Interact Youth Camp 2008

The Interact District 3220 successfully organized its annual "Youth Camp" from December 27-30, 2007 at the Pedro Scout Camp site in Nuwara – Eliya. This dynamic, stimulating experience brought together a total of 110 enthusiastic young campers. Through a strenuous but enjoyable training process these youths were empowered and motivated. Friendships were formed, bodies were toughened, and spirits were strengthened – all under the Interact banner. The camp was fully sponsored by ANC Education Holdings through the unique 2007 agreement which pioneered long term corporate support for Interact's commitment to Sri Lankan youth.

Day One – Upon arrival at the camp site on the afternoon of December 27, all the campers were split into six separate groups – each group comprised of an equal number of campers of both genders and no more than one camper from a school to ensure that there was true bonding between all the campers as a group. During the rest of the day the campers were given time to learn each others names, to appoint a group leader, to put together a "haka" and an entertainment item for the evening. By night fall of the first day the campers were all gathered together at the assembly hall for the first gathering of the campers. Here, the group leaders were made to introduce their group to the rest of the groups and each group had to perform an entertainment item, which already enabled them to practice team work. Teams that were late were penalised and points were deducted.

Day Two – At the dawn of day two all the campers were awakened at five in the morning to take a jog and to go through a fitness programme. After which, throughout the whole day they were taught various exercises, methods of crawling through obstacles and also how to cook for themselves with limited resources.

All this was done as a preparation for teams to be able to take on the hike which was scheduled for the following day. That night, campers were provided with equipment for them to cook for themselves, in order to test how much attention they had been paying to the training during the day. Most of the groups managed to make edible food while the other groups resorted to the noodles that were prepared by the far thinking organizing committee who expected the campers to make mistakes since it was the first time cooking for most of them.

Day Three – The most crucial of all for all the campers as it played an important role in which group would come out as overall winners. At 9am, the first group left the camp site on the hike route. Following clues and yellow arrows and going through sixteen check points the campers found their way to the end of the hike. The check points tested things ranging from first aid to general knowledge to acting as well as their endurance as they have to crawl through mud and swim in ice cold water. However, all the campers did in fact make it through the hike and the last group made it to the camp site at seven in the evening just as scheduled. Later in the evening, all the campers gathered for a camp fire which was followed by a fire works display and in true Sri Lankan style – a Baila session that went on till the wee hours of the morning.

The group "All Stars" emerged as overall winners with 816 points while the team "Trojans" came runners-up with 815 points. The one point difference is a clear indication of how stiff the competition was. The event was organized by the hill country zone of the Interact District 3220 and the project chair person was Int. Eranga Alwis of the Interact Club of Kingswood College, Kandy. The co-ordination from Colombo was done by the District Interact Representative Int. Zahrah Cader from the Interact Club of Asian International School. They were backed by a 32 member organizing committee and by the Camp Chief Int. Mnjula Rajakaruna.

The Interact movement celebrates 45 years of service worldwide this year. The 2008 Youth Camp was another exciting venture of Interact District 3220 to celebrate this achievement by "Aspiring to Serve as One." ANC Education Holdings is proud to be the exclusive corporate sponsor for this event as well as future Interact events throughout 2008. ANC Education Holdings and its member institutions (American National College, ANC University College, and Monash College) share this commitment to Sri Lankan youth and actively supports such valuable projects and activities.

ANC Education Holdings sees such developments as being an important adjunct to its core education activities, complementing and supplementing the academic and professional development that ANC Education Holdings incorporates into its ventures – American National College, ANC University College, and Monash.