Turning Point is taking 81 teens from Nairobi's Kibera slum for a five-day holiday. These annual camps are a highlight of the year for the teens we support in Primary Schools and serve as a great incentive for kids to stay in school, work hard and earn their place at camp.
Being a teenager is difficult and confusing for all of us but for teens in Kibera, a sprawling slum in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, adolescence is full of additional challenges. Early pregnancy and marriage, drug abuse and gang involvement are just a few of the issues that can lead kids to drop out of school and jeopardise their futures.
We like to reward the teens we support in primary schools with a five-day holiday camp. A time to hang out with friends, enjoy a packed timetable of drama, crafts, sports, swimming, and loads of food. We use this forum to offer guidance to the kids on the issues we mentioned above through bible teaching and group discussion. Fun is our main objective, but the impact of camps goes deeper. It's a time for us to guide these young people to make good decisions and grow into confident young adults.
Although Holiday Camps are just five days, the lessons that the kids learn at camps stay with them for years to come. As do the friendships they form with their fellow students. The camps are an effective incentive for kids to stay in school and apply themselves and therefore contribute to our overall objective of seeing children fulfilling their full God-given potential.
