JEDDAH – THE Indian School Parents Forum (ISPAF), Jeddah organized Life Skill Farming Camp recently for the Indian students of class V to XII.

The theme of the two-day camp was “Unleashing the Talents” aimed to develop abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life, which focused basically on the aspects of; Self Awareness, Creative Thinking, Critical Thinking, Decision Making, Problem Solving, Empathy, Managing Emotions, Managing Stress, Effective Communication and Interpersonal Relationships.

The camp gave a different experience to the 155 participants who were totally away from their parents and without having the use of any electronic gadgets especially mobile phones. The camp was designed to learn new skills of life and even to refresh the children’s mindset about their surroundings. From the feedback of the participants it was evident that the camp made an overall change in their character and behavior.

The camp began with the qiraat by Mohammed bin Nassar and the inaugural speech by ISPAF President Abdul Nasar Chavakkad. Dr. Mohamed Faisal Chevidikunnan, the camp convenor and vice president of ISPAF, briefed about the camp and gave a video presentation about the last year’s camp and instructed the rules to be followed. The morning session ended with the expectation settings of the participants and an ice breaking session led by Mohammed Kunhi, Abdul Azeez Thankayathil and Dr. Mohamed Faisal.

The afternoon session for the senior students began with Dr. Ismail Maritheri’s interactive session on “Self Awareness” which gave the participants an insight into their potentials and skills that has to be utilized wisely and effectively. At the same time the junior students had a fun-filled, yet very effective session on “Memory and Intelligence” by M. Muhsin Kalikavu and Abdul Salaam.

There was an activity on “Team Building” by all the participants which was handled by MM Irshad and Rasheed Ameer, in which the participants were divided into groups for various activities. The children were assigned many tasks as a team to show them the power of unity.

The first evening session was on “Manage Emotions” by Eng. Kunhi Mohammed Pattambi, in which he taught children how to control their emotions at various occasions in our day today life. The session on “Effective Communication Skills” by Reggie Maga saw his express the Do’s and Don’ts to be noticed while delivering a speech and how to effectively improve public speaking skills. This was followed by a session by Abdul Azeez Thankayathil on “Creative Thinking” in which he focussed on how to think differently and how creative thinking can yield best results in life. The closing session of the first day was on the “treasure hunt”.

There were parallel sessions for the juniors on “Agro Farming”, giving them an opportunity for a close understanding about the variety of food. It also gave them an idea about the farming skills and importance of farmers in the society for the delivery system of food to the world. There was another session on “Managing Stress” by Saji Kuriakose and another one activity based session on “Dance with Maths” by MM Irshad, in which they learned how to coordinate math with variety of dance steps. The first day concluded with a group painting activity — “Together we can” — led by famous artist and poet Aruvi Mongam, and a mixture of cultural activities, camp fire and an orchestra performance by the IISJ Band named “Music Club”.

The second day begun with the “Yoga session” by the popular art of living practitioners Nader Zakai and his wife to refresh their minds and to fine tune their lifestyle. This was followed by many sports and competitive events including Pot Breaking, Tug of War, Handball, Ring Passing etc. for both girls and boys separately.

The morning session started with Shahdad Abdurahman’s presentation titled “Problem Solving” and then a session on “Decision Making” by Mohammed Afnas. There was another session on”Empathy” by Sajid Ahmed Parakkal. Simultaneous sessions were held for the juniors and these included session on “Effective Communication” by R P Mohammed Kunhi followed by a session by Rasheed Ameer on “Utilization on Natural Resources”.

In the afternoon there was a special session for the parents of the participants on “Effective Parenting” by Shadad Abdul Rahman where he discussed about how to set a future plan for their wards from a parents perspective without putting a burden of stress on their children. He also dealt on how to prepare their children to achieve the goals of their life.

The valedictory session was handled by MM Irshad and Rasheed Ameer by having an interactive session to showcase the participant’s group activities and sharing their experiences at the camp. The camp concluded with distribution of awards and prizes for the winners of the different competitive events, participation certificates to all the children and appreciation mementoes to all the trainers of the camp. ISPAF General Secretary Shajeer Mohammed proposed the vote of thanks. — SG