Taiwan: Report from the Falun Gong Summer Camp in Xinying City, Tainan County (Photos)

Written by Wei Kun

(Clearwisdom.net) In order to contribute to society and to help more people learn about and benefit from Falun Dafa, practitioners in the Xinying area of Tainan County hosted a summer camp for children at Xinying Elementary School, from August 10 through August 12, 2004. As we have hosted many Falun Dafa workshops for schoolteachers in the past and have developed a very good reputation, the procedures for renting the space in the school went very smoothly.

Lively classes	Children learning Exercise Five	Children learning Exercise Five
This little girl could sit in the full lotus position right away	Children learning Exercise Four	Group picture

The summer camp was free of charge except for lunch. Practitioners prepared the teaching aids, books, drinks and snacks out of our own pockets. At around 7 a.m. on the first day, the parents brought their kids to the school and the three-day summer camp began.

During the three days of the camp, besides studying Falun Gong books and teaching the exercises, practitioners led the children in a lot of interesting activities. The children watched cartoons produced by FGM TV on the large screen, learned to sing songs composed by Falun Dafa practitioners, and played games that helped them learn about daily cultivation issues. The practitioners also taught the children how to make paper lotus flowers, and told them inspiring stories about other Falun Dafa practitioners. Although it was very hot, it was apparent from their facial expressions that the kids were very focused while studying the Dafa books.

Through the practitioners' careful planning, the lively three-day curriculum taught the kids to understand the universal principles of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" from stories, books and the exercises, and they learned how to apply these principles in their daily lives.

At the end of the summer camp, some children that used to lie about their wrongdoings decided to stop; some kids that used to be selfish now started to take the initiative to help others; some kids who used to use vulgar languages stopped saying bad words; some kids who used to just sit and cry when they fell down now bravely get up by themselves; some kids who used to be noisy in class became quiet; and the disorderly situation at lunch time disappeared... "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" has taken root in the children's hearts. The children also came to know about the unreasonable persecution against Falun Dafa in China. Finally, the summer camp ended with a game about overcoming difficulties.

Since it was the first time for us to host a summer camp for children, we did not do a lot of advertising. Therefore only our friends and neighbors knew about it. Even so, there were still many registrants. After the camp, many kids and parents said they would come back again in the winter if we would host a winter camp, and they wished that the summer camp could have lasted longer.

According to many parents, their children changed a lot after attending the summer camp, and they would even try to endure the discomfort while doing exercise five, the sitting meditation. The parents are very happy to see their kids following "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" in order to be a good person.

To ensure that the summer camp would be a success, the Dafa practitioners put a lot of care and effort into designing the curriculum, leading the class, teaching the exercises, even in preparing the snacks and drinks and decorating the rooms. We truly hope that in the future, our world can recognize the wonderfulness of Falun Dafa, and we hope that more people will strive to be good people and follow "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance."

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/8/18/82044.html

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