Youths reflect on the sufferings of Jesus

May 12, 2017

By Daphne J. Selvarajah
The Youth of St Anne’s Church, Port Klang took to the shores of Port Dickson for their team building camp fromMarch 24-26. The three day two night affair was filled with multiple activities and talks. Of all the activities, a 10 kilometre walk, as part of the Way of the Cross procession, was the highlight of the camp.

The party of 23, excluding the three instructors, was split into groups of four. Each group brought along an adequate supply of water and each member was asked to carry a brick. The brick was to represent the negative qualities that each individual recognised about themselves. They had add to that list at each station. “Each of us felt the brick get heavier as we went on,” said Erwin Edwin, one of the participants, as they reflected on the sufferings of Jesus on his arduous journey 2000 years ago.

“Throughout the walk, we encountered many difficulties with sore muscles, tired arms and backache. But the one thing that kept us going was knowing that Jesus went through so much worse and he never complained even once, and there we were, complaining about the heat, the ever increasing weight of the brick, the length of the walk and hunger,” said Vanessa Silva, one of the participants.

At the 6th station, the instructor, Amaladass suggested that they head back and call it a day as the participants were exhausted and there were hours of walking left. But all unanimously decided to go ahead with the journey. “We wanted to finish what we started,” said Stephen Andre Richard.

At the end of the walk, each participant dropped their respective brick. “Each of us picked up our bricks, took a moment to look at it with all our negative qualities on it and, as we flung it across the river, we flung all that negativity from our lives with it,” said Agilan Solomon. The walk back was spent in silence as they reflected on the experience.

Teamwork was a huge part of the journey. Vanessa Anne Simon said, “I didn’t think I would be able to complete the walk but I managed it and it was because of the support of my group members.”

“We completed it together as a family, without quitting and without leaving anyone behind. The exhaustion and pain meant nothing to us when we reached home as we knew that what we just went through would change us and stay with us for a long time,” said Anne Danam.

From a team to a family, this camp was a success. It was a much needed experience for the Youth, especially in strengthening their resolve in the Lenten campaign in the lead up to Easter.