Camp aims to turn boys into good role models |16 August 2016

The boys developing their cooking skills during the camp

The National Family Council (NFC) has piloted its first ‘Boys to Men’ camp with the aim of grooming boys to have positive influence on others.

The August 10-14 camp took place at Beauvoir, La Misère.

Its main objectives are to groom boys to become positive men; to instill a sense of responsibility, self respect, moral and spiritual values in young boys; to equip young boys with essential life skills; to inspire them through other positive role models; to provide them leadership skills; to allow them to become peer educators and mentors for other boys in their schools’ scope of influence; prepare them for the responsibility of fatherhood; to raise up a group of peer educators in schools to assist in reversing the problematic male situations in schools.

Fifteen boys from S3 and S4 from Mahé, Praslin and La Digue attended the camp. They were selected by their respective schools based on their good conduct and positive influence on other students.

Explaining how the idea for such a camp came about, Bequitta Melanie, programme officer in the department of community development said it was a project the NFC worked on after men are always being labeled as lacking positive effect in society and no male role models available.

“We first started off with the first programme which was the National Men’s Awards in November 2014 where men with positive influence in work places were selected by their work organisations and received prizes during the ceremony.

“Then there was the boys’ award for those not necessarily academically gifted but also with good conduct and attitude,” said Ms Melanie.

It is hoped that all the positive things the boys learned in the camp will be passed on to their peers.

Various prominent speakers from important sectors of society like the Attorney General, from Mont Royale, churches to name but some held talks during the camp.

“We’ve had positive reactions from the boys who took part in the camp. They took part actively, asked a lot of questions and wanted in depth knowledge on various topics such as sexuality, spirituality and others,” said Jason Labrosse, also from the community development department who ran the camp.