ARAB TIMES, THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2019

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Activities for downtime

For perfect camp care package, remember: Less is moreBy Katie Workman

For parents of campers heading to sleepaway camp, spring can mean

a whole lot of shopping, fi nding duffel bags, labeling clothes, packing ... And then they’re off! And then it’s time to think about popping a little something in the mail so your camper can have the thrill of receiving a care package.

But what to send? How much and how often?

Moderation is the word to keep in mind, warns Amy Broadbridge, direc-tor of Camp Deerhorn in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. Her camp has tried to de-emphasize care packages in recent years.

“Because honestly, care packages at camp have kind of gotten out of control. Parents feel pressure to send multiple care packages and they have to all be awesome,” she says. Camp Deerhorn asks parents to send only one care package per summer. The idea is to emphasize the camper’s independence and focus on the camp experience itself.

So hold back on the frequency, and think about the following guidelines:

This is a pretty universal rule among camps, for some very good

reasons. Broadbridge explains, “We have life-threatening allergies, and woodland creatures who love to come into cabins to hunt for food.” Her

camp’s ban on food in care packages includes all candy and gum, but not all parents (or grandparents) stick to the rules. Camp staff looks for candy

in tricky places.If your camp does allow food care

packages, it will likely have strict guidelines, which you should follow closely.

Broadbridge recommends sending items that kids can play with friends and cabinmates, such as Frisbees and other outdoor games, Mad Libs, joke books and playing cards.

Isaac Baumfeld, camp director of French Woods Festival of the Per-forming Arts in Hancock, New York, suggests pick-up sticks, a small chess set and hacky sacks.

ThinkingIf you are thinking of sending the

whole cabin a gift, make sure you know how many kids are in it (send one extra, just in case!). Ideas for group gifts include fun sunglasses, fl ashlights, glow sticks or necklaces, or funny socks. The gifts should be cute and fun but not show-offy or expensive (no EarPods!).

Lauren Bayne of Austin, Texas, loves sending care packages to her two boys, now 10 and 13, and remem-bers receiving great packages from her mother. She says she has gone overboard in the past and is paring her

shipments back.“Campers love getting anything

during mail delivery, so you can keep it small and novel and they’ll be just as excited,” she says.

One of her go-to gifts is to get card-stock prints made of a good group photo of the cabin campers. She sends a stack with her son’s contact information on it for him to share with friends and collect their info.

For quieter moments, when your camper might need to recharge and have some alone time, Broadbridge suggests puzzles like Rubik’s cubes, books, comics, and markers, pens and paper. Baumfeld adds: a camp journal, small plush animals, collapsible water bottle, yo-yo, a slinky, a small fan.

Bayne sends puzzle books to her kids: Sudoku, crosswords, word searches and so on.

Should you forget an essential when packing for camp, it will be more than welcome in the mail! Your campers may not ask for a rain pon-cho or a fl ashlight, but when it gets rainy or they have to do something at night, they will be happy to have them. My kids always ended up with one sock at the end of their camp stay, and a six-pack of fresh socks

mid-session was greeted with more enthusiasm than you might think.

If your kid is working on something particular at camp, think about send-ing something to support their hobby: new guitar strings, a magic trick, or a can of fresh tennis balls, for instance.

CreatesBroadbridge says her “No’s”

include anything that creates division among campers or makes a mess. Things like silly string, water bal-loons, squirt guns, sling shots, pranks or gags “will all cause problems more than they will create fun,” she says. And no silly putty or slime either. “Once that gets on clothes and fl eece blankets, it’s over.”

Many companies provide ready-made care packages. They include: Sealed with a Kiss, The Wrinkled Egg, Mirth in a Box, Everything Summer Camp and Oriental Trading Company.

But remember, less is more. Camp is a wonderful and often formative ex-perience, and it shouldn’t be cluttered with too much outside stuff.

As Broadbridge says, “The gift is camp itself, and that’s what we try to focus on.” (AP)

legal clinicPRO BONO LEGAL ADVICE

I have completed 3 yrs but cannot transfer to another com-pany. They are saying I worked with small business company so cannot transfer to a big com-pany. Sir, what do i do, i got re-lease from my current sponsor and I am a degree holder with attested certificate. Pls advise me on how to transfer my resi-dence.

Name withheldAnswer: If you have been told

that you cannot transfer your visa to another one outside your visa category this means that you have to search for job openings within the visa category and if you are lucky to land one then you effect the transfer. The other option you have is to cancel your current visa and come back on a new visa issued by the company of your choice.

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I would like to know how I can transfer the visa of my children? They were both born her and we are Filipino Nationality and both my husband and I are working here but since my husband will be canceling his visa soon to go and work in another coun-try specifically Canada. For the sake of the future of our chil-dren. As a mother I want them to be with me since they are also schooling here. I want to know what is the procedure of trans-ferring visa of my children under mother visa? looking forward to your prompt response.

Name withheldAnswer: Under Kuwait labour

law it is only the father who is allowed to be sponsor of members of the family. However in rare and special occasions, women are allowed to sponsor children on compassionate grounds. However for this to happen, the director-general of immigration must okay it. We therefore propose that you seek audience with the director-general, put your cast before him and if you are lucky you will be given an exemption and be allowed to be the sponsor of your children.

I just want to ask for advice regarding my current situa-tion in my company. I joined a company in June 2018 and I got pregnant during the month of November 2018. I already changed my visa to the com-pany in October 2018 and I in-formed the company about my pregnancy in December 2018 that time they didn’t say any-thing about the pregnancy. But they terminated me on 18th April 2019 at the time of 7th month of pregnancy my termination pe-riod will finish during my delivery time they didn’t say anything about my maternity leave salary. Whether I can get the maternity leave salary or not. Is there any rule for this please explain me regarding this. Now I can’t get job anywhere this time. They didn’t mention any reason for the termination.

Name withheldAnswer: The notice period

before your termination comes into effect is around the time of your delivery as you have indicated. In legal speak therefore you will no more be with the company at the time of delivery and hence can’t ask for any maternity leave salary. You are however entitled to the normal annual leave salary granted that you have already availed of it.

Since December 2013, I have been a resident of Kuwait.

Sir I have a query regarding my licence. In 2016 I obtained a driving licence on Engineer Visa. Recently the profession changed to site supervisor thus my licence got blocked but I have reactivated it by submit-ting the relevant documents to Asmah Muroor.

Now I have got an offer from another company in Kuwait in which the visa transfer from project visa to company quota is not possible so I have to cancel and come back on a new visa to Kuwait so I have 2 queries as below:

1. Is it possible to rectivate my licence after coming on new visa with sales officer title with salary above KD650.

2. If above is not possible, can I obtain new licence with Sales Officer title.

For your information, my li-cence is expiring in November 2019.

Please respond if possible.Hope to hear from you soon.

Name withheldAnswer: Unfortunately you can-

not reactivate your driving licence because after cancelling your resi-dence and exiting Kuwait your driving licence which is now tied to your residence will automatically be cancelled as well. However with a salary of KD650 a month and holding a university degree which we believe you possess, you can re-apply for a new driving licence irrespective of your designation as a sales officer.

My salary is KD300. Will it be possible to apply for a visit visa for my mother and sister?

Name withheldNo, you need a monthly salary

of KD500 or more to be able to apply for visit visas for your moth-er and sister. Please note that the salary you earn must be the same as indicated in your work permit.

I am from India, currently in Kuwait with a monthly salary of KD1,000. I want to bring my wife and two kids (15 months old) on dependent visa.

Please advise the formalities and documents required for pro-cessing the visa. And how much time it takes for processing.

Has medicals to be done for my kids as well?

Name withheldAnswer: To obtain dependent

visas for your wife and two chil-dren you will have to visit the Immigration Department in your Governorate, fill in application forms in Arabic and this is done by a typist and thereafter produce the following documents along with the application forms:

1. Copies of your wife’s and children’s passport

2. Copy of your Civil ID3. Work permit indicating the

salary you earn per month.4. Children’s birth certificates

and your marriage certificate authenticated by your country’s Foreign Ministry as well as your embassy here in Kuwait. You will also need to have these doc-uments stamped by Kuwait’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kuwait.

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The Arab Times invites ques-tions on all aspects of Kuwaiti law. If you face a problem, or need specific advice on any legal matter, from commer-cial and investment law to di-vorce and labour, send ques-tions to the Managing Editor, Arab Times, P.O. Box 2270, 13023 Safat, Kuwait, or Fax to 24818267. E-mail: arabtimes@arabtimesonline.com

Visit transfer

Pregnancy

Visit visa

Family visa

Driving licence

KNES

Photos from the event

KNES holds Early Years Graduation 2019The Early Years children of Kuwait National Eng-lish School held their annual Graduation Ceremo-ny and Summer Concert recently. The Reception Graduation is a considered a right of passage as the students move from the Foundation Stage of their education into the more formal Primary Key Stage 1. The EYFS Graduates have done excep-tionally well over the past 2 years and are surely ready to take on Year 1 as masters of their own development. The Early Years children have suc-

cessfully built up the best of who they can be. Their behaviour and personal growth has been excep-tional! They are an amazing group of children to watch as they interact at all levels. They are po-lite, well-behaved and caring young children. They have also built up communication, literacy, math and expressive arts skills higher than what normal-ly one might expect of children so young.

They have also developed a respect for their environment and are well on their way to being

fully participating Global Citizens. As they progress through Primary and then Secondary, they will be ready to enter tertiary education and then success-ful leaders in their communities and in the world.

We at KNES could not be prouder of their accomplishments and would like to thank our school partners and the students’ families that have helped foster such great achievements and qualities in the Reception Graduates of 2019!

Well Done All!

‘Button Man’ rich and compelling novel

Danger and beauty in ‘River’s’ wildernessBy Julia Rubin

‘The River’, by Peter Heller (Alfred A. Knopf)

This novel about two Dartmouth College students on a canoe trip gone badly awry is partly an ode to the Northern wilderness, partly a survival how-to, and mostly a thriller – sus-penseful and gut-wrenching.

Best friends Wynn and Jack take a late-summer trip to Canada, paddling down a river that winds through lakes and over rapids on its way to Hudson Bay. Like the river, author Peter Hel-ler’s plot often takes its time, digressing to describe how the boys fi llet a fi sh or make camp, or what the Northern Lights look like. But don’t get lulled: There’s action around the bend.

The two friends, both country boys, are experts in the woods and on the water, where they are self-proclaimed “minimalists” – no phones, no frills. They also share “a literary way of look-ing at the world,” and frequently see it through the lenses of Edgar Allan Poe, Virgil, James Dickey and more.

Their leisurely trip turns into a har-rowing dash toward safety when both nature and other people turn violent. Nature dishes up a massive forest fi re that bears down on them. The boys smell and hear the blaze long before they see it – the fl eeing animals, the drifting smoke, the popping and hissing

of trees.Meanwhile, human mysteries lurk:

Wynn and Jack hear a man and woman arguing on the bank as their canoe glides by in the fog; when they return to warn the couple about the fi re, they fi nd nobody there. Later, a man turns up at their camp downriver, alone. Where is the woman?

JumpHeller, author of previous novels in-

cluding “The Dog Stars” and “Celine”, dives deep into the details of wilderness camping – so deep that sometimes you just want to jump ahead and fi nd out what happens. Likewise with his acute and poetic observations of nature. But he is setting the scene and establishing two likable and memorable characters in Wynn and Jack. Each brings a dif-ferent perspective to the violence and tragedy they encounter.

River travel has often been a meta-phor for writers. At one point early on, as the boys approach some rapids, Heller writes that “every river story they had ever read was just beneath the surface of their imaginations and must have fi red them with extra energy and braced them, too, because at least half of those stories did not have happy end-ings.”

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“Button Man”, by Andrew Gross

(Minotaur)New York City from almost a

century ago and the saga of Jewish immigrants struggling to make a living highlight “Button Man”, a rich and compelling novel from Andrew Gross.

Morris, Sol and Harold Rabinowitz had to become adults quickly after their father’s death transfers responsibility

for supporting the family to them. Mor-ris drops out of school and becomes an apprentice for a garment cutter. Sol becomes an accountant, and Harold fi nds an easy way to receive large sums of money by working with mobster Louis Buchalter.

The novel spans decades as the three brothers discover love, work with each other to achieve success in a turbulent city, and fi ght with each other for what each one feels is the right reason. As Morris fi nds success, he hires Sol to help keep the fi nancials in order. Harold’s ties to Buchalter create an immediate rift, and with the clothing factories wanting to un-ionize, Buchalter has a fi nancial stake in making sure that happens to Morris’ plant and his workers, though Morris would rather keep the status quo. Plus, Buchalter and Morris have a rivalry going back years that makes the situation more ugly and dangerous.

Gross transports readers back to a tumultuous time where religious perse-cution and organized crime ran rampant in New York City. He mixes real his-torical fi gures with fi ctional creations, and the story still feels authentic and personal. The author incorporates his real family history to enrich the story, and his love of that rich genealogical connection along with vast research into life in the Big Apple almost a cen-tury ago results in another outstanding and engrossing read. (AP)

This cover image released by Al-fred A. Knopf shows ‘The River’, by

Peter Heller. (AP)

This 2019 photo taken in New York and provided by Katie Workman shows some of the items that would be welcome in a camp care package. (AP)