Instead of writing my paper and studying for finals...

...I'm going to write about one of my biggest hopes and dreams!

When I was a kid, I used to attend an overnight summer camp run by my church. It was a normal summer camp where we did all the usual stuff like hiking, swimming, capture the flag, dodgeball, dances, etc. We also did daily Bible study, sung Christian songs, had vespers services (evening services where we read from the Bible and sung hymns), prayed together, and took time out of the day where we stood in a circle and named one thing we were thankful to ALLAH for. My experiences at camp were some of the best of my life, Alhamdulillah. I met so many new people there, always had a ton of fun, and returned home with a renewed burst of faith. I still attended camp even in my early years of studying Islam, and Alhamdulillah, the faithful atmosphere increased my iman even though it was meant for Christians. I started to develop a dream; I had such a great experience at this camp, and I wanted Muslims to have the same chance to have fun and boost their iman. From then on, I have had a dream to open up and run an Islamic overnight summer camp for girls.

This camp would be located on a big patch of land out in the countryside, preferably in the mountains or near a beach. The camp would be open to girls of all ages, from grade school through high school (the different ages would attend at different times, though, so they could all do age-appropriate activities). There would only be female campers and female staff, so hijab rules could be more relaxed than usual; the campers and staff could certainly wear a headscarf and jilbab-type clothes if they wanted to, but they could also choose to go hijabless and wear short sleeves and capris (or pants and skirts below the knee). There would be swimming and all the fun camp sports and games. We would all eat together and pray salat together in congregation (unless some girls come from traditions where women pray alone). There would be daily Qur'an study in some way or another. For the younger kids, we would perhaps focus on a story of a Prophet and do activities surrounding this story, and for older kids we could focus on a surah or a concept found in the Qur'an (like forgiveness or gratefulness). We would gather around a campfire at night and sing nasheeds together (a lot of the songs we sung at camp were actually very Islamically appropriate, i.e. glorifying ALLAH with no mention of Jesus (as), so we could maybe sing these songs as well as other nasheeds). At my camp, the older kids and teenagers had "quest groups", where people would be divided up into groups and discuss certain issues and their feelings about things; it was a great bonding experience and really made us think about issues and how we apply religion and morals in our lives.

I think having a camp like this would be a great addition to the ummah. It is very hard to be a Muslim in the United States, especially as a child where there are so many "no's" (parents say, "no, you can't eat that", "no, you can't wear that", "no, you can't watch that", etc.). An Orthodox Jewish website that I visit sometimes was saying the same things about Jewish kids, how they are always being told by their parents that they can't participate in what all the other kids are doing. It can be tough for kids to understand and accept this, and in fact they might grow up resenting Judaism (or Islam) for "preventing" them from "being like everyone else". Instead, the website wrote, parents and educators need to focus on the things the kids CAN do. Alhamdulillah, ALLAH has made so many things halal for us, and we are free to enjoy these things for His sake. Being Muslim does NOT mean being miserable! On the contrary, we can enjoy a lot of things and, best of all, know that what we are doing is pleasing to ALLAH and glorifying Him.

This endeavor would definitely not be an easy goal to accomplish, and certainly not a cheap one, but Insha'Allah I think that it is certainly doable. If, many years later, you have daughters or granddaughters or nieces and hear about a camp run by a sister Anne, send them to it Insha'Allah! I may even give you a discount on attendance fee! :)

Now, time to stop dreaming and try to work on this paper. Or just fall asleep. More likely fall asleep. :P

Assalaamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu!