Youths learn teamwork in arts camp

YOUTH leaders from all over the country learn to interact and inspire one another during the three-day “Summer Camp Samahan” at CamSur Watersports Complex in Pili, Camarines Sur. PHOTO COURTESY OF NATIONAL YOUTH COMMISSION

PILI, Camarines Sur—Youth leaders from all over the country learned lessons in teamwork and creative interaction through the arts in a camp held before summer’s end last month in Pili town in Camarines Sur.

Rollie Fabi, president of the Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations (Tayo) Awards, which sponsored the “Summer Camp Samahan” with the National Youth Commission (NYC), said 130 youth leaders from 30 colleges and universities attended the May 3-5 event held at the Camsur Watersports Complex (CWC).

“The idea is to use the arts for effective sharing of issues of the Filipino youth, Fabi said. He cited the social media workshop in which the participants discussed how the youth could help their communities and schools.

Creative workshops for dance, musical performance, e-literature, photography and visual arts were interspersed with sessions on environment, education, community participation, volunteerism and health.

Short attention span

Young Filipinos nowadays need to be engaged through new and creative ways because of their short attention span, Fabi said.

“There’s a certain drive to work as a team,” said Joma Ramirez of the photography workshop. The participants had fun and learned new techniques while seeing their potential as leaders.

Sonny Engelbert Reyes, a dance workshop participant, said it usually takes days and weeks to create dance steps for a big group, but they were able to create a production number within four hours and perform in a concert at the plaza in Naga City on May 4.

He said he learned “how to be ‘submissive’ to the majority and follow.”

Eunice Ubalobao, who joined the e-literature workshop, said she learned how the members were able to patch up differences and understand their strengths and weaknesses. Ma. Loudet Samson, a performing arts participant, said she learned how to let go of her inhibitions and be a sensitive group member.

Influence, inspiration

For Ralph Geronim, the visual arts workshop helped him and the other participants see the arts as a tool “to influence and inspire other people.”

The group painted their own version of Mona Lisa in the workshop before going out of the camp to visit an elementary school and paint the walls of a classroom.

They were able to paint three room panels in less than a day and even drawing positive symbols like “smileys” as part of their volunteer work for the Department of Education’s nationwide cleaning project dubbed “Brigada Eskwela” in public schools.

According to Fabi, the summer camp is a buildup event of the Tayo Awards Foundation headed by Bam Aquino, President Aquino’s nephew. (The foundation is the organization while the Tayo Awards is the selection group administering the yearly awards.)

The Tayo Awards is on its 10th year in recognizing the youth organizations’ accomplishments in the community or campuses.

Fabi cited Efren Peñaflorida’s “Kariton Classroom” as an example of the 10 projects that won recognition in 2008 before he was given the CNN Hero award.

Spirit of teamwork

Luzon NYC Commissioner Georgina Nava said the Tayo Awards, a brainchild of Senator Francis Pangilinan when he was still a neophyte lawmaker, acknowledged the spirit of teamwork among the young people.

She said the idea for the awards came after the Edsa II “People Power,” which ousted then President Joseph Estrada from power, stressing the continuing people’s participation in the community.

Previous winners of the Tayo awards were community projects on health, environment, education and employment. The first awards were given in 2003 during the term of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“The hard issues are not so hard at all if one starts doing his share,” Nava said. She described as “very inspiring” efforts to find more youth organizations, student councils and, sometimes, Sanggunian Kabataan Councils making it from the selection process to the national awarding phase.

Fabi said the 10th Tayo Awards, which will be held in Malacañang in October, would give a P50,000 grant for projects, a  trophy and a Lenovo laptop to each awardee. Organizations in the top 20 but not in the final 10 would get P20,000 each.

The project must have been existing for at least one year, the members must be between 15 and 30 years old, and the organization must have a minimum of 15 members.