This summer the students of the Western Division Music Camp had an opportunity to learn about their Partners in Mission, the Jamaica East and Suriname Divisions of the Caribbean Territory. During one of their evening programs the students skyped with the Divisional Commander of Jamaica East who shared about their division's music programs, the territorial music camp CARIMI, and how music is used in worship in Jamaica. The kids were excited to ask him questions, learn about life in Jamaica, and realize that they have many similarities to the people who live in Jamaica. While geographically the music campers in the Western Division and Salvationists in Jamaica are separated, they are united in Christ and similar in the ways they use music to worship God. An offering collected during Sunday morning worship and the final concert, which was doubled by the Western Division Music Department, will be used to help purchase timbrels for Suriname and a PA system for Jamaica East.
Similarly, during an evening program at the Kansas/Western Missouri Division Music Camp, students discovered that it is the rainy season in their Partner in Mission location, the India South Eastern Territory, learned a little bit about the culture of India, and engaged in activities to help them understand the inequality of resources available to people around the world. The students made beaded key chains to represent a variety of preventable diseases that afflict many people around the world, which also included a bead representing the hope that someday the cures and treatments for these diseases will be available to all people. At the conclusion of the evening the children were given the opportunity to turn in their beaded key chains so they could be sold at the final program, with the proceeds going to World Services. While this turning in their key chains was optional, 117 children decided to turn in their key chains in to help raise money for others in need around the world. The key chain sales, combined with an offering taken during the final program, yielded $160 for World Services.