Latin American Heritage Camp Provides Summer Activities for Adoptive Families

The end of the school year is fast approaching and summer is on many people's minds. Have you thought about how to keep tus niños busy over the next few months? Are they taking summer courses at the local zoo/museum/library? Are you planning any family vacations? What about summer camp?

For those of you with adopted children, maybe you'd be interested in the Latin American Heritage Camp in Colorado. The camp can be considered a wonderful opportunity for families with adopted Latino children to explore their culture/heritage while making some wonderful life-long friendships. One of the few camps of its kind in the country, it is designed specifically for families with children adopted from Central and South America, as well as those of Latino heritage adopted within the United States.

This year's camp theme is Viajando por Latinoamérica: "Traveling through Latin America."Children as young as 3 years old up through high school participate in workshops and activities that focus on countries thoughout Latin America. Activities include folk singing, L. A. handicrafts, cooking, soccer, learning the Mayan calendar and much, much more.

And don't forget the adults! Mamis and Papis get in on the action, too. A few of the workshops for parents include:

- Dealing with Prejudice and Racism with Astrid Dabbeni
- Latin American Dance with Mercedes Hammer
- Latin American crafts with Julie Morino
- Bullying and the Adopted Child with Kathryn Jens
- Latin American Cooking-offering 4 cooking classes this year

with Margie Rodriguez and Jesse Brugger

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Young adult Latino adoptees are encouraged to become counselors and share their own adoption stories with each other and the younger campers. For many, this allows them to gain a greater understanding of their own culture and heritage. Serving as role models, the counselors are not required to be adopted, but must be 18 or older, enthusiastic, and of the same ethnic background as the children at the camp.

This sounds like such a great opportunity for adoptive familias! This year's camp will run June 25-28 at the YMCA Snow Mountain Ranch facility near Winter Park, CO. To learn more about the camp, visit their website here.