BERMUDA'S only camp catering to children with Type I diabetes will kick off this weekend at WindReach Recreational Village in Warwick. From Friday through Sunday, Camp Honeybee, which is funded and organised by the Bermuda Diabetes Association, will cater to campers ranging in age from five years to early 20s who will learn how to better manage their condition, gain a better understanding of the importance of a healthy diet and have fun socialising with other young people with Type I diabetes.

Coming on the heels of a successful camp with children with Type II diabetes aboard the Spirit of Bermuda, Sara McKittrick, the diabetes educator from Bermuda Diabetes Association is looking forward to this weekend's camp.

"It's going to be lots of fun. Activities will include team-building games, crafts, swimming at the beach, barbeque at night, a bonfire and sing along. Learning activities will take place all through the day as part of the daily schedule, which includes blood sugar testing, observation of insulin injection techniques and carbohydrate counting games with each meal. All these activities help to reinforce the importance of proper day-to-day management of diabetes."

With 16 children attending camp this year, many of whom are return campers, Mrs. McKittrick believes Camp Honeybee is reaching their target audience.

"It's a good number of campers considering that we have less than 25 school-aged children with Type I diabetes in Bermuda. We also have four senior counsellors who are 17 to 23 years of age and four junior counsellors who are 14 and 15 years old. All, except for one, have Type I diabetes," she said.

Like the previous three years, Camp Honeybee aims to help young people gain the confidence and independence that is vital to managing diabetes, which is a life-long condition. "Our goal with Camp Honeybee is to provide a fun and safe learning environment for young people living with diabetes," explained Mrs. McKittrick. "Sharing and participating in activities with their peers is a crucial part of the learning process. We hope that through attending the camp these young people will become empowered to not only take a more active role in taking care of themselves but will feel they have the ability to be a positive role model for others with diabetes."

The Bermuda Diabetes Association is hosting the camp in partnership with the international, non-profit organisation AYUDA, American Youth Understanding Diabetes Abroad, whose mission is to empower youth to serve as agents of change in diabetes communities around the world.

"There will be three AYUDA staff here in Bermuda to set up many of the recreational and learning activities based on those they have found to be successful in other camp programmes which they have established in South and Central America," said Mrs. McKittrick.

The group, which was started 12 years ago by two 16-year-old boys, primarily focuses on hosting diabetes education camps in developing countries like Ecuador, Belize, Bolivia, however, in recent years they have begun branching out to more developed communities, like Bermuda.

"Whether there are scarce resources or there are an abundance of resources, it may not make as much difference as education," explained Juan Carlos Bonilla, AYUDA's executive director. "One of the mottos we have is that the lack of education is just as dangerous as the lack of resources. We have found that countries like Ecuador, for example, people struggle with limited resources but being educated helps tremendously. And, in Bermuda, where there are a lot of resources, they are also challenged with the lack of participation by patients to take charge of their disease. There is sometimes (amongst diabetes patients) a sense of fate of 'well there's nothing I can do, I go to the doctor and the doctor gives me medication and that's it'. Gaining this element of empowerment and education leverages the resources that are available and makes it a lot more effective."

The feeling of empowerment is exactly what AYUDA hopes campers will gain so that they can take an active role in the management of their condition.

"The basis of AYUDA's programme is the understanding that kids and young people are very influenced by their peers," explained Kendra Hennig, the director of youth volunteer development at AYUDA. "So what they see and what they hear from a peer has a stronger impact than what they might hear from adults or an authority figure - a doctor, teacher or parent, for example. Young people can play a positive part as a role model for others with diabetes. And with diabetes, it is critical. It is a condition that needs strong participation by the patient. Taking pills or getting tested by a doctor is something that you need to take on yourself. And so, by making having good control of the condition cool and having a good understanding of what is going on and managing the condition, young children can manage it. They are more receptive to hear that from another young person than from an authority figure. So that is the role our (youth) volunteers play."

While AYUDA's youth volunteers are typically from the United States, one young Bermudian, Anna Mackenzie, joined the group and travelled to Ecuador in July to take part their in one of their educational programmes there. According to Ms Kennig, even though Anna doesn't have diabetes, she has what it takes to be a leader in the diabetes community.

"AYUDA has something called Empowerment Awards where we facilitate volunteer exchanges between programmes. Anna Mackenzie is a young leader here in Bermuda who has a little sister that has Type I diabetes. She wanted to learn more about diabetes so she participated in Camp Honeybee last year as a counsellor and there we saw that she showed signs that she wanted to continue being a leader and so we invited her to come to our Ecuador programme, Campo Amigo."

Ms Mackenzie's interest in the diabetes community stems from her sister's experience with the condition and her frustration with the lack of public familiarisation about it.

"I found it quite frustrating at the small amount of knowledge people have about diabetes. This was drawn to my attention by the fact that my sister, Alexa, was diagnosed. Up to this point, I wasn't aware (about diabetes) either. It's a growing disease that can be controlled much better with education. It's a disease that you can live a completely normal life with," she said.

Her interest led her to become a counsellor at Camp Honeybee last year and this July, she travelled to South America for the first time to take part in AYUDA's Campo Amigo. Ms Mackenzie hopes to take what she has learned in Ecuador and implement it back here in Bermuda.

"Here our goal is to give the children the confidence and independence to take control of their condition and eventually be able to administer their medications themselves. My hope for the future of Camp Honeybee is to focus more on education but not only the management side of it but the psychological aspect of it as well and how the children cope with living with diabetes and how their siblings cope (Camp Honeybee also invites siblings of the Type I campers to attend as well)."

The 19 year old, who is leaving to study at the University of Edinburgh later this month, believes her experience in Ecuador was an eye opener.

"It was amazing; a really good experience," Ms Mackenzie explained. "It was difficult at times, seeing what children in Ecuador had to face in terms of their socio-economic situations. The income of an Ecuadorian family averages $1000 and it costs an average of $4000 for a child's insulin, testing kits and regular medical check ups. Children do not get nearly enough insulin and do not have supplies to check their blood sugar."

On top of financial woes, most Ecuadorian children with Type I also face deep-rooted discrimination because of their condition.

"In Bermuda and the U.S. people may not know a lot about diabetes but they have heard of it. In Ecuador, there is a stigma where the children with diabetes are looked upon like there is something spiritually wrong with them; they are outcast. Most children do not even tell their friends and avoid telling their teachers at school. Sometimes children have to move to another school because their teachers refuse to teach them or if they are taking an exam and they have to eat (to balance their blood sugar level) the teachers won't believe them, as if they are faking it so they can eat in class. As a result, the psychological difficulties can be huge. Many children lack confidence and it can lead to more serious conditions such as depression," she said.

Ms Mackenzie, who is interested in studying child psychology or nutrition, felt her experience in Ecuador has helped her to realise that while Bermuda is fortunate to have the resources available to help patients with diabetes, those resources alone are not enough.

"It is important that children in Bermuda are confident in managing their diabetes. Although they may have the supplies they need to have excellent control of the condition, those supplies are not of any use without the education and the knowledge of how to use them. At Camp Honeybee we really focus on teaching the campers precise control and lifestyle choices which will mean they can live long, healthy lives just like anyone else without diabetes."