Siblings enjoy the outdoor life

To Peymaneh Hatamsefat, the idea of summer camp would have been a concept lost in translation four years ago.

After fleeing from Iran with her children, Hatamsefat was granted political asylum in the U.S. and found a new life in Los Angeles.

"Three years ago, none of us could speak English," Hatamsefat said. "It was very scary for us -- it's just so different from here and back home."

Though the transition was not easy for her daughter and son, Parnian and Parshan Soheili, who are 9 and 11, the close-knit family soon found a sense of community at the local Westchester YMCA and life began to resume itself.

They befriended other members who introduced them to the idea of camp, and a few months later, Parshan and Parnian were on their first bus ride to summer camp.

For a second summer, the two will join about 150 children from the Westchester Family YMCA, ages 7 to 12, at Camp Round Meadow, in Barton Flats near Big Bear Lake. Nearly 2,000 YMCA campers around Los Angeles go for a one-week session each summer.

"In my country, it doesn't matter how much money you have, you cannot get these facilities," Hatamsefat said of camp.

Besides the expansive setting in nature, the camper-counselor relationship is the cornerstone of the YMCA camp experience, said Issa Ludlow, camp and family program director.

"Usually, it's the first time away from their parents," said Ludlow, who knew Parshan and Parnian from after-school activities at the YMCA. "It's an opportunity to make their own way and be put in an environment with other kids and adults."

The camp doesn't allow campers to bring electronics -- be it a Game Boy or a cellphone -- but with horseback riding, dodge ball and a bevy of water sports like banana boating and canoeing, the fun doesn't run dry.

"It wasn't just like activities, then eat dinner, then go to bed," Parnian said. She found solace in one activity in particular: the nightly campfire.

"At night, when you look up, there's all these stars and people were singing and dancing and laughing."

After camp was over, the experience lingered for both children.

"I was kind of quiet for a while thinking about all the activities I did," Parshan said, who hopes to one day become a politician.

"It was a chance to get away from the pollution and get clean air."

For Parnian, who hopes to be a veterinarian one day, camp taught her real compassion for others.