New to the Harambee family? Here is a quick look at who we are and what to expect at the summer camp.
The Harambee Cultural Society leads our Harambee community in celebrating the varied heritage and cultures of the African diaspora.
The society provides practical support and tools for overcoming challenges faced by trans-racial families and trans-racially adopted children.
The culmination of this support is an annual family camp, the Harambee Summer Festival. This multi-day camp is open to all families raising children who are part of the ACB (African, Caribbean, Black) community.
The Harambee Summer Festival is hosted at Sorrento Center on Shuswap Lake.
For the past several years, the Harambee Summer Festival has occurred during the first week of July. Registration for camp is in spring of the same year.
The Summer Camp is a place where children in the ACB community can spend a significant amount of time around “people who look like them”. It provides a place for parents of ACB children to receive support, mentoring, parent-led and peer-led discussions on all manner of topics relating to raising children who are a visible minority in a society where racism is still so relevant.
What to Expect
Expect a varied and flexible schedule of events where everything is ‘optional’. Typical camp activities include:
Daily soccer matches for all ages (kids and parents)
Water fights
A day of inflatables and bouncy castles
A community-wide evening pot-luck dinner
2 separate parent nights out
Expert-led talks and ask-me-anything style chats from members of the ACB community and from parents with lived experience.
A silent auction
Plenty of beach and swim time
Drumming
Live concerts and dance parties
Songwriting workshops
Who attends camp?
Harambee Cultural Society welcomes any and all families who are raising children that are part of the ACB community. Whether you’ve been coming for years or whether this is your first time, come and participate in a multi-day immersion experience unlike anything you will find in your home communities.
We have families from all over, including many parts of British Columbia, Alberta, Washington state and even Eastern Canada.
The Harambee Summer Festival is hosted at Sorrento Center on Shuswap Lake.