Village Project - Tabor II

Tabor Village II
Polish-Slovak Summer Camp

July 19-August 6, 1999
Rytro, Poland

This is a short report on the Tabor Village II Project. More information and more photographs of Peep City are available in the Republic of Peeps Department of History.

Working on peep buildings for Peep City

Peep City was located on the bank of a raging river.

Examining houses in Peep City

Ready to work in our outdoor shop

We built the town of Peeps City on a beautiful but ill-fated site this summer, at The Village Project's second summer camp for Polish and Slovak children. Camp was in Poland in 1999, on the other side of the mountains we were next to last year. We held Village in a cottage that is being made into an environmental information center; this summer it was empty, a perfect place for Village, right next to a pretty little stream. The kids decided to put their town on its steep banks, in the shade of trees, with plenty of water to use and play in. For a week, it was a great place, but then -- it rained. The children were dismayed to find their land flooded, some of it washed away, though fortunately no peeps were lost. After the rain stopped, a dyke was built, and the kids who’d had land right on the coast found places higher up.

Representatives of the National Peep Government pay close attention in Peep City town meeting

Baking bread at Agata's Bakery

A couple of girls wanted to build a bakery, and Noah helped them make a real miniature oven. When they built a fire in the miniature fireplace, bread really did bake in an oven above it! It was a major technological discovery for peeps. (For more pictures of bread making see Great Peep Achievements.) Peep education made advances too, with the university operating full time, offering its usual classes in weaving, electricity, plumbing, knitting, but also classes in foreign languages. Amy and Marisa taught French and Spanish, and when Vesna came to visit, she taught Serbian -- all to well-attended classes, which we see as a mark of openness to other people that was so painfully missing at the 1998 summer camp. This year, Polish and Slovak children got along without any problems. They were encouraged in this by Tana Kancianova and Slavka Lukacova, from Slovakia, who came back to be counselors for a second year. Marisa Westheimer, who came from New Hampshire to be a CIT last year, was a counselor this year. Basia Tokarczyk, from Poland, came for a first time and was just as fantastic as the other three. They helped the kids weather the flood setback, and Basia helped kids write and produce a play. On the whole, the program was a great success, and we look forward to Tabor Village III !

Report prepared November 1999
by camp directors
Amy Shuffelton and Noah Sobe

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