SOUTH ASIAN PEACE YOUTH CAMP (SAPYC) SRILANKA-2011
Mr.Dinesh Gajendran catalyst and Founder of Audacious Dreams Foundation represented India in South Asian Peace Youth Camp by Sri Lanka–United Nations Friendship Organization (SUNFO) together with National Youth Project, Gandhi Peace Foundation, New Delhi organized a four-day Youth Camp from December 20-23 at Don Bosco Technical Center Campus, Negombo Town, Near Colombo, Sri Lanka. Dr.S.N.Subba Rao, an octogenarian Gandhian and internationally known youth activist, Chairman of National Youth Project (NYP), Gandhi Peace Foundation, New Delhi conducted this camp. Dr. Gurdev Singh Sidhu, Trustee, NYP, New Delhi, Dr.RC.Gupta, Sukumaran, NarenderBhau, Dr.Deshapriya`S.Wijetunge (SUNFO), etc coordinated the events. A certificate of participation has awarded to the participants.
More than 250 youth from Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, SriLanka, etc have been participated in this camp
Objectives of this Camp are: To form a regional platform for young people to initiate collective actions, To declare youth voices and aspirations as a South Asian Youth Declaration on Peace, To educate and empower young people to be non-violence change makers of the society, To facilitate exchange of ideas and sharing of techniques and practices on national, regional and global peace.
The main events, activities in the camp were 1.Peace talks, 2.Peace meditations, 3.Peace Cultural shows, 4.Peace Parade, 5.Peace Art Shows, 6.Opening and Closing Ceremony with VIPS and Guests, and 7.Manual work (Shramdan) like cleaning, gardening, 8.Networking sessions, etc. Flag hoisting of participating nations, Interactive workshops on Peace & youth issues were not came into realization as planned by the host Organization.
After ending the camp, in order to experience local culture in Sri Lanka, few interested youth had participated in ‘home stay’ in Negombo area, from 24-26 December, as arranged by SUNFO. Other participants, for these three days jointly, gone for local tour to Colombo, Anuradhapura, Kandy, NuwaraEliya, Jaffna, Trincomalee, etc.
He delivered a speech on peace development between the nations which was more inspired to the participants. Final day of the camp ended with the cultural fest and all the participants were certified with the Peace Medal. It created a regional platform for the Audacious to initiate collective actions.
REFERENCE:
http://wataearth.blogspot.in/2011/08/south-asian-peace-youth-camp-2011.html
