The American-style summer camp for Nigerian Jewish children

For many of the children at Camp Sarah in the Nigerian capital Abuja, the most important part of summer is not simply learning about Judaism. It is discovering that they are not alone.

Camp Sarah is a growing Jewish educational and cultural movement for the relatively small Nigerian Jewish community. Based heavily on the American-style Jewish summer camp, which has been a cornerstone of the American-Jewish experience for decades, the camp gives children a place to pray, learn, play, and make friends, while preparing young counselors to become the next generation of community leaders.

On i24NEWS’s Jewish World Weekly, Emily Frances spoke to Debbie Isser, the founder of Camp Sarah; Ednah Adaeze Aboh, a fourth-year counselor at the camp; and Zion Donatus, a 12-year-old camper.

A camp born in Abuja

Isser came to Nigeria in 2021 for her work with the World Bank. After arriving in Abuja, she began searching for a Jewish community with which to celebrate the Jewish holidays.

She found three synagogues in the Nigerian capital, each with an active and intergenerational congregation. Isser said the services felt familiar, even when the melodies were different from those she knew in the United States.

“I started talking to the community about what we could provide to help sustain their community, what it is that they really wanted,” Isser said.

The answer came largely from parents. Many of the children in Abuja’s Jewish community are the only Jewish students in their schools. Their families wanted them to have access to Jewish learning, but also to experience the simple social connection of spending time with other Jewish children.

“They really wanted their kids to have that kind of experience,” Isser said. “And immediately, I thought of camp.”

Camp Sarah was founded in 2023 as a Jewish educational and cultural day camp for children ages 5 to 16 from Nigeria’s Jewish communities. It was named after Isser’s mother and launched at Tikvat Israel Synagogue in Kubwa, a suburb of Abuja.

Now in its fourth year, the camp operated this summer with around 80 campers and 20 staffers.

The camp’s stated aim is to grow into a Nigerian Jewish youth movement that encourages personal development, strengthens community and nurtures a love of Judaism.

From the beginning, Camp Sarah has brought together children from different synagogues and staff members from across Nigeria. The camp has also welcomed Jewish educators and volunteers from other countries, creating connections between Nigerian Jewish communities and the wider Jewish world.

Nigeria does not have an official census of its Jewish population, and estimates vary considerably. Researchers place the number of Nigerians practicing or identifying with Judaism somewhere between several thousand and approximately 30,000, with most belonging to the Igbo community. Jewish communities are active in Abuja and across southeastern Nigeria, where dozens of synagogues serve congregations of varying sizes.

Learning, playing and belonging

A typical day at Camp Sarah combines Jewish practice with the activities associated with a summer camp anywhere in the world.

The day begins with Tefilah, or communal prayer. Campers then divide into age groups for lessons and activities. Similar to American Jewish summer camps, Jewish learning, known as Yehadut, is a central part of the schedule, alongside arts and crafts, sports, singing and other projects.

Isser said the camp’s curriculum changes from year to year. One summer focused on the Jewish calendar, while the program discussed in the interview centered on the Jewish life cycle. The lessons introduce campers to Jewish laws, rituals, songs and Hebrew, while also exploring the values behind them.

“There’s lots of singing, and we even have some Hebrew learning,” Isser said. “I think pretty much all the kids now know the Aleph Bet (Hebrew alphabet). And some of them are quite advanced.”

The program also reflects its Nigerian setting. Camp Sarah’s organizers have adapted activities to local conditions and incorporated Nigerian music and cultural styles into the camp experience. The camp’s website describes it as a place where children celebrate Jewish life “Nigerian style,” with food, music, friendship and activities at the center of the experience.

For Zion Donatus, one of the most memorable parts of camp is the time after lunch, when campers can choose from different activities.

“My favorite part of my camp is the activities we do after lunch,” he said. “I’m at the sewing area and where I’m learning how to do a challah cover.”

He described the experience as one of the best parts of his childhood so far. The project illustrates the camp’s broader approach: Jewish learning is not limited to formal lessons. It can also take place through making, singing, cooking and working together.

Camp Sarah’s online materials emphasize that the camp is intended to create friendships across Nigeria’s Jewish communities. Those relationships continue during the year through gatherings, holiday celebrations and other activities.

Counselors become leaders

One of Camp Sarah’s most important features is its focus on counselor training. Isser said the camp was designed not only to give children a meaningful Jewish experience, but also to develop young people who can take responsibility for the future of Nigerian Jewish life.

“It was also a great way to develop a cohort of youth leaders who became the staff and create this pipeline of youth leaders so that it self-perpetuates,” she said.

Ednah Aboh is part of that pipeline. She is from Imo State in south-east Nigeria, worships at Gihon Hebrews Synagogue in Abuja and has returned to Camp Sarah as a counselor for four consecutive years.

She said the camp has helped her become more responsible and confident. Counselors take part in a three-day leadership training program, where they learn how to teach campers, manage activities and remain patient with younger children.

This year, Aboh took on additional responsibilities. She helped organize camper registration and was placed in charge of the eight-to-10-year-old group.

“Camp has helped me become responsible,” she said. “It has given me confidence.”

The effect of the training is intended to extend beyond Abuja. Isser said counselors come from different parts of Nigeria, and some have already organized smaller Camp Sarah programs in Port Harcourt and Ebony State.

The organizers are also interested in bringing the model to other African Jewish communities. Rabbi Gershom Sizomu of Uganda’s Abayudaya community served as Camp Sarah’s resident rabbi during one summer. Although he could not attend the year discussed in the interview, he sent one of his students, Ruth Mongono, to lead the Yehadut sessions.

Isser said Sizomu was interested in exploring the possibility of a Camp Sarah program in Uganda.

Jewish journeys in Nigeria

The campers and counselors do not all come to Judaism through the same path.

Aboh said that her parents left a Messianic temple and began practicing Judaism after moving from Lagos State to Abuja. They found Gihon Hebrews Synagogue, where they met community elders and began studying Hebrew, prayer, and Jewish practice.

Her father and older brother converted in 2021. Aboh and her sisters converted in 2024.

“For me, I was born into Judaism,” she said, describing the way Judaism had become part of her family’s life even as their formal process of conversion unfolded over several years.

Donatus said he had been Jewish for two years. He explained that his father had become dissatisfied with elements of the New Testament and decided to focus on the Old Testament. After studying the biblical text, the family began exploring Judaism.

For Donatus, camp has helped make that transition easier.

“Coming to camp makes me understand everything much better,” he said. “I’ve got friends now that help me understand Judaism.”

That sense of belonging is one of Camp Sarah’s central purposes. In a country where most people are Christian or Muslim, Jewish children can sometimes grow up without Jewish neighbors or classmates. Camp provides a setting in which Jewish identity is ordinary rather than unusual.

The camp website describes the program as a way to affirm the identity of Nigerian Jewish children through songs, crafts, storytelling and shared Jewish experiences.

Jewish communities across West Africa

Nigeria is part of a wider and varied Jewish landscape in Africa. Jewish communities and Jewish-identifying groups exist in several parts of the continent, including Ghana, Uganda, Ethiopia and southern Africa.

In Ghana, the House of Israel community began developing its modern Jewish identity in the 1970s. In Uganda, the Abayudaya have practiced Judaism since the early 20th century. Ethiopia’s Beta Israel community has a much older history and now has a large population in Israel. The Lemba of southern Africa maintain traditions that some members connect to Israelite ancestry, although questions of history, identity and religious status remain subjects of ongoing discussion.

Nigeria’s Jewish communities are particularly associated with members of the Igbo people. Some Igbo Jews believe they descend from one of the biblical Ten Lost Tribes. Others describe their connection to Judaism as a more recent religious journey, shaped by Bible study, community practice and contact with Jewish organizations abroad.

As Aboh and Donatus explained in the interview, Nigerian Jewish identity can emerge through family decisions, personal study and participation in local synagogues. The communities are diverse, and not all members share the same theological or historical understanding of their Jewish connection.

Camp Sarah does not attempt to erase those differences. Instead, it brings children from different congregations together and gives them a common experience. Its emphasis is on education, friendship and the practical work of building community.

The American camp connection

Camp Sarah’s structure is influenced by the American Jewish summer camp tradition, which has played an important role in the lives of generations of American Jews.

For many American Jewish children, camp is where Jewish identity becomes part of daily life. Campers pray together, celebrate Shabbat, sing Jewish songs, learn Hebrew, and participate in traditions outside the formal setting of a synagogue or classroom. Just as importantly, they form friendships with other Jewish children and develop a sense of belonging.

That experience was significant for Isser, who brought the idea with her when she began working with the Jewish community in Abuja.

“The American camp model immediately came to mind,” she said, because it could offer children “a great experience, fun and learning,” while also creating future youth leaders.

Camp Sarah applies that model to Nigeria rather than simply reproducing an American program. Its curriculum is shaped by the needs of Nigerian Jewish children, its staff is increasingly Nigerian, and its music, food and activities reflect the local environment.

The result is a camp that connects two realities. It draws on a familiar American Jewish institution while allowing Nigerian Jewish life to develop in its own way.

A movement still growing

Camp Sarah remains dependent on fundraising and outside support. Isser said the Nigerian Jewish community is not particularly wealthy, but she also emphasized that the demand for the program is clear.

“As long as we have the resources, there is definitely the demand,” she said. “And we’re happy to expand this as much as possible.”

The camp’s expansion is already visible in the programs being organized by former counselors and in the relationships developing between Jewish communities in Nigeria and Uganda.

For the children, however, the immediate experience remains straightforward. They pray together, learn Jewish traditions, make crafts, play sports, eat together and build friendships.

For Aboh, camp has provided confidence and leadership. For Donatus, it has provided friends and answers to questions about his new faith. For Isser, it is a way to help ensure that Jewish life in Nigeria can be sustained by the people who live there.

Camp Sarah may have begun as an experiment. It is now becoming an institution, and potentially something larger: a Nigerian Jewish youth movement built around education, community and the conviction that every child should have a place where they feel at home.