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"South Asian Youth Camp 2010 ends on a positive note "

The concluding day of the 5 day South Asian Youth Camp 2010 organized by Centre for Youth Development & Activities, Pune was held on Feb 05, 2010. The morning session started with Mr Kumar Saptarishi, President of Maharashtra Gandhi Smarak sharing his views on ‘youth participation in democracy’ with the participants. “The soul of democracy lies in accepting different identities and co-existing with them”, he said.He felt that the base of democracy is not majoritism and violence shall exist if change does not happen. Following him, Mr Jatin Desai, the Joint Secretary –Indian chapter of Pakistan India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy shared his views on the civil society movement that exists in the different South Asian countries. “Peace cannot exist without democracy and vice versa.” he said. The session concluded with Prof Ujjwal K. Chowdhury, Executive Director of International School of Business and Media enlightening the participants on the responsible role of media in spreading peace in the South Asian countries. Addressing the queries, he specified that it is not the sole responsibility of the government to regulate the media but it’s upto each person to exercise their opinion.His views were echoed by one and all that only way out is to break the image that each one has formed of the other country and to find alternative medias to channel their voice out.

The grand finale of the youth camp was held on Feb 05, 2010 between 5.30 p.m. to 8.00 p.m.at YMCA, Pune. The Chief guests at the concluding public event were Mr. Shirish Kulkarni from Oxfam India, Ms Arnawaz Damania, Former President of the Women Hockey Federation and Founder of ‘Connecting’, a Pune based NGO working towards suicide prevention. The youth camp held skill building workshops of newsletter making, dance, theatre & film making.for the participants and the evening showcased the outcome of these workshops beginning with Ms.Damania releasing the Newsletter of the youth camp, formulated under the guidance of Mr.Vijay Lele, former editor of Maharashtra Herald and a media consultant. Representing the voice of youth participants was Mr.Robayt Khondoker from Bangladesh who announced the ‘Youth Charter’ that pledged the spread of message of via sessions with youth organisations, formation of associations, awareness in school students, tree plantation drives and much more.

The audience was enthralled by the ‘Lavni’, performance by the participants under the guidance of Ms.Shilpa Pendse, an eminent choreographer. Followed by this, the participants from Nepal Mr.Saroj Budhathoki & Nilesh Shrestha shared their experience that the camp helped them clarify the misinterpreted relations between Nepal and India. Mr.Shamimul Islam & Mohd.Hassan from Bangladesh shared that this camp was a huge help in sorting out the perceptions that had in their mind of the people of the different South Asian countries and how meeting the participants from these South Asian countries changed that mind set into a more positive one. The audience could not stop cheering to the film based on the theme ‘Unity in Diversity’ made by the youth under the able guidance of Dr. P.K.Nair, Founder director of the National Film Archive of India, Mr.Prabhuda Ghosh & Mr.Ashwin Ramanathan. The participant, Mr.Abdul Hasib from Aghanistan shared that it was here he learnt of the cause and effect of global warming and spoke of how he would spread the message. The participant from India Mr.Siddharth Ojha shared that this was unique as it offered them with the choice of voicing their opinion and the visit to various locations made it more participatory. The theatre act, guided by Ms. Gauri and Mr. Prashant, was based on the theme of ‘Environment & conservation of natural resources’. The representatives from Maldives, Mr Ahmad Ameez pledged to carry forward the learnings of the youth camp back to his country .The whole event concluded with a thunderous performance by the students from Afghanistan who showcased their traditional dance.

Ms. Vandana Rai, the Director-Programs with CYDA, concluded the evening by expressing gratitude to one and all in making the South Asian Youth Camp 2010 a success. She ended on a note that peace can begin at oneself and then spread onto others.

The South Asian Youth Camp 2010, organised by CYDA was supported by Oxfam-India, American Centre, SwissAid and Terre des homes.