Basseterre, St. Kitts, July 25, 2018 (SKNIS): More than 100 young people are developing their social skills, making new friends, and exploring their talents in a variety of fields at the 35th Annual Summer Residential Camp being staged at the Beach Allen Primary School.
The event, hosted by the Department of Youth Empowerment, saw several changes this year. The first week was held primarily for dorm leaders, who spent July 15 to 21 in leadership training facilitated by officials from the Community, Family and Youth Resilient Project. Part of the weekend was then used to finalise the arrangements for the 08 to 16 year old children, who were welcomed to camp on Sunday (July 22).
On Monday (July 23), Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, Stanley Knight, greeted the campers and assured them of the ministry’s commitment to provide positive and wholesome activities to enhance their empowerment.
During a visit to the camp on Wednesday, Senior Youth Officer, Diane Dunrod-Francis, said all was going well. The campers were deeply engaged in a variety of disciplines including T-shirt design, traditional drumming, marching band, fruit bowl design, airbrush, film making, and dance.
The theme for this year’s event is “Preserving Our Land of Beauty” and activities are also being held that incorporate action in this regard.
“The topics would be water conservation, turtle monitoring and protection, waste disposal … and recycling, and tourism and the environment,” Mrs. Dunrod-Francis said, adding that the waste disposal segment already took place and featured representatives from the Solid Waste Management Corporation.
On Thursday, the campers, dorm leaders, and staff, will perform another activity to care for the environment.
“[We will] just go and cleanup the beach, get involved in the communities, and make sure that they (the public) know what it’s all about in reference to the theme that we have for our summer camp this year,” the senior youth officer said.
Fun activities are all a part of the camp experience, and tomorrow (Thursday) there will be a talent show, sports day and barbeque on Friday, and banquet on Saturday. The children depart on Sunday, July 29.
