Camp Desi Roots Philly
May 10th - 11th, Camp Shelly Ridge
We believe camp should be accessible to all families, regardless of their financial means or ability. With this philosophy in mind, on May 10th and 11th, we hosted Camp Desi Roots Philly, a free summer day camp for South Asian girls to foster a deeply rooted sense of self and belonging through storytelling and outdoor adventure.
Over the course of this epic weekend at our beautiful Philly campsite, Camp Shelly Ridge, our campers engaged in a number of outdoor adventure activities, including rock climbing, a low ropes challenge course, and hiking, as well as identity workshops, where campers shared personal and family artifact stories, and wrote “I am from” poems. We also engaged in cultural immersion activities, including yoga, Ayurveda, and Bharatnatyam, as well as bonded with each other through team building games and outdoor picnics. The weekend culminated with camper performances and a family picnic, where our campers shared Mother’s Day cards with their parents over gulab jamuns! This is what Camp Desi Roots family looks like!
Camper Poems
Through a literary workshop, our girls wrote “I am From” poems, where they described, both concretely and abstractly, both literally and figuratively, where they are from, and how they defined '“belonging.”
Our campers take the stage.
It took a lot of courage, but our campers took the stage by reading AND performing their poems in front of their families during our closing family picnic. This is what Camp Desi Roots family looks like!