Abba’s Child: A Camp for Grieving Children

By Lauren Vizcarra

Camp MiVoden Staff

Each year, Camp MiVoden has the privilege of hosting kids from the nonprofit organization Abba’s Child. Since its founding in 2004, Abba’s Child has partnered with summer camps to bring children, ages 9-16, who have experienced the death of a parent or sibling, to camp for a week–free of charge. 

At camp, the Abba’s Child campers get the chance to experience all the activities Camp MiVoden has to offer, from ziplining to cake decorating, while attending grief group sessions led by mental health professionals twice a day. This camp is unique because the kids get to experience the excitement of camp while simultaneously acquiring tools to help them deal with their losses.

Grief groups sessions are what set Abba’s Child apart from the rest of the kid’s camps. Twice a day, between meals and camp activities, the children gather to share both the cherished and the more difficult memories they have of their deceased family members.

In one of the sessions, the kids formed a circle, and one child was given a ball of yarn. Each kid said the name of their lost loved one and a memory or fact. Then, holding on to one end of the string, they threw the yarn ball to someone across the circle; letting it unravel as it went. In the end, everyone was holding a portion of the yarn, and it created a web — a physical manifestation of what links them together and that they are not alone. 

Last summer, MiVoden hosted 11 Abba’s Child campers. MiVoden’s Abba’s Child camper age is 9-11 years old (junior camp) and the team of five camp staff that lead and care for these campers alongside the counseling team from Abba’s Child is wonderful! Many of the staff have experienced similar losses and several were once Abba’s Child campers themselves. 

Hanging out with the kids on the first full day of camp was a whirlwind of noise, rambunctiousness, and barely controlled energy. From the outside, an Abba’s Child camper looks like any other kid. But, inside, the grieving child hides invisible scars from their trauma, sometimes presenting itself in chaotic and unhealthy behavior.

The mission of Abba’s Child is “to provide experiences that boost hope in the lives of grieving children and families.” MiVoden’s mission is connecting campers to Christ. Together, MiVoden and Abba’s Child join hands, showing God’s love through our actions, providing a safe place for campers to feel, and be heard. 

The ministry at Camp MiVoden is more subtle, but no less important for it. Throughout the week, staff work hard to make these children feel accepted and cherished. During grief group sessions, they wrestle with questions of why their loved one died and often irrational — but very real — guilt. Some of the campers have trouble reconciling a loving God with the death of someone they cared deeply about. Staff at Camp MiVoden strive to share God’s love by connecting with them.

The founder, Monte Torkelsen, launched Abba’s Child to heed the Bible’s call-to-action to care and comfort those who mourn. Camp MiVoden is actively seeking to answer that call.