Children took part in many activities during the summer camp, such as Beach Days in Cove Bay.
SABA--Child Focus concluded yet another annual summer camp for 89 children in Saba with additional funding from the BES(t)4Kids programme.
Child Focus hosted its summer camp July 5-30, catering to 48 girls and 41 boys. Activities included cooking; hiking; outdoor games; slip and slide; basketball; writing workshops; and arts and crafts such as nature painting, tie dye and making air dry clay.
Hiking was also part of the Child Focus summer camp activities.
Every Friday during the entire summer camp the children took part in “Beach Day” at Cove Bay for some swimming and a barbecue.
The children and volunteers also participated in special activities such as the annual Keep Saba Clean initiative of the public entity Saba on Friday, July 16. The children cleaned the area around the airport and the road towards Cove Bay.
A group of 57 that included children, parents, volunteers and coordinators went on a daytrip to St. Eustatius on July 13, organised in collaboration with Statia’s Mega D. Youth Foundation. The children attended a music parade there, followed by a basketball match coached by Stanford Johnson. The dance-group girls performed with the help of their instructor/teacher Roxana La Flor during half time.
A number of organisations and stakeholders lent a helping hand during the summer camp, such as Saba Nature Education, Saba Conservation Foundation (SCF), Queen Wilhelmina Library, Saba Association of Caribbean States (SACS) Foundation, After School Care and the Saba Lions.
A group from Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, comes to Saba every year to assist with summer camp. The group was smaller this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the students were still able to offer a range of activities.
“In addition to our Lipscomb volunteers, we had a number of local volunteers, including teenagers who are interested in working during the summer period. This provides them with an opportunity to work with young children and foster responsibility in themselves,” explained Child Focus programme manager Sapphire Ramkissoon.
Child Focus wants to introduce some new activities for the 2021-2022 school year, such as photography with arts coordinator Lindsey Clegg and tennis with sports coordinator Alejandro Garcia. Child Focus will also offer special workshops/events based on feedback received from the children during the summer programme, such as tie dye, cooking and slip and slide. Child Focus will also offer regular activities such as soccer, arts and crafts, and dance (hip hop, jazz and ballet).
Child Focus thanked BEST(t)4Kids for the additional funding received to extend the 2021 summer camp from the usual two weeks to four weeks. Ramkissoon also thanked the volunteers, coordinators and bus drivers who helped make the programme enjoyable for the children.
