'Faces of Freedom' program inspires children facing adversity

"We're not giving fish, we're teaching them to fish," says the summer day camp director at Freedom International School in Winnipeg.

"The reason this program exists is because this school wanted to carry on programming through the summer with an academic focus for students who are making huge leaps during the school year and then falling behind when summer rolls around," says Rachel Smith, the summer day camp director of Faces of Freedom.

Normally the school is open to middle school and high school students, however, this summer it is opening up to children even younger.  

"In the summer we've opened it up because we have relationships with families who have younger students who are experiencing similar problems. So we have a 'learning to read' classroom this summer and we've watched children who've been going to school for years and still can't read, learn to read within weeks."

The children are given a good incentive to learn, as when they reach a certain number of pages read, they get to throw a pie of whipped cream in a leader's face.

"Learning recovery is huge across Canada, let alone Winnipeg, let alone our school," Smith says.

Due to COVID guidelines, the day camp does have a limit on how many students can attend and there were applicants of students waiting to get in. This summer they have a limit of 30 students. 

When it comes to why the program is called 'Faces of Freedom', Smith says, "As we see each person's face, as we hear each person's story, it's God moving in them. It's God releasing His story and His glory through their story, which is freedom."

She says, "Jesus was very clear about why He came to do what He did. And if we could sum it up in a word, it would be 'freedom'. He is looking to give us life and life abundantly, a life that's full and overflowing."

The proof is in the results. Smith shares a story of one girl who is almost legally blind in one eye. 

"She's been in our 'learning to read' class and has read over a thousand pages as she is so passionate about being here. She has a surgery coming up, which means missing the final two weeks of camp. She was distraught over the fact that she was missing camp, not that she was having an intense surgery."

They run a Cultural Celebration Day each month, and Thursday this week they held the celebration. 

Smith says, "Last time we have twenty-nine nations represented! We dressed in our clothes and the colours of our flags, painted flags on our faces, even danced to the music and ate cultural foods. "

Some of the volunteers this summer were once in the program a few years back, bringing the learning full circle. Smith says, "We have a lot of the Freedom School students serving in leadership roles and mentorship roles." 

"Some of them have been told that their stupid or that they can't learn. We assess them and then teachers work with them specifically on what they need. The feeling of "I have value" enough to be poured into this way is changing the way that they're learning.