Camp wasn’t just an event; it was a discovery world. It challenged us, as leaders, to stop looking outward for answers and start looking inward instead. It never dawned on me that I would say goodbye to Camp, but the real mandate hasn’t ended.
We often stand before the mirror and think we see ourselves. I did too. I saw my reflection, but I couldn’t find my inner me. I was on a quest to find exactly who I was, but the mirror showed only my outside, not my inside. It became my headache. Until I got to CLP Camp. Who I thought I was is not who I found there. This is my story, The Mirror Is Not You.
Who could have thought stepping away from the crowd could have been the stepping stone into exactly who I was meant to be? Before the reflection even began, I had already heard so much about camp, especially the food hype. In my head, I kept wondering what it would actually be like. Would it be like the Barbie Camps I’d seen on television, or more like High School Musical Camp? But God, as always, had a better plan. My expectation for camp was simple: to learn, to be changed, to be revived, and to use the experience as a mirror through which I could finally meet my inner self. Camp started on Saturday,which was the induction day; on my way there, honestly, I was very nervous because this was my first day going somewhere without a friend or someone very close to me. When I arrived for the induction, the warm embrace from my fellows changed something within me, yet I was still nervous. Aside from that, I kept thinking how intense the sessions were going to be in these few days to come. After the inductions, we took pictures, then the real journey started. Getting to the campground felt almost magical, even though the journey from Accra to Afro pong wasn’t an easy one. What made it bearable, even beautiful, was the atmosphere on the bus.
When we arrived, I half expected a forest experience, with the birds chirping and quiet woods, but I quickly realized this was a full Gen Z camp. The place was nice and cozy: Akropong really delivered; we were paired with a partner to share a room. We unpacked our stuff from the bus into our rooms and had a little time with fellows. All too soon, the day came to an end. One thing that stood out to me was that time is money, very time spent was precious, and also, as a leader, learn how to spend your time well. Sunday started with a cold atmosphere; I got ready for the day. All the dreams and expectations I had started on Sunday; remember, a dream without action is an imagination. The day started with a devotion as always. Morning devotion was a consistent spiritual anchor of the whole camp experience. As Christian fellows, we gathered together to pray as Scripture admonishes us to do. This experience made us understand the essence of starting the day with God, and the importance of building an intentional relationship with God. One thing that challenged me deeply was learning to read the bible on my own with the help of the Holy Spirit without reaching for my phone. We finally kick-started the highly anticipated in-person faculty engagement session. The session stretched my thinking and challenged the way I see the world. As a leader who wants to sail, remember everyone has their own worldview. If you want people in your boat, you must communicate your compass clearly. If their worldview is different from yours, you won’t reach your destination. You will drown or be carried away, despite the storms; let your compass remain. And that compass is God. Then came the moment I’d been waiting for: the food. I had the hype before arriving, and I needed to see for myself. The food was very amazing.
A new day begins with a new challenge before the sun rose. As part of the camp experience, we were up early for a mandatory fitness routine. I thought we were here to learn and go and implement them? Well, to be a leader, real change starts with you. The mornings in Akropong were very cold, with more thick fog compared to Accra. This was a new thing for me; in the quest to find my inner self, this period taught me how to adapt to life circumstances at any given point in life. Some of my fellows were used to the mornings in Akropong, and some struggled with the pace, but we pushed each other through the whole time. The goal was simple: leadership is not just about you alone; sometimes you lean on each other. The fitness routine showed us the power of resilience and endurance. Moments like this helped us to keep the spirit of discipline in our daily actions and decisions.
During a session called “understanding self”, taught that Camp wasn’t just an event; it was a discovery world. It challenged us, as leaders, to stop looking outward for answers and start looking inward instead: to understand our thoughts, our identity as Africans, to sharpen the skills that made change possible, and to do the hard things when it feels uncomfortable. One truth kept surfacing throughout our session: “leadership starts now.” If we’re going to lead well, we need to know ourselves first: our values, our strengths, our biases. Self-reflection isn’t a one-time exercise; it's a discovery that needs discipline. Though clarity may not come now, as you move, you see the inner self. I used to be the person who always felt like making it meant getting out. Making it in life felt tied to leaving Africa because somewhere along the way, I stopped believing there was hope for us here. Looking back, a lot of what I absorbed growing up in JHS and in SHS quietly shaped how I saw myself and my continent without me realizing it. Then came trip day to the Kwame Nkrumah Museum and the Memorial Park, whichshifted something in me. It showed me how prestigious our identity as Africans truly is. The trip day left me with a thought I haven’t been able to shake since: “No one is going to write your story for you as an African. Leaving doesn’t erase the problem, but when you write your own story, in your own voice. That realization is one of the things I’m most grateful this journey gave me”
Our last day at camp made me realize how precious it was when I took the quest to find my inner self, it was that moment during our last session, which made me realized that on the journey of finding self, it is not a one day adventure, rather it takes intentionality to find the kind of leader I am born to me, for that matter, I need to be patience with myself in that discovery, and never to forget the God factor in this journey. For we are God’s masterpiece, everyone in the room carries their own story and one way or another, a leader can find a trace of his/her story in one’s story. It never dawned on me that I would say goodbye to Camp, but the real mandate hasn’t ended. If I want to birth whatever I was taught at camp, I need to start now; a dream without an action is an imagination.
I started this journey on a quest to find my inner self, the part of me that, on one hand, never really showed me how to look for. And by the end of it, I realized something: the mirror had lied to me along. Not because the mirror is dishonest, but because they never built for this kind of quest. A mirror only shows the outward, the surface. You can stand in front of a mirror and see the reflection of yourself, but not revelation. That’s exactly what CLP Camp became for me: not a mirror but a lens. A lens to meet my inner self; these six days gave me both.
Written by fellow Rebecca Tweneboah Ama Tham
