Basse to host 2nd Annual Youth Summer Camp

More than 100 young people from all the regions of the country are set to attend the second Annual Youth Summer Camp and the 1st International Youth Summer Camp slated for 16 through 18 August and 25 through 1 September 2013 in The Gambia and Senegal respectively.

The targeted age group in the activities is between 10 and15 years for both males and females with a registration fee of D500 for the local camp and D1,000 for the international one.

The youth summer camp is being organised by the Ministry of Youth and Sports through its line departments such as the National Youth Council and the National Sports Council.

The second edition is said to be held in the bustling town of Basse, the administrative capital of the Upper River Region, while the first International Youth Summer Camp will be in Rufisque in Dakar, Senegal.

This development was on Tuesday disclosed by officials of the Ministry of Youth and Sports at a press briefing held at the Independence Stadium in Bakau.

Programme officer advocacy and communication, Rosaline Secka, said at the briefing that the summer camp is purposely to develop the intellectual senses of the young people through basic academic skills.

She said that part of the co-implementing elements is to involve basic academic development through promotion of critical thinking of young people and problem-solving skills.

She added that it is also aimed at developing basic skills in children and enhancing or fostering communication and socialisation in them.

According to her, the camp would also enhance confidence in the minds of children and give them the opportunity to demonstrate their skills.

It is also meant to help children develop their character and have the sense of responsibility in their lives.

“We are expecting that at the end of the training, they will be productive, self-fulfilling and law-abiding and we also want them to be contributors and no more recipients in society,” she said.

Pa Suwareh Faye, director of Youth and Sports, said the camp is gradually expanding, while disclosing that ten participants of their partners - Community Without Boarders (CWB) in London - would also join in the 2013 edition.

Last year’s summer camp graduates would also take part in the first-coming international summer camp in Dakar, he said.

National Sports Council’s Development Officer Fabakary Touray, for his part, said such an activity plays a critical role in selling companies and institutions through their sponsorship.

The companies’ support would play a great role in both the youth and the institutions as pioneers to transforming the nation, he added.

“When young people’s goal, desire and happiness are met, the credit goes back to the sponsors,” he said, while calling for more sponsors to support the event.

A youth coordinator at the DoYS, Kebba E.A. Touray, assured parents of their kids’ safety during the course while appealing to parents to follow the guidelines of the forms before filling and submission.

This will give them the actual information on the psychology or development of the child concerned, he said.

Acting-executive secretary of the National Youth Council (NYC), Abubacarr Sisawo, in his remarks, said it is an integral part of the National Youth Policy to have such things for young people.

The youth are usually called the future leaders but they are the leaders of today as well since they should take the baton from the present leaders.

The council has seen the need to inculcate and nurture the sense of responsibility, oneness and humanity in young people, which brought the initiative, he said.

The weeklong gathering will help them train participants on key roles which affect their lives and to be able to take responsibility, he added.

Education, he notes, does not stop only in the four corners of the classroom; it should be continued in the other sectors, saying the summer camp will help children learn new things.

Meanwhile, in the area of sports at the event, organisers want to bring in sporting disciplines such as football, wrestling, basketball, volleyball and athletics.