Visiting Camp Stevens with the Taiwan delegation

Taiwan is home to as many as 800,000 indigenous people, Austronesians who have lived on the island for 15,000 years. Originating from Taiwan, their forebears fanned all over the Asia-Pacific region. They suffered persecution at the hands of those who arrived later. Mainland China says Taiwan belongs to Beijing. But three percent of its population definitely has first dibs.

The United States has a similar story. I had it in mind as I played tour director on the bus as Canon Kathy Hannigan O’Connor and I accompanied Bishop Lennon Yuan-rung Chang and 14 members of his delegation for a day at Camp Stevens. I hope that Taiwan will consider sending us summer campers, as an Episcopal middle school in Japan has for many years. So we wanted them to see our jewel of outdoor Christian education first hand.

Along the way, taking the 10 through the Puente Hills, I told them the land had belonged to the Gabrielino nation until the Spanish came in the 18th century. Their soldiers built a bridge across the San Jose Creek, which is still on the map, and called the region “llana de la puente” — plain of the bridge. The United States took it from Mexico in 1848 after the Mexican-American War.

We’d gotten an early start, so morning fog still hugged the hillsides as we left the 15 and headed west through Temecula, local native peoples’ word for a place where the sun breaks through the mist. Camp Stevens is in the northern San Diego county town of Julian, in the mountains first peoples called Cuyamaca, or the place the rains fall from the heavens. I also looked up where “Julian” came from. Its antecedents are more recent. Settled by folks in gold rush times, it was named for the person thought to be the best looking in the founding family, Mike Julian.

At camp, executive director Kathy Wilder gave us the Cook’s tour, assisted by maintenance volunteer “Chainsaw” Bob Oslie and farm and garden specialist Emkat Earls, goat whisperer. We walked the labyrinth (annually maintained by the Rev. Canon Kelli Grace Kurtz), sat in the chapel while Kathy answered our questions about camp, played basketball and gaga dodgeball with the week’s campers, and enjoyed bagel pizzas and farm-fresh Caesar salad al fresco. It was great to see longtime staffer Issac and talk about their late uncle Ed Simons, one of my best friends from college and brother of Isaac’s proud mom, Cecille Simons-Araya. Everyone had apple pie a la mode at Mom’s on Julian’s main drag before the drive back to St. Paul’s Commons.