Summer camp brings out the hidden genius in children: Bhartiya Samaj

Bhartiya Samaj earlier last week hosted a five-day summer camp for children between the age of six and 14, which had participation from 105 pupils from the community.

The 18th summer camp that focusses on providing a range of programmes and activities was a huge success with rave reviews from the volunteers conducting activities and the never-ending enthusiasm of the children.

“Summer Camps are all about being away from home and parents, making new friends, being part of a team, and trying new things, but, Bhartiya Samaj’s summer camp is an assortment of fun activities with a view to building and nurturing skills, values and attributes of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making,” Jeet Suchdev, Chairperson of Bhartiya Samaj said.

“These skills are increasingly understood to be central to success in school and life beyond school. The outcomes achieved from the camp are numerous like children build relationships with other fellow campers from different backgrounds and schools thus learning diversity within the community, the fun activities enhance their socio-emotional skills and make them more independent and socially aware in fun filled way,” he added.

Twenty volunteers/teachers helped organise and host different workshops, programmes, activities over five days that included literary classes, art and craft, outdoor sports events by professional Sports club, dance, yoga and aerobics, acrobatics, extempore, singing, meditation, spiritual workshop by Chinmaya Mission, first aid training, how to deal with emergencies such as performing CPR etc.

Besides the contributions of the volunteers, several government bodies participated in the camp organising learning workshops such as the dealing with emergency by St John’s New Zealand, Orchard to Lunch Box workshop by Auckland Council that educated the children about waste management, Dare to Explore Reading Program by Auckland Council Libraries, Be a Junior Detective by NZ Police, workshops to promote intercultural exchange by Mt Roskill Chinese Group and many more.

The workshops in the camp were designed balancing academic enrichments, real-life learning, and outdoor activities. Each participant was served with timely healthy and nutritious meals even during the full day outdoor trip.

Children enthusiastically engaged in all activities and workshops they were offered and this feedback not only came from the children but also by their parents. Some parents even requested for camping to be organised for a longer duration with many more activities designed for more significant learning of the children.

“My daughter loved the activities that were conducted, the home-cooked food that was served and the most valued activity for her was the outdoor sports session. I can’t thank Bhartiya Samaj enough,” a parent said.

“We had a wonderful response this year with many new children joining in resulting from word-of-mouth recommendations.  We are thrilled with the feedback received from the children and parents,” Mr Suchdev said.

Mr Suchdev also thanked all the volunteers, teachers, supporting organisations, sponsors and parents who were so passionately involved for their immense contributions that made the event the great success that it was.

“Visibly happy faces of the participating children and beaming smiles of their parents bore true testimony to the sincere efforts put in by Bhartiya Samaj to make these five days incredibly joyful and ever so memorable for the children,” Mr Suchdev added.