Empowerment camp a huge hit
Press release - Friday, August 3rd, 2012 at 8:52 AM
Girls camp participants
The Empowerment Network headed by Portia Harrigan of Oyster Global Marketing, BVI, has just completed its eGirls and eBoys Adventure Camps.
The camps consisted of children ages 9 – 12, where for two weeks; they learned many new things ranging from hiking to cooking. The camp was designed to take children from different backgrounds and help them work together. They were separated into two groups, girls in the first two weeks (9/7 – 20/7) and boys in the last two weeks (23/7 – 3/8).
The girls kicked off their first week with public speaking, t-shirt painting and cooking. Later on in the week they visited Virgin Gorda touring the Little Dix Bay Resort, exploring the island and enjoying the Baths and Jost Van Dyke, where they sailed over on two Moorings Yachts, enjoyed a day with Frank Mahoney’s water toys, and the beautiful beach and White Bay.
In their last week, the girls had their etiquette training, made flowers, baked, played games and were even treated to a day on Peter Island Resort. In the boys’ first week of camp they too started off with cooking, public speaking and did the same trips done in the girls’ first week. However, Instead of beading and flower making the boys did Scooter building and made wind chimes and tie dyed t-shirts. The children also made and tried different foods from around the world and created a number of craft items. Both camps ended with a celebration, highlighting in particular their new found cooking and baking skills.
Boys camp participants
Although both camps were different in the caliber of work and experience, all children were expected to keep a journal and make an efiles production. The journals were written for about 10 minutes each day in which they recorded the activities and lessons they learnt that day while the efiles production was a compilation of photos and videos of their time spent at camp.
Portia Harrigan says that she is pleased with the turn out of children and is expecting greater results for next year’s camp. “At Ecamp we seek to develop character and curiosity for learning, respect for self and others and to nurture leadership skills. We created an atmosphere for children to make new friends and discover new interests and what I loved about the camp is that, I too learned new things through the eyes of the children. My two oldest daughters were also very instrumental in making the camps successful.”
All events and pictures were updated on the Ecamps BVI Facebook page and a video of the girls’ theme song was posted on YouTube.
Plans for next year’s camp are already being made. The stage is to be set in England and France, July 13-27, 2013, with plans to take 30 young boys and girls of the BVI ages 9 – 16 on a life changing tour of the two countries. More information about the Ecamps can be found at ECamps BVI on Facebook.
A big thank you goes out to The Ministry of Education, Gerard (Jerry) Farara, Hon. Mark Vanterpool, Appleby and Lennox Paton, Tim Clipstone & Family, Derek Lloyd, Hon. Archibald Christian, Omonike Robinson-Pickering, Chad Maduro – Deloitte, Scotiabank who all made it possible for some children to attend. Another thank you goes out to: RTW (who provided 75% of the food supplies), The Moorings, Little Dix Bay Resort, Peter Island Resort and Frank Mahoney for making their facilities available for the children’s enjoyment.
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5 Comments
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was this paid for with taxpayers money (elite kids only)?
Normally, I do not respond to negativity on these sites, but today I feel obligated to respond. To the person who asked about taxpayer’s money, the answer is no. The MOE, sponsored a few children, Mssrs. Vanterpool and Christian both sponsored two children each. My assistant and I took it upon ourselves to seek private sponsorship for six additional children, who may not have been able to afford the fee. We were not looking for children of any specific class, the camp was open to anyone, who was willing to make the sacrifice to spend $495.00 (the cost of a handbag or a few visits to the salon) on their child for an invaluable experience.
We spent a year planning the programme, with the 495.00 as an all inclusive fee (food, snacks, field trips, transportation, et al), which by the way is a small amount for the experience the children were afforded. I choose to do positive things with my time and it behooves us all to do likewise.
Next year, we’d like to take some children to Europe for two weeks, so that they can learn and understand that American culture is just a small part of what the world has to offer. The cost will be about $3,500.00 per child and we will again work to have children sponsored. If any of you would like to contribute, we would greatly appreciate it. You are also welcome to come along.
Very kind regards,
Portia Harrigan
$495 per child for 2 weeks? Portia please, you clearly were looking for “special” children. Happy it was successful though.
These look like “special” children to you?
Thank you all for a job well done- a model programme for BVI children
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