The Young Men Christian Association (YMCA) is conducting its 4th annual bright stars Summer Camp which has been supported and fully sponsored by the US Embassy in The Gambia.
The summer camp is being organised under the theme: “Breaking barriers”, and according to the camp director, Priscilla Dunn, the summer camp has succeeded in breaking some of the barriers faced by the participants in their daily lives.
“The theme ‘Breaking barriers’ was born out of our desire to break the barriers faced by kids in the rural areas, which stops them from acquiring certain skills which could be essential to their livelihoods,” she said.
“We have brought kids from four different regions in The Gambia to learn skills in performing arts, fine arts, sports, science and technology.”
She added: “Some of these kids have never had the opportunity to learn these skills before, because most schools don’t have extracurricular activities in their curriculum.
“We learnt that some of them don’t even know how to use the internet or the computer, which is essential in this modern age of science and technology. We at YMCA have done our part to teach these skills to the participants, and we are happy with the success we have had so far.”
Speaking to The Point, Fatmata Jallow, one of the participants at the camp, said she was compelled by one of her teachers to attend the camp and was excited by the prospect of learning so many capacity-building skills.
She claims she is happy she made the decision to go to the camp, as she has learnt a lot.
“I have learnt many skills including personal and relationship skills, and in the process I’ve also made so many friends. I love it here, and I would love to come to the camp again,” she added.
The summer camp, which started on 9 August 2015, wraps up on Sunday, 16 August.
Organizers of the camp hope the participants would take all they have learnt back to their communities, and utilize the new knowledge and skills for the good of the nation.
