Friends of Seven Lakes Foundation (FSLF) Mini Youth Camp

A report by Hekatea, Philippines

A mini youth camp was held at Sabang Lakes Resort last April 20-22 2007. The camp was attended by 35 kids ages 8-11 and facilitated by 8 FSLF youth facilitators.

The children learned the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, Sustainable Development and Youth Leadership Skills.

ABC4All Global Mentor (Phils.), Kate Alyzon Ramil, facilitated the leadership skills training on the first day. She used two major activities that would help the children understand what leadership should be. The first activity was storytelling and the other was a mindful game.

A local children’s story, Ang Unang Baboy sa Langit (The First Pig in Heaven) was read by 3 FSLF youth facilitators. The story was in PowerPoint presentation which made the kids interested.

About the story: The story is about a girl pig named Butsiki that has made a difference in her community. She’s born with a star on her forehead and lives unconventional of a pig. The pig is supposed to be dirty (at least in the Filipino concept) since it eats in a mess. Anyway, she teaches her family how to clean their home and how to be neat and tidy. Of course, being unconventional makes her fellow pigs annoyed not to mention the insects and pests becoming homeless and so they’ve decided to put her to court. She is charged of treason and unbecoming of a pig. She is sentenced to death. However, Butsiki knows that the ultimate goal of a pig is to become the food on the table and she achieves that. Not only this but she also goes to heaven and becomes the first “holy pig” or saint.

The story is full of humour, the language is poetic and the presentation is creative which made the children enjoyed the entire period. The story also has a local motif or flavour which gave children the sense of identity. By using the story as the jump start of the leadership skills, the kids understood that leadership is about setting a new standard. The kids learned that being different is okay as long as you achieve your goal for the betterment of your local community. And having a young female pig as the protagonist balances the traditional hero, which is almost always a man.

The other activity was enhancing their listening skills. The children were asked to form a circle. The task was simple as they only needed to count 1-100. The catch was, not to mention any number that has 3 and 7 (e.g. 3, 17, 30, 31, 32…) instead, the person whose turn fell under the number which had 3 or 7 should clap once. The counting would go back to 1 if anyone failed to remember the instruction. Only those who were mindful and attentive successfully stayed on the activity.

The 3-day-event was successful since there was a commitment from the children to their share in protecting the environment, achieving the MDGs in their own way, and teaching other children how to become a good leader for the community.

In the middle of these streets and gardens, I stand and say

and say again, and it's all I say,

I wish everyone

could know what I know--

Rumi