discussion with Sheikh Jaffer Ladak. Sandwiches, samosas and spring rolls were for lunch, followed by Dhuhr Namaaz outside overlooking the amazing scenery of the valley.

Then we had our first activity of the day, which was archery. Aamir felt he was Legolas from Lord of the Rings, but Mohammed Hussein Ramji got the top score of the group with 40 points.

For dinner we ate chicken saag with rice and had apple strudel dessert. Our evening activity was caving and after a long walk avoiding horse manure and cow pats, we did a bit of rock climbing into the caves. We had fun exploring and crawling through the small spaces. We even saw a bat. We almost got lost in the caves, but our amazing navigational skills led us back to the group.

Then we all rushed to the showers, had PDT and then prayed Salaat. Another PDT session followed, which was a competition to see who could make the strongest suspension bridge using only newspaper and sellotape. Our group made the strongest bridge but somehow we came second!

Finally we had a brilliant discussion with the two Sheikhs, discussing the Islamic laws about halal and haraam foods, eating at restaurants and gelatine. Then off to bed!

Aliraza Ali, Zaahid Jaffer, Mohamed Remtulla, Mohammed-Hussein Ramji and Aamir Shaidy

Jupiter


We began the day with a fantastic breakfast, which included HALAL sausages, eggs, beans and fresh orange juice. Alhumdulilah it was very fulfilling and prepared us with the energy for the lessons ahead.

The first lesson was Quran, where we recited and practiced our pronunciation and tune. We also had a break down of the Arabic in salaat to aid us with the makharij and fluency.

The lessons to follow included a lesson on social hijab by Sheikh Jaffer Ladak, a lesson on who our role models are by Sheikh Abd Rauf and finally a lesson by one of the mentors, Ali Hussein Jaffer, on sport and Islam and how to deal with tricky situations. The lessons where innovative and gave us insight into social issues.

Lunch was very tasty, it included chicken fajitas and wedges with some green stuff on the side, and I think it is called Salad. After seconds we tried our best to concentrate in Sheikh Jaffer Ladak Jumma Khutbah. However it was very nice to have Jumma prayers.

After lunch we had our first activity, some of us enjoyed the heights of rock climbing and abseiling and some enjoyed the skill required in Archery. In abseiling our hearts were pounding as we stepped of the cliff face. However, the suras and duas worked and alhumduillah we reached the bottom. I would love to have another opportunity at this activity.  Archery, which was less of an adrenaline rush, was hard but fun. We learned the basics of how to hold a bow an arrow and aim in the right direction.

Dinner was surprising as Alan the chef prepared a scrumptious barbecue, which included different burgers and chicken with sides such as pasta, salad and coleslaw.

The evening activity commenced and our excitement grew once again. Some of us climbed to the peak of the valley to witness the amazing creation of Allah of caves. We told the Sheikhs not to hide any knowledge if they receive revelation in this holy cave. Some of us also took part in the nightline, which tested out team working and communication skills. This was because we were blindfolded which meant we had to use our other senses to get through obstacles in the forest. One of the campers had a journey down a small hill.

Towards the end of the day in PDT we had a debate on the motion that this house believes this camp should be mixed. Alhumdulilah our planet won the debate, and don’t worry Sheikh Abd Rauf gave a talk to clear up any misconceptions. OH and did I mention we were opposing the proposal!

Finally the day concluded with salaat and a short quiz. In planet time we were writing this, so now it is time for lights out! GOOD night 


Ali Mohamedali, Danial Naqvi, Zameer Panjwani, Maitham Nasser, Ali Abbas Walji and Mohammed Abbas Punjani

Mars Planet

Please visit CoEJ Website (www.coej.org) for regular updates of the Boys Summer Camp 2011.

Education