Camps for Children Living with Serious Illness

In partnership with SeriousFun Children’s Network,* we provide camp experiences for children living with serious illness in Ethiopia, Haiti, and Vietnam.

Children living with illnesses face difficult emotional and social challenges, including higher rates of anxiety and depression. They must learn life skills to help manage their illness, stay as healthy as possible, and cope with future obstacles that may arise.

We provide opportunity for children to access residential camp (4-5 days away from home), day camp and family weekend activities that provide deep and meaningful impact, increased knowledge, and create strong and lasting bonds with peers who face similar struggles.

An outcomes evaluation, in partnership with San Diego State University, exploring the impact of camp programming in Ethiopia and Vietnam found that campers build stronger peer and family relationships, take their medication correctly and consistently (improved adherence), and show an increase in positive health and hygiene behaviors.

WWO’s Camps for Children Living with Serious Illness program goals include:

Improved adherence to medication: leads to a higher quality of life and normalizes the regimen that children must follow by embracing compliance as a part of their daily lives
Improved peer and family relationships: building positive youth development skills and increasing the number of friends who are identified as safe and understanding.
Improved emotional health and wellbeing: tackling together the tough issues children face, including stigma, depression, sexual and reproductive health, and false information about their illness. This leads to an increase in resiliency, greater self-esteem, and an overall improved sense of wellbeing.

*SeriousFun Children’s Network’s mission is to create opportunities for children and their families to reach beyond serious illness and discover joy, confidence and a new world of possibilities, always free of charge. Today, there are 30 camps and programs serving the needs of children and families around the world.