WARNING: This blog is not humorous - Grandma and Grandma, you may want to stop reading now. If you continue reading go forward with the knowledge that EVERYONE is perfectly OK. We are all fine. And we will not be camping in the desert any time in the near future.
So, for those of you who haven't heard me whine about it yet, I am leading the Grade 2 Brownies at our school. I have 10 adorable, energetic second graders and I am charged with doing important things such as making sit-upons and taking them on scavenger hunts for clouds. Another part of the job description is the Brownie Biggie - CAMPING! The girls were SO excited for the camping trip! For my part, camping in the Sharjah desert did not sound like the next best thing to Yosemite, but they were all so excited I got on board. Sharjah is the next Emirate over, and is not nearly as developed as Dubai. We were journeying to the Scouting Camp there, and had a whole day of fun activities planned.
The camp is a permanent camp, so the tents are canvas tents with fixed metal poles set on concrete slabs. There are actually real camp beds and mattresses. It was meant to be kind of "Camping Light". Given that there was not enough camp beds for everyone, we were sleeping 4 girls to 1 adult in each tent. I was a little nervous about corralling 4 excited 7 year olds to go to sleep! Caroline was especially excited because all the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade girls were sleeping Lodge style - meaning all 100 of them were going to sleep in one giant tent. This was an ENORMOUS tent - big enough to sleep 100 girls, or for a celebrity wedding, or maybe a tennis match.
The parents were scheduled to drop off their kids in my care at 1:30. I was waiting at our tents and Georgia, her friend Defne, and her troop mates Emily (and her two 5 year old twin sisters) and Ayla were playing in our tent. I asked my friend Kim (Emily's mom) to watch them while I crossed the camp to make sure that Caroline was getting settled in the big tent. I was worried she would be overwhelmed with all those girls, and nervous that I was on the opposite side of camp - about 100 yards away.
It had started out as a beautiful day - warm and even a little hot. But about an hour after we got there, the clouds rolled in and we started dreading that it would rain - which is ironic given that it rains in Dubai a total of about 2 days per year. Augusto had driven us out to the desert to help me get everyone settled, and to make sure I didn't get lost in the Sharjah desert. Lucky thing, because the 100 girl tent was not fully set up, so he was charged with bringing in beds, mattresses, etc. So Augsuto was in the big tent.
I found Caroline in the tent - and at the exact moment that she was showing me her bed and her set-up, the sand storm hit the Sharjah Scout Camp. An enormous gust of wind, estimated at 100 miles an hour or more, hit the camp. I looked up and saw the front of the tent pulling up. At first I thought it was just pulling the canvas up in the air, and then I saw the entire front half of the tent rip free and fly over our heads. I jumped on top of Caroline and covered her the best that I could. That giant tent was completely ripped free and flipped over. The tent was so large and the wind so powerful that it also took out a full metal and steel 50 foot high lamppost, which came crashing down.
Chaos followed. Remember that most of these girls had been dropped off, so the ratio of adults to children was low. I was trying to sheild Caroline and pull her away from the tent, afraid that the beds (which were wood and metal framed) were going to start blowing. All fo the mattresses were ripped off the beds and were blowing out into the desert. Augusto immediately reacted and ran to the area where the tent had landed to make sure no kids were under it. Seeing I had C, he started collecting kids and making a run for the only "real" building - the bathrooms. Georgia was on the other side of the camp, and I had to get over there. I started walking Caroline in that direction, when Deric (Emily's husband) found us and took Caroline to put her in the car so I could look for Georgia.
The sand was so thick and the wind so strong, I could not see the other side of the camp. I started walking in that direction - yelling Kim's name over and over. Finally I heard her yell back, and was able to get in to our little 5 person tent - still standing at the moment. She had gathered the 6 girls that were in our tent and had them huddled in a circle, praying. She had seen the big tent go over and was brilliant in keeping all of our girls in one place. Augusto found us two minutes later and told us to get clear of the tents - they were all going to get blown out - while he would bring the car around. Kim and I herded the girls free of the tents, and sheilded them from the sand as best we could until Augusto brought our car around and we could pile all the kids in.
Once I knew our kids were safe, I was worried that some of my other girls had shown up at camp but had not found me yet. I went to the bathroom building, and found it packed with screaming, crying, terrified girls. These poor girls had made it to shelter, but the adults were all busy trying to make sure we didn't lose anyone in the sand storm and the tent collapses that they were mostly alone. It was one of the saddest, most frightening things I have ever seen. They were huddled four and five in toilet stalls, crying. One girl was screaming that she couldn't find her sister. A few of them had cuts from when the tent poles had hit them when they were ripped free. I didn't see any of my girls,so back out in the sand I went.
It was surreal. The sand is blinding, the wind is fierce, and it's terrifying because large objects are getting hurtled in the air. I found Emily, Deric and Augusto and we confirmed that all of our kids were safe, and checked the remaining tents to make sure no one was left.
By only the grace of God, all of the girls were accounted for, and only minor injuries occurred. I am so thankful that Augusto and Deric stayed just long enough to help in the rescue and aftermath. We are all safe, and only lost a few minor, meaningless posessions - blown out into the Arabian desert for eternity.
Here are some pics that were taken when things calmed down. I don't think they capture the drama, but the camera was one of the items that went missing, so all we had is Augusto's Blackberry.
Here's the big tent, lying crumpled in the sand. You can see the beds in the foreground - it tells you how far it flew, and that all the mattresses are totally gone:
Here's where Georgia's tent was standing (behind that car) - you can see how flat they got:
Here's me, Emily and Melanie in front of the wreckage of a small tent. They started calling me the California Terrorist given my face mask to ward off sand (sometimes you still have to laugh):
As we left, you could see in the distance that there was more to come:
Don't worry - I WON'T do it again!! And poor Augsuto - he has been trying to convince me that camping is great fun for years. I thing the only camping in my future would be "Glamping" with my own camping butler, in a very safe, non-windy environment.
We love you all very much - and we have never felt so lucky or so blessed to be SAFE and TOGETHER.
So, for those of you who haven't heard me whine about it yet, I am leading the Grade 2 Brownies at our school. I have 10 adorable, energetic second graders and I am charged with doing important things such as making sit-upons and taking them on scavenger hunts for clouds. Another part of the job description is the Brownie Biggie - CAMPING! The girls were SO excited for the camping trip! For my part, camping in the Sharjah desert did not sound like the next best thing to Yosemite, but they were all so excited I got on board. Sharjah is the next Emirate over, and is not nearly as developed as Dubai. We were journeying to the Scouting Camp there, and had a whole day of fun activities planned.
The camp is a permanent camp, so the tents are canvas tents with fixed metal poles set on concrete slabs. There are actually real camp beds and mattresses. It was meant to be kind of "Camping Light". Given that there was not enough camp beds for everyone, we were sleeping 4 girls to 1 adult in each tent. I was a little nervous about corralling 4 excited 7 year olds to go to sleep! Caroline was especially excited because all the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade girls were sleeping Lodge style - meaning all 100 of them were going to sleep in one giant tent. This was an ENORMOUS tent - big enough to sleep 100 girls, or for a celebrity wedding, or maybe a tennis match.
The parents were scheduled to drop off their kids in my care at 1:30. I was waiting at our tents and Georgia, her friend Defne, and her troop mates Emily (and her two 5 year old twin sisters) and Ayla were playing in our tent. I asked my friend Kim (Emily's mom) to watch them while I crossed the camp to make sure that Caroline was getting settled in the big tent. I was worried she would be overwhelmed with all those girls, and nervous that I was on the opposite side of camp - about 100 yards away.
It had started out as a beautiful day - warm and even a little hot. But about an hour after we got there, the clouds rolled in and we started dreading that it would rain - which is ironic given that it rains in Dubai a total of about 2 days per year. Augusto had driven us out to the desert to help me get everyone settled, and to make sure I didn't get lost in the Sharjah desert. Lucky thing, because the 100 girl tent was not fully set up, so he was charged with bringing in beds, mattresses, etc. So Augsuto was in the big tent.
I found Caroline in the tent - and at the exact moment that she was showing me her bed and her set-up, the sand storm hit the Sharjah Scout Camp. An enormous gust of wind, estimated at 100 miles an hour or more, hit the camp. I looked up and saw the front of the tent pulling up. At first I thought it was just pulling the canvas up in the air, and then I saw the entire front half of the tent rip free and fly over our heads. I jumped on top of Caroline and covered her the best that I could. That giant tent was completely ripped free and flipped over. The tent was so large and the wind so powerful that it also took out a full metal and steel 50 foot high lamppost, which came crashing down.
Chaos followed. Remember that most of these girls had been dropped off, so the ratio of adults to children was low. I was trying to sheild Caroline and pull her away from the tent, afraid that the beds (which were wood and metal framed) were going to start blowing. All fo the mattresses were ripped off the beds and were blowing out into the desert. Augusto immediately reacted and ran to the area where the tent had landed to make sure no kids were under it. Seeing I had C, he started collecting kids and making a run for the only "real" building - the bathrooms. Georgia was on the other side of the camp, and I had to get over there. I started walking Caroline in that direction, when Deric (Emily's husband) found us and took Caroline to put her in the car so I could look for Georgia.
The sand was so thick and the wind so strong, I could not see the other side of the camp. I started walking in that direction - yelling Kim's name over and over. Finally I heard her yell back, and was able to get in to our little 5 person tent - still standing at the moment. She had gathered the 6 girls that were in our tent and had them huddled in a circle, praying. She had seen the big tent go over and was brilliant in keeping all of our girls in one place. Augusto found us two minutes later and told us to get clear of the tents - they were all going to get blown out - while he would bring the car around. Kim and I herded the girls free of the tents, and sheilded them from the sand as best we could until Augusto brought our car around and we could pile all the kids in.
Once I knew our kids were safe, I was worried that some of my other girls had shown up at camp but had not found me yet. I went to the bathroom building, and found it packed with screaming, crying, terrified girls. These poor girls had made it to shelter, but the adults were all busy trying to make sure we didn't lose anyone in the sand storm and the tent collapses that they were mostly alone. It was one of the saddest, most frightening things I have ever seen. They were huddled four and five in toilet stalls, crying. One girl was screaming that she couldn't find her sister. A few of them had cuts from when the tent poles had hit them when they were ripped free. I didn't see any of my girls,so back out in the sand I went.
It was surreal. The sand is blinding, the wind is fierce, and it's terrifying because large objects are getting hurtled in the air. I found Emily, Deric and Augusto and we confirmed that all of our kids were safe, and checked the remaining tents to make sure no one was left.
By only the grace of God, all of the girls were accounted for, and only minor injuries occurred. I am so thankful that Augusto and Deric stayed just long enough to help in the rescue and aftermath. We are all safe, and only lost a few minor, meaningless posessions - blown out into the Arabian desert for eternity.
Here are some pics that were taken when things calmed down. I don't think they capture the drama, but the camera was one of the items that went missing, so all we had is Augusto's Blackberry.
Here's the big tent, lying crumpled in the sand. You can see the beds in the foreground - it tells you how far it flew, and that all the mattresses are totally gone:
Here's where Georgia's tent was standing (behind that car) - you can see how flat they got:
Here's me, Emily and Melanie in front of the wreckage of a small tent. They started calling me the California Terrorist given my face mask to ward off sand (sometimes you still have to laugh):
As we left, you could see in the distance that there was more to come:
Don't worry - I WON'T do it again!! And poor Augsuto - he has been trying to convince me that camping is great fun for years. I thing the only camping in my future would be "Glamping" with my own camping butler, in a very safe, non-windy environment.
We love you all very much - and we have never felt so lucky or so blessed to be SAFE and TOGETHER.
