Compassionate teen avers that ‘Hope is Alive’

DAMASCUS, PA — You’ve seen the signs all over the River Valley that read: “Compassion: Think It! Live It!” Those signs, which are part of the Harmony Project’s homegrown initiative to inspire character development, cropped up this spring and now appear on people’s lawns and on buttons worn on their lapels (See The River Reporter June 26 for more details on the Harmony Project.)

For Ryanne Smith, a recent graduate of Honesdale High School, the notion of living a life defined by compassion was not inspired by a sign but rather through a real-life encounter with children born with HIV. Last summer Smith worked as a lifeguard at Camp Hope, a unique place located in Esopus, NY, that offers programs for children facing all kinds of adversity. The children Smith encountered at Camp Hope came by their dreaded infection only by being born to mothers who were infected. These kids, who are ‘vertically infected” at birth, can never escape the regimen of three treatments a day that include three or four antibiotics which must be administered at the exact same time each day. The medication can leave them nauseous or vulnerable to other viruses, while the disease, which is still greatly misunderstood and feared, can carry a lifelong stigma. Getting away to a place like Camp Hope doesn’t relieve them of their medical life sentence, but it does go a long way towards giving them a fun-filled week that affirms their lives, not their illness.

Smith’s life-altering week at Camp Hope was revelatory on many levels. “It was my first time around inner city kids and I was a little nervous,” she recalls. That cultural insularity was changed within the first five minutes as Smith was befriended by at least ten of the children, who ranged in age from five to 18 years old. In addition, she discovered in herself a genuine compassion for these children and developed a strong emotional bond with them over their brief but intense life together. Her memories and impressions of her experience at Camp Hope inspired her to write a senior theme paper for her English class at Honesdale High School entitled, “Hope is Alive.”

In that narrative Smith recalls her first encounter with the children:

“A roar of voices echoed from the chapel through the entire monastery. Brisk strides led me to the jubilant screams. Over seventy-five campers had arrived from Harlem and were ready to rock and roll in the rural setting of Esopus, New York. Every face your eyes ventured to find was filled with a smile from ear to ear. It was the first day of Camp Hope, and boys and girls between five and 18 were thrilled to be here. Speeches were made and then a sea of do-rags, afros, corn rows, and dreadlocks all flooded into the gym for some one-on-one street ball. Words truly cannot describe the joy of seeing so much bliss, but also so much pain hidden under the smiles.”

Smith’s bonding with the kids made the separation at the end of camp difficult to bear:

“Unfortunately, time cannot be frozen and departure time hit us counselors like a slap in the face. We were not ready to say goodbye. We were not ready to face the fact that we might not see these kids ever again. We were not ready to deal with the reality of home. We were not ready to accept the fact that although these joyful children had done nothing but be born, they were condemned to a life with a disease which would never go away. The campers were not ready either. They did not want to go home to the slums of Harlem. They did not want to face being an outcast with HIV. At Camp Hope, everyone was accepting, loving, and friendly. Unfortunately the world is not so kind.”

Smith will be attending St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, PA this fall where she will major in social work and take a class called “Social Problems.” As part of that course she will be volunteering her services to help inner city elementary students in Camden, NJ overcome their academic difficulties. Smith now sees the interrelationship between poverty and disease. A book written by Tracy Keller entitled “Mountains Beyond Mountains,” helped her to understand that most AIDS victims around the world are poor. Smith sees her life in different terms now. “I used to think I would be a designer or a teacher. Now I know I want to spend my life helping others. I will never take my health for granted,” adds Smith but vows that she is not afraid to help others even if it puts her at risk. “If I’m meant to die helping people, that would be an honorable way to go,” she adds.

Making the transition from the pastoral peace of the upper Delaware to the cauldron of the inner city will not be easy, but Smith is a remarkably pro-active teen who seems to have embodied one of the mantra’s of The Harmony Project even well before the first sign adorned a local lawn:

Compassion: Think it! Live it!