A week-long vacation camp for some Junior High School leavers from the Avatime and Taviefe traditional areas has opened at Amedzofe in the Ho West district of the Volta region.
The maiden GEMI Youth Vacation Camp, is being organized by two natives of the area, Bertha Amedoh and MDoris Williams, with sponsorship from project management firm, Technology Management Group (tmg) Ltd.
Speaking at the opening of the camp at the Amedzofe College of Education on Monday, Mrs. Amedoh, said the rationale for the programme was to groom and expose the students from deprived communities to life at the Senior High School level.
The over 130 participants, will also receive mentorship from 10 facilitators, who would provide hands-on training in bead making, soap making, painting and arts, she added.
Mrs. Amedoh further noted that, the students would be taken through confidence building and social etiquettes to prepare them to cope with the changing dynamics of the society.
“We’ve noticed that, children from deprived communities who enter secondary school, struggle to cope with the environment. They become timid and tend to get bullied by the enlightened ones, so we came up with this concept to prepare such vulnerable children for their next level of education. We want to groom them to rub shoulders with their colleagues from the well-endowed schools,” Mr. Amedoh explained.
Paramount Chief of Avatime Traditional area, Osie Adzatekpor VII in his address, entreated the participants to take advantage of the opportunity to unearth their talents and nurture their ambitions in life.
He urged the participants to eschew arrogance and complacency and be humble as well as focus their energies in attaining their live goals.
Osie Adzatekpor, also commended the organizers and the sponsor, tmg for their initiative and assured them of the traditional council’s support in sustaining the programme in the coming years.
Madam Beatrice Dzitri, the Ho West district Education director, called on the children to be discipline, as ‘Education without discipline is a menace to society.’
Doris Williams, who is also the Managing Director, Technology Management Group (tmg) Ltd, said the Rural Electrification firm, prioritizes youth development and as such devotes chunk of its Social Responsibility initiatives in that regard.
She indicated that, the company will from next year institute a scholarship scheme to support needy but brilliant children who participate in the camp.
“The scholarship will be solely base on merit, some it’s everyone who participate in the camp will be given but those who perform very in the BECE and need the support,” she added.