"Today, We Will Show Who We Are..."

I left Candoni this morning elated that our First Summer Youth Camp ended successfully. After a month of planning led by our NARS and youth volunteers, supported by our midwives and nurses at the RHU, in cooperation with various youth organizations and church-based youth groups, the It Can Wait youth camp pushed through without a hitch.

A day before the camp, I was quite worried considering that for the past 3 days, it has been raining in the mountains of Candoni. I was worried that it might rain during the opening ceremonies, caravan and plenary sessions in the morning. After doing some novena to my favorite and reliable saints, I woke up early morning of May 21 to a less cloudy weather. The fog was thick and creeping over the valley. Before going to the camp, I introduced to the facilitators my choice for a theme song for the youth camp. We studied the lyrics and made up gestures for some of the lines, making it an action song. The song was Tina Arena's The Flame which was actually the original theme song for the Sydney Summer Olympics. The lyrics were very relevant to the theme. My favorite lines from the song were, "Is this the hope of the world in my hands? I take this moment to be all that I can." We introduced the song and the actions right after the opening program and throughout the entire camp. By the end of the camp, all of the participants have memorized the gestures and lyrics.

After the registration, there were about close to 70 boys and a little over 60 girls who came for the camp. They came from Barangays Agboy (the farthest), Cabia-an, Caningay, Haba, Payawan, Gatuslao (also a far-flung barangay), East and West. There were also delegates from the Catholic Parish Youth Council led by no less than Candoni's reigning Lin-ay sang Tabla Valley. There were also representatives from PYAP and Green Valley Adventist Youth Organization.

After the caravan, the opening ceremonies was held inside the camp at Quirico G. Manzano Memorial National High School. Officers from the local PNP were present to give a brief talk on laws which protect young people, women and children from abuse. Local SK Chairman Angelo gave the opening remarks. I gave the rationale of the camp. Nonit Pajarillo, RSI and Family Counsellor, gave the closing remarks.

After the opening ceremonies, we introduced the first activity which I learned during my years as CPM facilitator in USLS, "Human Bingo". It was an opportunity for the young people to mingle and get to know other young people from other parts of Candoni. Some teens were kind of aloof and needed some coaxing. Others were really very friendly and were able to finish their Human Bingo on time.

After the Human Bingo, they were divided into two camps, the Girls' Camp and the Boys' Camp. Each camp was given a list of tasks to accomplish such as Design a Camp Flag, Name the Camp, Prepare a Camp Song/Camp Yell, etc. There was one very special task: to steal 6 flaglets of the opposing camp. The Special Task became a challenge, especially for the girls. Many of the boys "invaded" the girls' camp in full force and the poor girls had to defend their flags to the teeth.

After lunch, the Boys proceed to their own lectures and the Girls went to their own separate classroom. Lectures focused on Puberty and Pregnancy. There was open forum and these young people had many interesting questions.

After the lectures, all participants gathered in one big classroom for the ice breakers and games. The group had fun during the modified "The Boat is sinking", was very hyper and having the time of their lives during the Hep Game and was very competitive during the Wall, Arrow and Rabbit Game. During the Game of the Genders, the participants were really enjoying strategizing the "Crossing the River" activity. It was perhaps the most fun game ever.

After the games, participants were then blindfolded and were told that they were to be "stripped naked" as part of the "initiation" of the camp. Instead, what happened was a different type of stripping. I have learned a lot about them, especially my small group during this SGD activity and so far, they too have learned a lot about themselves.

After the SGD, participants prepared for dinner and after dinner, the camps presented their flags and camp song and yells. They were once again blindfolded and were made to undergo what we dubbed as the "Fear Walk". The Fear Walk was followed by the Light Ceremony, where they made their pledges to avoid premarital sex. They were given bracelets as visual reminders of their promise.

The Light Ceremony was followed by the "pamorningan", where a live band played for the participants. The Live Band was facilitated by the SK Federation. Most of the teenagers slept late already.

This morning, the camp woke up to a nice blanket of fog which hovered over the tents and moist grounds. It didn't rain the entire night.

During the post-camp briefing with the facilitators we were able to identify some shortcomings and strengths. Hopefully, we can finalize and modify our module so we can do this next time to another batch of young participants.

Thank you to all volunteers who showed their support and especially to the young people of Candoni. Remember our battlecry, "It Can Wait!"










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