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PRRYA Summer Camp 2009 – Molding not just Gold in Camarines Norte

By Andee Javier

Camarines Norte - a province located in the Bicol region of Luzon, and a ten-hour drive from Metro Manila. Known for its rich mines and sea bounty, it is home to jewelry, crafts, the pineapple and coconut industries, and to sea food and the Kadagatan festival. This was where the 7th Summer Youth Camp of the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Youth Association (PRRYA) was held.

On April 20, 2009, around seventy (70) participants, both anxious and excited, came to Pulang Daga Beach Resort in Paracale, Camarines Norte for the ten-day training camp.Aimed at harnessing the leadership and social enterprising skills of the youth, and at widening their grasp of environmental and governance issues, the camp was loaded with learning sessions, and worthwhile and fun-filled activities for the campers to enjoy.

The ten-day camp unearthed a rare opportunity for the campers to learn valuable skills and start unlearning old and unhealthy habits, make new friends, take responsibility for themselves and for others, adapt to a world outside their comfort zones, and most especially, gain new insights into and appreciation for development work.

From something as trivial as mounting a tent and performing daily chores, as creative as crafting plates out of coconut shells, to something as humbling and challenging as living the lives of the locals in the mining, fishing, and farming communities of Camarines Norte, and as unexpected as braving a storm while seeking refuge in small tents, each day in the camp, from sunrise to sundown, molded every camper into someone strong and malleable just like gold.

On April 30, 2009, the last day of the camp, with hearts heavy from bidding farewell to newfound friends, with minds wondering if and when the lives of the locals, whose dreams and hardships they have come to know, would ever change for the better, with spirits filled with hope for the right kind of development, and with a commitment to take part in realizing it, the campers left Camarines Norte – a place no longer just a stranger to them, nor a mere source of gold, but a home close to their hearts and far from being forgotten.

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