The Deer’s Leap residential, a Year 8 residential at Holy Trinity School, whilst on the surface is a great way to experience the outdoors and spend a night under the stars, for some of our students we were giving them an opportunity to attach a new meaning to camping. The following is the point of view from one of our students, who before moving to the UK spent 3 years living in a camp in Diego Garcia.

When our boat left India to start our 60 day journey to Canada, I was full of excitement and hope. My parents promised me and my brothers a new world, a fresh start, new opportunity. However when our boat, occupied with 89 other people, experienced a fault 2 days in, we found ourselves stuck on an island. Days became weeks, weeks become months, before I knew it we were there for 3 years. Camp was a prison. 16 people in a military tent there, not to provide a home, but withstand the storms, the excess heat and the rain. It couldn't keep out the animals, large rats would crawl over my face. Insect in every corner. No space to breathe. No space to be alone. This wasn't a place to be happy, this wasn't a place to be a child.

So when I was told I would be going camping again, I was apprehensive. If it rained, would it flood? Would the animals reach me again? I thought I has escaped.

I hadn't anticipated to feel joy. I had my friends around me in a tent with only 5 others. I had never climbed a tree before, but here I climbed rocks. I was on top of the world. I laughed as my friends fell into the lakes and got wet and felt safe with the adults around me. I knew everyone here was here to help me. Although people complained about the food, I was grateful to share a meal with my peers. The animals couldn't get me, the weather wasn't going to destroy our shelter, I could push my boundaries. I didn't know I could be this brave.

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If you get the chance to go to Deers Leap next year, you will have a wonderful time. These are the memories I cherish now about camping, an experience I will never forget, unlike before.

Looking back, the residential is more than just a journey into the woods, this year it was an opportunity for healing and to find peace in nature. Before this adventure someone in our community had a lost sense of belonging, something they didn't realise was missing but was now found.

The experience reminded me that dignity is not something to be granted, but something to be reclaimed; that wisdom often grows in silence; and that hope, even when fragile, can take root in the most unexpected places. In the embrace of community, she learned that everyone, regardless of where they begin, has the potential to flourish.