Horseback Riding Summer Fun
It is 7-year-old Ashley Robertson's first time at horseback riding camps, and she loves it - especially jumping off the diving board into the camp's clear, icy swimming pool. But despite all the fun, Ashley's not planning on returning next year. "My mom will be out by then," she said softly. Like the mothers of all the other children at All God's Children Camp, Ashley's mom is incarcerated. The child's brown eyes grow wide as she describes the candy bars her mom slips her when she visits her in jail.
"There's not a lot of fun in these kids' lives," said Susan White, head of Prison Family Support Services Inc., which is helping to coordinate the camp. "Most of these kids have a lot of sadness. This camp is all about having some fun." The camp, held at Westview on the James in Goochland County, was launched this year by Prison Family Support Services and the Virginia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. The 67 campers range in age from 5 to 12. Most come from the Richmond area, but there are others from Roanoke, Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia.
The weeklong camp started Sunday. The children swim, work on arts and crafts, practice archery, go boating, fish and spend the night in one of the camp's cabins. But what they don't have to do is discuss their mothers. Not unless they want to. In fact, many of the campers did not know that having a mom in prison or jail was the one thing they all had in common, Miss White said. "This year, we just wanted the kids to have a normal childhood experience."
That's fine with Laurin Bowen, 11, from Newport News. She's happy to discuss the fun she's had swimming or the new friends she's made. But she doesn't like to talk about her mom. "It makes me all sad and upset," she said, tugging on one of her braids. Because children who are separated from their mothers sometimes need special attention or affection, volunteers were recruited to serve as mentors to the campers.
Ken Hine flew all the way from a job in Paris to be a camp mentor after his wife signed them up at their church in Alexandria. He said he's learned that each camper has different needs. "Some of them are so obviously in need of affection. Some of them are so obviously in need of someone to talk to," he said as he stood watch by the side of the pool. "The mentoring role changes from child to child."
Most of the children at the camp are raised by family members: grandmothers, sisters, aunts or uncles. Many have absentee fathers or fathers who also are incarcerated. Some are in foster care. And most don't get to see their mothers often. If the mother is at a state prison, a visit might mean a two- or three-hour drive, a chore few caregivers are able to undertake often. If the mother is in jail, visits may be restricted to 30 minutes or less and take place from behind a Plexiglas wall, Miss White said.
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