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[September 18, 2002] -
It’s estimated that around 40 million people in the world are affected by AIDS and HIV. Many are young children. Often times, they have to keep it a secret and can’t tell their friends or schoolmates. A camp in Nebraska was created just for kids infected and affected by AIDS and HIV. “Statewide’s” Andrea Gallagher takes us to Camp Kindle.
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Transcript of Camp Kindle
[Andrea Gallagher/Reporting]
Summer camp is made for kids like J.J. The 7-year old makes the most of every minute. He's enjoying the great outdoors, and having fun with new friends. It's the first time he's ever been to summer camp and he can't wait to come back. But J.J. is not like other 7-year olds. He's had AIDS since the day he was born and may not live past the age of 14.
[J.J.]
My mom has AIDS. I was in her tummy then I came out of her tummy and she died when I was about 3 because they didn't have the right medicine.
[Gallagher]
J.J. came all the way from England to attend Camp Kindle. At home, he can't tell anyone he has AIDS, but here - it's okay.
[J.J.]
Cause I always want to tell somebody I've got AIDS, but here it's fine because everyone's got AIDS.
[Gallagher]
J.J. is one of 70 campers at Camp Kindle near Ashland. It's a special camp for kids with AIDS or HIV. Donations paid for J.J.'s visit, as well as his foster mother. She says having AIDS as a child is devastating.
[Debbie Clark/Mother]
For him it's very isolating, one of the things he said after we moved is he wanted to be human like the other children.
[Gallagher]
She found out about Camp Kindle from a friend. She knew it was something J.J. would love - since he doesn't have many friends at home or access to a camp. She says for the first time in his life - he feels like a normal child.
[Clark]
The way the children are with each other, it's lovely to see and the fact that now he comes to me and says, 'I'm normal, mum, I'm the same as all the other children here.' - that means an awful lot.
[Gallagher]
J.J. isn't shy. At camp he's very comfortable with other kids. But at home in England - he often feels isolated.
[Clark]
The children wouldn't play with him. He was ostracized and they'd say things like they weren't allowed to play with him because of the HIV and that was terrible for him because he's a very gregarious child and he had almost 4 months without any contact with another child.
[Gallagher]
Camp Kindle isn't just for kids infected with AIDS and HIV. It's also for those who have close relatives with the disease - like K.C. Even so, he didn't know much about AIDS before he came to Camp Kindle. Counselors take the opportunity to educate them.
[K.C.]
I'm learning how you can catch HIV, how you can respect others and not to be rude.
[Gallagher]
All of the counselors and staff are volunteers. They take a week off from work or school to be here with the kids and experience summer camp.
[Brenna Foster/Camp Counselor]
It was hard going home my first year. I went home and was trying to talk to my parents about it and I just started crying and you get attached to the kids, you leave a piece of your heart with them and you take a piece of theirs with you.
[Jon Gathje/Camp Counselor]
Really amazing seeing the strength kids have to be - 7-years-old going through this horrible disease, and just seeing the power of the human spirit overcoming the deadly disease.
[Gallagher]
Darren McCarty is a counselor who is HIV-positive. He's lived with it for 17 years. His goal is to show these kids that it's possible to have a happy, healthy life and that it's nothing to be ashamed of.
[Darren McCarty/Camp Counselor]
Being 17 years positive myself, I wanted to be able to offer myself to these kids as kind of a role model, mentor, someone they could look up to - that's something that's very important to me.
[Gallagher]
The goal of Camp Kindle is to raise the self-esteem of each and every one of these campers. But most importantly, it's to have fun and let loose for a week.
[K.C.]
What I like about camp Kindle is all the stuff we do - arts and crafts, fishing, boat rides.
[Gallagher]
But it's not all fun and games. After all, it is a camp for kids with AIDS - many of them have to take medicine every day. J.J. is usually injected with fluid into his stomach. On this day he's taking pills for the first time, and it's not easy.
[J.J.]
It's horrible, because you have to take these medicines everyday and I just want to be normal really.
[Clark]
I actually took the medicine myself for a day to see how I felt, it was ghastly. I was very sick, dizzy, I suspect he just lives with that.
[Eva Payne/Camp Organizer]
They have to take these meds, they're sick a lot, there's a lot of things these meds cause, diarrhea, stomach aches, fevers, all sorts of things, so it's hard for them to function as a normal kid or a normal teenager.
[Gallagher]
Eva Payne started up this camp 4 years ago. She attended camps when she was younger and loved the experience. She once visited a camp on the West Coast for kids with AIDS. That's when she decided to start one up in the Midwest. So far she's never had to turn anyone away and she hopes she never has to. Donations pay for the camp and for travel expenses.
[Payne]
Every child should be able to experience summer camp.
[Gallagher]
Eva says many of these kids don't come from good homes. Others come from communities that are not accepting of AIDS and HIV. She wants to keep people educated - especially here in Nebraska.
[Payne]
I think a lot of people think there's not a need in Nebraska - they think it's anywhere else besides here and it's so important for people to know we have campers at this camp who live in Lincoln, who are HIV positive, who would never tell a soul because they're so afraid of what would happen to them.
[Gathje]
Growing up in rural Nebraska, we lead kind of a sheltered life. I never met anybody who was HIV positive.
[Gallagher]
J. J. will never have a normal life. It's hard to keep food down, he feels sick all the time and he doesn't know how many years he has left...but he keeps a positive attitude.
[J.J.]
But my mom said the doctors are going to try to tell me in 10 years time maybe I'll get a medicine or maybe I don't have to have AIDS or anything.
[Clark]
I think that most of these children will live long enough, if not for a cure, but for a long-term solution and he has to have hope. He has such a hard life.
[Gallagher]
Kids like J.J. motivate Eva and the other counselors, because it's not easy running a non-profit organization like Camp Kindle. But if it helps a few kids enjoy part of their lives - it's worth it.
[Payne]
Once you start to meet people who are infected and affected, it just, there's no way you can't help. You want to do everything you can within your power to make their lives easier.
[Foster]
The kids are amazing because they're dealing with something that I can't even imagine and I think a lot of them are so strong for what they're going through and I think that's what motivates us is to give them time where they're loved and accepted unconditionally.
[Gallagher]
And it's that love and acceptance that keeps Camp Kindle going on strong. And the kids coming back year after year. Reporting for Statewide I'm Andrea Gallagher.