Tools for Tapping an Intercultural Gold Mine - international counselors

Camping Magazine, May, 2001 by Bill Harwood

* Include support staff in all-camp and staff activities. Sometimes support staff -- those who work in the office, kitchen, and maintenance, for example -- are unwittingly ignored or forgotten. International support staff can easily become lonely and unhappy. You can ameliorate this problem by organizing all-staff nights out, providing an all-staff lounge, and making sure that support staff are included in the camp's nightly activities.

* Help your staff get situated. New staff from abroad suffer from jet lag. They also have to adapt to a new culture and, in many cases, they eventually start missing home a bit. You can help by giving them some time to adjust and creating opportunities to discuss their needs, which may differ from American staff. Frost Valley YMCA Camp has international staff arrive a day earlier than other staff so they have a chance to settle in, rest, acclimate, and ask questions in a small-group situation. During their staff training period, Camp Friendship devotes at least three sessions just for international staff and dealing with their specific concerns, including post-camp travel plans. Tom Sawyer Camp takes international staff to Disneyland during training week -- a sure-fire way to boost staff spirit.

* Provide adequate time off. It's essential to provide enough time for hard-working staff to rest, relax, and explore the area outside camp. This means at least two nights and one full day off each week.

* Develop a buddy system between American and international staff. Many camps find that a buddy system not only develops friendships but allows international staff to practice English with native speakers.

The extra mile

* Arrange day-off opportunities. If you were working in another country, wouldn't you want to explore some of the sights? Since many camps are in rural and remote locations, it's hard for international staff to get out of camp without access to a car.

Camp Lee Mar, in Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania, provides a staff van and driver to take staff to town on days off. Camp Friendship organizes trips to various destinations, including Washington, D.C., Williamsburg, and Virginia Beach. The camp provides the van, driver, and gas, and the staff pay for food, motel rooms, or camping.

* Provide nutritious food. Do you have salad bars and low-fat meal options? Many international counselors are accustomed to the fresh, unprocessed foods that are the norm in many countries. They often have a hard time adjusting to fried, fatladen, processed meals and suffer from weight gain, indigestion, and more. Providing healthy fare would be better for your campers, too, not just international staff.

* Provide free laundry facilities. International staff usually don't have much extra cash to spare. It's great when a camp can provide free laundry facilities. The staff can then save those quarters for their post-camp travels or postcards.

* Provide e-mail and Internet access. It's great if you can provide e-mail or Internet access using designated computers. This enables staff to communicate with friends and family (which reduces homesickness) and research sites related to future travels.