Date: December 16-17
Location: Mitake, Tokyo

　　　This month’s Back to Nature Program was a popular Christmas program with many campers and corporate sponsor volunteers. In the morning, the participants were split into teams as usual, followed by a Team Challenge activity by the river. Then, after a delicious lunch prepared by the nearby café and served by LITs, we all went inside to create presents with various craft materials. We also had Christmas snacks from around the world during snack time and enjoyed the generally slow and relaxing afternoon.

　　　LITs were split into camper support and activity support groups. The camper support members joined the camper teams, led activities, and assisted the team leaders. All the members had been practicing this role the entire year, so they were great at providing the necessary support to the team. The activity support members had more tasks than usual, including lunch management, preparing craft materials and tools, and sorting out presents for the campers. They needed to be a few steps ahead of campers, so it was a great practice for them to plan and execute without direct instructions from the staff. Despite some complicated tasks and tight schedules, they managed to accomplish all the tasks smoothly, and the entire program went very smoothly.

　　　The Saturday dinner was a Christmas Turkey Dinner, which has become a tradition in the LIT program. One of the staff already prepared the main for us, and we all pitched in to prepare the rest of the meal. It was a delicious and fun dinner all the way to the dessert. After cleaning up, they had a chance to talk about their project. There were some last-minute changes in the contents and mishaps in assigning roles, but it looks like they have managed to rearrange the schedule, confirm the flight and hotel, and are just working on the final details.

　　　It was another great program for them, providing opportunities to practice their management skills. The LIT project continued to provide them with experiences that are not easy to gain in their daily life.