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Optimist/CTF Summer Camp
14th July, 2003
By Christine Skeete
The
Sunshine Optimist Club of St. Michael in collaboration with
the Community Tourism Foundation (CTF)
and the Millennium Fund
today launched a Personal
Development Summer Camp at the Future Centre Trust.
This camp
will run from July 14th to 25th with the Future Centre Trust
in St. Thomas as the camp base. This initiative aims to
provide an opportunity for 16 young people between the ages of
13 and 18 to develop their self-confidence and to be prepared
for the worlds of work and adulthood.
The
speakers at the camp launch emphasized the importance of
seizing opportunities such as these to improve the life skills
that they will need upon leaving school.
“Each one
of you has the potential to be a star,” said Mobola Aguda,
President of the Optimist Club of Bridgetown. She described
the ways in which the camp participants could rise above
challenges and become stars within their everyday lives to the
people around them.
The
Sunshine Optimist Club was founded earlier this year and is a
part of the Optimist International, an organization of people
committed to optimism and self-development for the improvement
of youth and community. This camp is just one of the
initiatives that the Sunshine Optimist is undertaking in their
efforts to conduct service programs tailored to local
community needs.
Richard
Jones, Executive Trustee of the Community Tourism Foundation
spoke about the Foundation’s work and the range of activities
that had been scheduled for the duration of the camp that
would help to foster leadership skills among the young
people. “The future leaders of this country could be in this
room,” he noted.
Founded in
December 2000, the Community Tourism Foundation is a
charitable organisation that partners with the tourism sector
to improve communities through the application of
self-development, enterprise and educational projects that
develop the skills and knowledge of underprivileged
individuals.
The third
sponsor, the Millenium Fund was founded in Barbados in 1995
with the goal of forging partnerships among
businesses, community organizations and individual volunteers
to serve Barbados’ youth. Dr. Keith Sandiford, Founder and
President of the Millennium Fund expressed pleasure at the
association with Optimist and the camp initiative.
Camp
sessions covering a variety of pertinent topics from HIV/AIDS
Awareness to Social and Business Etiquette have been made
available to the students free of cost. Facilitators from
several organisations, including the National Council on
Substance Abuse, the Ministry of Youth Affairs’ Youth
Development Programme, and the National Employment Bureau have
donated their time to make presentations to the young people.
Camp
participants will also step outside of the classroom to
explore the outdoors on days when special attention will be
paid to Environmental Awareness, Health and Wellness. Tours
of Orchid World, Higher Heights, and Verdun House are also
expected to broaden the students’ perspectives on tourism,
team building and substance abuse respectively.
(Coverage appeared in the
Barbados Advocate – Wednesday, July 16, 2003 and the Daily Nation – Wednesday, July 23rd)
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