T H E S O U L O F C A M P B E N J A M I N
(How do you picture us when what you see is hardly what we are?)
A Little History
Camp Benjamin (or CB as we fondly call it) started with the dream of a man named, yes, Benjamin. He envisioned a highly secured place where the soul of men can be restored and trained towards godliness and service – a learning facility at its core and a place of rest for the battle-weary. The man Benjamin died praying and saving money for the facility, but never saw it built.
Still another man (incidentally with the same name,Benjamin), while also yearning for the souls of men, was specially drawn towards the wellness of the body through natural and self-sustaining ways of living. He saw it as a God-given means to support the lives of many impoverished Filipinos across the country.
These were the initial seeds of Camp Benjamin, but it took the courage and passion of the next generation after them to see what Camp Benjamin is today – a 4.7-hectare multi-purpose facility with an adjacent 8-hectare integrated and natural farm. While many are gifted with vision and insight, it took a youthful bunch of people yearning for the redemption of this country to make the dream come true. Driven by their passion to see the youth lead this country towards its God-given promise of salvation – wellness to the body, emotion and spirit – they moved their feet and hands, mind and spirit, families and friends, and all that they literally and figuratively had to bring glory to God and hope for this nation.
But what is Camp Benjamin?
Are we a Hotel or a Resort?
We will certainly pass as one given our various amenities, such as fully air-conditioned dormitel rooms, deluxe rooms, suite rooms, and adjacent two-bedroom and one-bedroom cabanas. These, in addition to 3 camp sites, can easily provide lodging for up to thousands of guest of different accommodation preferences.
How about parking spaces? No problem as we have combined 60 parking spaces for small vehicles, 5 for buses, 4 for golf carts and a long service road that can be tapped in case we need more parking slots. On a number of occasions, we have handled thousands of guests who came in hordes of buses and seemingly unending vehicles – all handled in orderly fashion.
Our security system is multi-layered, meant to reassure the most discriminating personalities. The place is secured by concrete walls, buildings watched by CCTVs in all major areas, ingress and egress monitored by roving security guards and any unseen items sniffed by K-9 dogs.
Are we a campsite and team building haven?
Absolutely! We will be remiss if we fail to provide camping facilities and programs that is the dream of youthful and adventurous people of all ages. For starters, we have what we call “suite tents” where one can experience real outdoor camping with the convenience and amenities of a suite room. We have three vast camping areas that are well-manicured, fully secured and can easily handle a thousand guests. It is an event organizer’s dream where almost any camp design is possible.
Explore “CB by Night”, and let lights, sounds and life dazzle you. Start with the frantic “bed preparation” of sparrows as they converge on a tree for a good night’s rest, listen to the cicadas as they silence everyone with their clarion call, uncover the mysteries of various feathered animals as they coo and crow in the darkness, stretch your legs as we find our way to the raging sound of the river, and, finally, quietly peek through pitch black darkness the enchanting life of a group of very tiny creatures that we have lost in the suburbs – the ultimate symbol of sustainable and sensitive lifestyle – the lovely fireflies.
We are equipped with a very long, if not the longest, zip line in Tagaytay and Cavite, in tandem with rappelling and wall climbing structures. We have an obstacle course where you can challenge yourself against the fastest record. We have a natural and virgin-looking creek and forest that can elicit both fear and wonder in a jungle survival course.
We also invite you to ride down our one-of-a-kind Twist ‘N Turn bubble slide; you wouldn’t get to experience it anywhere else!
For the more conventional forms of sports and teambuilding events, we have a sizeable covered and open court where anyone can play basketball, volleyball, badminton, or play any fun games that one can design or imagine.
The children? They can choose to play in any of the seesaws, swing, monkey bars, etc. while their parents or yayas sit comfortably nearby in the tens of natural benches and tables splattered in the camp sites.
Are we an integrated farm and eco-tourism facility?
This is probably a very good description of who we are. Aside from aiming to flood the market with naturally produced farm and poultry products – from pesticide-and chemical-free vegetables to smell-free chicken and pigs – we have positioned Camp Benjamin to be a place where people from all walks of life (corporate executives and employees, students and teachers, lay and NGO workers, politicians and government employees, community leaders, etc), can slow down, rejuvenate, and learn how to live and farm in an advanced, fun, sustainable and sensitive way.
For all the talks about waste segregation and healthy form of living, our people and children continue to sport a lifestyle insensitive to the environment and the less fortunate. Thus, in Camp
Benjamin, we advocate a “nothing-gets-wasted” approach and produce power in the most eco-friendly way possible. Take a leisurely walk at night under the beauty of solar-powered lights. Visit our kitchen and see how leftovers are meticulously packed and then transported and “baked” in our composting “ovens” at the farm. Say hello to our slimy and silent 24/7 workers and witness how they transform waste into black gold. And don’t miss our invisible and indigenous EMs fight the good fight for nature and bigger creatures, and yet happy to do their work without recognition, glamor nor honor.
Uncover the splendor of natural life in CB or, at least, be amazed how eco-friendly life could possibly be.
What are we then?
We are all the above. But most importantly, we are a center for wellness and transformation – a learning and rejuvenation facility at its core. We useall the facilities we earlier described, and coupled with our well-trained and service-oriented staff, we relentlessly drive to understand our clients’ challenges so we can offer the most appropriate programs to meet their wellness and transformation needs.
Aside from the amenities that any client can use for their envisioned activities in CB, we can add the following on the list:
- We can be a field trip destination with eco-tourism, integrated farming and/or responsible waste management as a theme (although we know that even just our swimming pool, teambuilding facilities and landscaping can already be a site and a service in itself)
- We can be a partner with schools, government, and other cause-oriented organizations to be a training facility for areas such as hospitality and hotel management, agri-business, eco-tourism, community development, leadership training, entrepreneurial management, etc.
- We can be a progressive retreat facility anchored on our 5C transformation program that is hinged both on the Word of God and the most practical considerations of any profit or non-profit organization.
- We can be a large organization diagnostic and teambuilding destination. While organizations normally show similar dysfunctional symptoms, each has its own challenges and situation, and thus we diagnose the client’s situation before we embark on any teambuilding program.
For all that we can do and hope to be, Benjamin means “beloved.” We therefore exist to meet our clients at whatever point in life they may be in – at whatever age, at whatever organization, at whatever persuasion, whenever they need a place and a group of people dedicated to bringing them to their “new you” with the intention of bringing out their “best you.”
If what we have described earlier happens to have not strung a chord (as it is possible that our clients’ concerns are unique in nature), email us at customerservice@campbenjamin.com.ph, visit our website at www.campbenjamin.com.ph or our FB page at www.facebook.com/CampBenjamin, or give us a call at 0927-4966023 (Globe), 0947-3382995 (Smart), or 0932-5483054 (Sun), and we will be more than willing to discuss what will bring best value to the life and aspirations of our clients.
