A Blazing success story

Some of the schools include St David’s Bonda, St Ignatious Chishawasha, Girls High Harare, Marist Brothers Nyanga, Prince Edward, Kutama Boys and Murewa High among managed to have a feel and taste on how best the children lifestyle can be developed.

Of interest were students who took time to exhibit their clothes since it wasn’t the average school day when they get to wear uniforms.
The camp ran under the theme, “Standing the Test of Time” and was aimed at teen behaviour change, how Westernisation has brought more harm than good to teenagers.

It was a hive of activity as the teenagers had an opportunity to expose their talents through music, dance and poetry.
Think of sporting activities and games like soccer, volleyball, basketball, wall climbing, quiz, treasure hunt and zipline among others, teenagers were excited about the games resulting in some realising their hidden talents. Debate sessions took centre stage with students outshining each other on issues that affect them.

Drug abuse and teen dating generated a lot of interest.
Charmaine Sande of St David’s Bonda said drug abuse was spreading like veld fire among teenagers.
She said it is a form of suicide.

“I think something should be done urgently especially in school boarders to curb drug abuse. Yes, we are tired of sex education because we now know what we should do and no do. Many are forgetting about drugs, and little is known that it is a form of suicide,” she said.
Charmaine said the camp will go a long way in impacting knowledge amongst the youths.

“I thank the organisers for such an initiative. I have never been to such places like Chinhoyi. Imagine what would you get if you put teenagers in one room – fun,” she said.
Another camper, Justice Munzvandi from Marist Brothers, said the camp helped a lot of teenagers in different ways.

“We have changed in such a way that our parents are happy. I now know how to adapt to different situations and I thank the organisers for such an opportunity even though the time was limited As boys we face a lot of challenges but we were taught different skills and approaches on how to tackle them,” he said.
Justice added that parent-child relationships were important.

However, campers were put in different teams using random sampling to make them four such as Mitchelle, Hama, Trisha and Chantell houses.
Everyday, each team was tasked to do something and was judged on team development and team building. According to Roselyn Nyamapfeka, one of the organisers, the main thrust of the camp was to motivate, groom and educate teenagers on different aspects of life.

“It was a teen affair, they had their share and experience of a lifetime where they run and rule themselves. We saw it necessary that there is a lot missing both from school and at home.

“At the camp-site we taught them aspects of life, how to respect their elders, what is expected of them and believe you me those who attended can testify that they have managed to bridge that gap,” said Nyamapfeka.