Janice goes camping with passion

What could bring Humming Bird Day Camp co-director Janice Quamina more happiness than the e-mail she received from a past camper, now resident in Canada that read with the gist: “I went for a job and I had all this university stuff, but do you know what they were interested in?” There was no lingering suspense. The happy camper, Karen Greenidge, was considered for the job she was applying for after presenting her Humming Bird Day Camp (HBDC) certificate as a trained camp counselor. To be a camp counselor meant that she started out at her alma mater as camper, progressed to junior counselor and eventually, counselor. “They were interested in what I did (extra curricular activities),” Karen wrote in her e-mail. That included First Aid, swimming pool supervisor, leader and the list went on. Those words warmed Janice’s heart. However, there’s more happiness. Humming Bird Day Camp, which had its start in 1978 and marked its 25th year in July with a birthday party, has churned out “many-a-success-story” — too numerous to mention. However, Janice noted a few — Charlene Taylor/lawyer, Wayne Fredericks/doctor, Rawle Howard/actuary and Richard Baldwin, a US computer specialist who was hired by a parent, who admired the youngster’s ability during Parents’ Day at the camp many years ago.

Janice was overwhelmed with mixed emotions when she mentioned the name (the late) Vaughn Salandy, former journalist and news anchor. As a teenager he was never missing from the camp, which is located, since its inception, at the St Michael and All Angels Anglican Church Hall on Wendy Fitzwiliam Boulevard, Diamond Vale. As a matter of fact, Vaughn never wanted camp to end during the July/August vacation. One of her “daughters”, as she refers to her, Ancilla ME Harding, has returned to camp. Not as a camper, but as a lecturer in public speaking. Like Karen, Ancilla moved up the ranks becoming counselor at the camp. Fifteen years later, she holds an MBA in Education and teaches Communication Arts and English as a Second Language at a High School in Brooklyn, New York. “My experience there (HBDC) was the turning point in my life. During teenage years you’re impressionable and I had my teenage traumas going on without focus on personal goals. After my training there, I matured (that) summer and my parents noticed it. HBDC — I call it training for life,” Ancilla told People. Janice sat listening to Ancilla. She was touched. It was the accomplishment of nurturing “treasures, jewels that when polished, can shine” and “beautiful human beings,” with the help of her mentor, HBDC co-director and former newspaper writer Enid Alleyne. “To run the camp is one of my passions,” she said, “and serve the community of Diamond Vale, Diego Martin and do wonderful things for the children and teenagers.

There was never a holiday in my life that wasn’t spent serving children.” Her mother, a homemaker who died when Janice was still a youth, instilled the importance of busying oneself during the July/August vacation and yet, having fun. “When I was a teenager this is what was done for me. I grew up in the YWCA and these were the programmes to help you grow.” She added: “My mother used to tell me you have a mission only you could fulfill. She used to baffle me about that. She was a smart woman. She was a Buddhist. That is about doing things to create value in our lives and because of her influence, I have taken up Buddhism too.” Janice later found a job at the YMCA and, after serving as director for some years, “I was told that they didn’t need me anymore and I went to Ms Alleyne and she said why not open my own camp. I remember I came home and I cried because this was my heart,” she recalled. Janice was also teacher at Four Roads Government Primary. Six years later, she transferred to Diamond Vale Government Primary where she has been teaching for 30 years. With her experience in teaching and extensive training as camp counselor and director abroad, “the next day I brainstormed about every possible thing to do to set up a day camp.”

In 1978, the camp opened its doors to 65 children, with 14 counselors. In two-week sessions, campers are taught “life skills, to play constructively, communicate effectively, resolve disputes amicably, compete competitively, discover innate talents, cultivate new friends and do things they’ve never done before.” Some of those things Janice practices at home with her daughter and only child, Janilee, 16, who is also a member of camp 2003. “I love to sew and I love to travel, she added. “I fulfilled one of my dreams, which was to attend the International Teachers Association Conference in Orlando. I did that and I was one of 11 teachers from Trinidad out of more than 19,000 teachers from all over the world. My next dream is to go sailing on a cruise to the Grenadines. In between St Vincent and the Grenadines are the most beautiful islands that we always pass by air.” She has two philosophies in life — “to work is to live” and “I am where I am supposed to be...” “For the kids, I want to create value in their lives and let them know that they are special, that they can make it, there’s a dream for them and,...I want somebody to capture my feeling of giving.”