Covid-19 Update (March 13th, 2020)

The events of the last couple of months have given everyone something to think about, decision to make and created a degree of uncertainty in life. Every day at Kawkawa we have been watching the news unfold curious as to how that will impact, the camp, the staff and most of all the campers this summer.

While the daily updates have been helpful we at Kawkawa like many other camps in BC have not received any definitive directives as to what we can do and what we won’t be able to do this summer. Regardless of what does happen this summer one thing is for sure; there will be a new set of practices and procedures to protect your children and to limit the potential for transmission of Covid-19.

We are continuing to prepare for a summer of camps with multiple different potential scenarios without fully knowing which plans will be permissible and recognize that at the same time you as a parent are uncertain as to how summer camps will unfold. We appreciate that this is a frustrating time for you waiting and not able to give your child a definitive answer. We apologize for that but also recognize that ultimately it won’t be our own decision but we will be bound by national, provincial and local directives.

In response to the current uncertainty we wanted to highlight to you what steps we are currently taking to assist us in planning for whatever becomes of summer 2020:

• On a daily basis we are monitoring the national and provincial information coming from the Prime Ministers office and the Public Health Officer.
• We are in consultation with our Local Health Inspector to establish any future operational plans we have comply with current best practice and directives.
• We have been monitoring the guidelines and directives imposed upon other provinces and established how camps in those regions have and are responding.
• We have been networking through weekly online meetings with Christian Camps across Canada through our affiliation with CCI Canada – (Christian Camping International).
• We have also been heavily reliant on information and advice coming from both FCC (Fellowship of Christian Camps – BC) and BCCA (British Columbia Camps Association); organizations of which we are members. This networking has been invaluable to establish how other camps in BC are responding.

As we have been gathering all this information, obtaining best practices and learning how to protect the well being and health of our staff and campers amidst this pandemic we have been able to examine our own facilities and programs and make modifications for many of the different scenarios that may transpire this summer.

As we obtain more specific information our plan is to keep you update about how we can and will respond. In the meantime we want to thank you for your patience and trust and pray that you and you family and staying well and safe.