Belize Defence Force summer camp ends
Today marks the conclusion in the second phase of the Belize Defense Force Summer Camp Program 2009. More than one hundred and seventy students from across the country participated in the two week program in which they learned various skills including driving, building construction, painting and boat handling. And today, at a ceremony held at Price Barracks in Ladyville, awards of recognition and participation were distributed. News Five spoke with the outstanding participants about lesson learnt.
Miekah Mohammedali, Most Outstanding Electrical Student
“We learn about safety tips, safety gears and what to wear and what not to wear when dealing with electricity. Like for instance, when dealing with electricity, never wear anything gold or metal because they are good conductors of electricity. If anything or any light go wrong eena the house, instead of mek daddy fix it or mommy fix it, I fix it and give daddy and mommy wah lee chance fi sit down and relax and do something else.”
Duane Moody
“Have you always loved painting?”
Eddita Blair, Most Outstanding Art Student
“Yeah, painting and drawing, but mostly drawing but painting now yeah. I mi think that painting dah just paint weh you see but most dan dat because like fi dah painting deh yoh could seh you have di skies and di water. You need to do the skies before the water so that it can blend in well. You need to do far away things before the close things so that it can look more far away or smaller then the close things you need to give a bigger look.”
William Reid, Most Outstanding Driver
“We’ve learned the various part of the engine and the different mechanism in the chassis. We’ve also learned to drive standard. I came into this course with very little experience and we actually learned. When I came to this course and I drove it was the first time driving standard and now I’m feeling pretty confident about it.”
Ronnier Leonardo, Most Outstanding Boat Technique
“We learned many different things about boats and how to do ties and secure your boats and the handling in confined spaces and in open waters. Most of what is needed to know about the seas and boats.”
Lt. Col. Ganey Dortch, Chief of Staff, B.D.F.
“The aim of the camp was to teach discipline, motivation, self respect, self esteem, ethics, manners and also building leadership and teamwork. Based on the level of competency or based on the restriction, like for example the driving camp, we didn’t want an eight year old to be driving a land rover. So based on age, we placed them in different types of camp that can further develop their capacity to be competitive as youths.”
Summer Camp 2009, costing more than of seventy thousand dollars, is the second of its kind by the Ministry of National Security and the B.D.F. to provide basic techniques to youths.
