This year’s DCI Teens Camp took place between 2nd January and 7th January 2023 at Tambaya Secondary School. It was four days filled with practical, physical, psychological and emotional-oriented activities which left impact among the teens ranging from Primary school pupils all the way to College students. We had 260 teenagers from various locations within Nyeri county and beyond aged between 6 years and 21 years, and an additional 35 from Korogocho Nairobi.
The theme for this year’s camp was I was, I am, I will be, where the teens were presented with all the three aspects of evolution based on real life situations on how people evolve from hopelessness to become substantial in the society. We also showed them the process of improving on themselves academically, emotionally, socially, physically, socially and spiritually to become better adults.
The rich professional backgrounds and experiences by our facilitators helped bring out the best participatory attitude among the teenagers. By presenting themselves as learners, the facilitators were able to bring out some of the deepest revelations from the teenagers through storytelling and Q& A. These eased our work as were now in a better position to train and advise based on the experiences of the teenagers rather than imagination. By making the camp feel like a safe space, the teenagers opened up and shared their stories in a more therapeutic manner without coercion. The field games like football and team building activities by our experienced and abled coaches also helped in revealing their hidden talents and abilities. We also employed outdoor activities as opposed to the ‘class setup’ especially during the entrepreneurship sessions to try and help them develop the problem identification, statement and solution skills in order to inform their entrepreneurial decisions today and in future.
