DEDHAM, Maine — Just after swimming on Tuesday, youngsters at Camp CaPella sat down by a laptop computer and listened to an Internet message from halfway around the world from new friends at a Special Olympics camp in Turkmenistan.
“They posted something eight hours ago,” John Quinn, CaPella’s recreation director, said as the young campers with physical or developmental disabilities were getting settled on couches set up around the computer. “They sent some pictures and some information about themselves.”
CaPella campers are communicating with the Turkmenistan camp through a new federal program called Across the World, which is designed to break down walls between the United States and foreign countries.
“The program usually occurs high school to high school, and I think this is the first time with special needs kids,” said Dana Mosher, executive director of Camp CaPella.
The communications program is funded by the U.S. State Department through the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and under the Supporting Technology in Education Program, which is run by the International Research & Exchanges board.
Just outside Mosher’s office at the Phillips Lake camp, a world map has green pushpins in Maine and Turkmenistan to mark the two camps. Turkmenistan is a country in central Asia, located north of Iran and bordering the Caspian Sea.
“Dear American Friends,” the message from the Turkmenistan camp began.
The letter goes on to say that the group of young Special Olympians “are all into sports — sitting volleyball, swimming, arm wrestling, power lifting, chess and many other sports.”
The Web site also had pictures of the Turkmenistan campers, one with the campers spelling out the word “hello” with their bodies, and information about the region.
“It’s really not much different,” observed CaPella camper Austin Violette, 12, of Brewer.
The Turkmenistan camp is in Chuli, a town about 31 miles from the capital, Ashgabat. The weather is a big difference between Maine and Turkmenistan. When the message was sent at about 11 p.m. their time, the temperature was 91 degrees. It was expected to be 115 degrees the next day, Quinn read.
“That’s hot,” he said.
“How can they stand that type of weather?” asked Logan Severance, 10, of Brewer.
The local project leaders, Quinn and counselor Kate Gould, decided to make Severance’s question one of those sent around the world to their new friends.
Other questions by the campers asked about food, where the kids go swimming, about the country’s famous carpets and horses, whether they have pets, watch TV and skateboard, when they go to school, and “Do you have marshmallows?” and “Do you have s’mores?”
The Across the World program is a great way to teach new social skills to the young campers, who are ages 5 to 13, Mosher said.
At camp, “it’s about learning through play,” Mosher said. “Here, it’s a lot of learning social skills and communication skills. This is another opportunity to learn through play. And they’re grasping the concept.
“They’re grasping the concept better than I thought, which is kind of cool,” he said.
In fact, while the computer was on, one young camper asked, “Can we chat with them?”
The questions will be sent to Turkmenistan today along with photos of the Maine youngsters, and next week the group will review what they have learned and respond to questions from their new Turkmenistan friends.
When the project was proposed to Mosher, his first action was to get online and go to Google.com.
“I had to go there to find out where Turkmenistan is,” he said. “We’re all getting an education.”
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