This song is one I learnt during my time at the Art of Mentoring Camp in California in 2016 (and 2017). The song, When I Was Young, was sung in a gathering to send the teens off on their overnight rites of passage trek. The whole community (300 people) gathered around these teens and wished them well on their journey, shared gratitude for them and their gifts and gave advice for their quest! The song was used to ‘sing them out of camp’ and was incredibly powerful and emotional. In fact, the community kept singing until we couldn’t see the teens anymore, and then some.
We sing this song at KIN Village and around the fire at Bush Inventors’ Club as a way to connect our community and to share joy! It’s an ear worm that I really don’t mind having. It’s a staff favourite and we just had to share it!
The song is wonderful as a call and response but sings nicely in this form too! If you play this around your children and they have been to one of our programs, they may start to sing a long!
We hope it brings you as much joy as it brings us!
