Saturday 10 August 2019

SEE YOU IN 2020 FOR #AYCtheRESILIENT





Today, curtains closed for Activate Youth Camp 2019 and we officially announced the theme for 2020: I AM RESILIENT.

It has been an awesome journey for the past 7 days. Networks built, skills learned, fun had and amazing friends made. Campers have been energized and empowered to be the best they can be and bring everything they do into focus.

The expression on the faces of our campers as they leave for their various destinations gives us joy and immeasurable satisfaction.

The coordinating team, mentors and interns express deep gratitude to God and to all partners and supporters who made the success of the camp possible from the planning phase to this moment.
Dates for I AM RESILIENT will be announced on our social media platforms and we encourage everyone to follow us across all platforms.


Once again, thank you and see you at Activate Youth Camp 2020

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Friday 9 August 2019

AMUSEMENTS, ACCOLADES AND AWARDS: A NIGHT OF VARIETIES



Gradually the curtains are beginning to close as we round up Day 6 which is our last full day at the 2019 Activate Youth Camp.

Today, we started with the general training session led by Mr. Taiwo Akinlami. His session focused
on distractions young people face especially the campers. He highlighted easy distraction for campers were social media, video games including emotional attachment (boy friend and girl friend). Following from these, he mentioned that there are 3 types of people on the internet: the fun seekers, the fraudsters and the business/information seekers. In rounding up, he encouraged campers that “the future begins today; there is no future if we don’t manage today well.”

The skills class rounded up and finalized their products. The second phase of the skills class was a general session on financial inclusion and money saving by Okeroghene Egbi, the Customer Acquisition Manager at Renmoney Nigeria. She advised campers to develop a saving culture and investment attitude.

At Sports, campers having trained for the whole week engaged mentors in a friendly match that ended in goals galore with mentors coming from 4 goals down to win the match at 6 – 5. The atmosphere created post match stood true to the words “losing is
part of winning!”

The highlights of tonight was our Varieties night and award ceremony. Campers presented in different categories from dance, to music, modeling, spoken word poetry and displayed the final products of what they had learned over the week. Best performing campers across all the skills and sporting categories were rewarded including the top prizes for the night for Overall Best Camper Male and Female categories; and Overall Best Mentor/Intern Male and Female categories.

Tomorrow the curtains will draw close for Activate Youth Camp 2019 and we can’t wait to see the expressions from the campers as they say their goodbyes to their new friends, loved facilitators and favourite mentors.

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Thursday 8 August 2019

CIRCLE OF INFLUENCE VS CIRCLE OF CONCERN




Today’s adventure was a continuation of yesterday where campers discussed Circle of Influence vs Circle of Concern and identified things or situations they can control (circle of influence) and things or situations they have no control of (circle of concern).

The General Training was led by Rotimi Ogunyemi a renowned technology lawyer and ICT expert who took us through the "4Rs to Build An Outstanding Life"The 4Rs were: 

Be Respectful
Be Reliable
Be Resourceful and
Be Resilient 

Using his life as an example, he said he had passion for technology but his father made him to study law and he found a way to converge both.

In rounding up, he urged campers to make the most out of life and the need for them to compress problem solving, creativity, originality and innovation to survive in life.

For the Journey of Guided Learning, we were in for a sweet and delicious Journey steered by Ayodeji Megbope; a globally acclaimed caterer, entrepreneur and CEO of No Left Overs. She admonished campers to know that “Sometimes our journey in life may take us through a rough process but it is what you do with what life throws at you that matters.” 

She made everyone know that their journey in life today will be someone's guide tomorrow. Posterity will be the judge of a good journey and a bad one. You and I are however the determinants of posterity's conclusion.

As we near the final days at Activate Youth Camp 2019, campers sharpened their skills and continued to perfect what they have learned across board.

Music was the crème de la crème for tonight as campers rhymed to the beats, showed off their singing skills and enjoying a great performance from our guest AMI.


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Wednesday 7 August 2019

BUILDING IDENTITY: ONE ACT AT A TIME




As always, our flashlight was expository as campers shared lessons learned from yesterday. Adventure on the other hand centered around self discovery and self affirmation for positivity
facilitated by Rotimi Adeaga.
At general training, Ugochukwu  Ezeagwula CEO of Identita shared his personal story as an inspiration to campers. In this, he noted that your purpose is inexcusably tied to people. For you to
fulfill purpose, you have to impact people.

We had an expert driver today for the Journey of Guided Learning and we were steered calmly by Adenusi Patrick. In his remarks, he said “My name is Adenusi Patrick a retired 'molue' driver but today, that retired driver who at a point in Lagos ate twice a week and squatted in Lagos for 11years where i slept on a wooden chair is now an expert consultant appearing on TV and meeting with United Nations, Governors and Ministers."

Mr. Adenusi Patrick reminded us that no door is too difficult to knock only if we A.C.T (Action Changes Things).

Our campers entered into the intermediate level today at the skills sessions. The clothes sewn, shoes made, make-up done and small chops all took shape and photographer campers began to shoot photos on their own.

Following the skills session, we completed our movie from last night and shared reflections on real life impacts or manifestation.


The final act today was off-the-roof as campers could not contain their excitement for Drama Night with the arrival of Femi Jacobs; Award Winning Actor, Producer, Author and Speaker. Our teams were at their best before our judge and displayed creativity with their acts. Congratulations to team Amber for winning in the dance tonight.




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Tuesday 6 August 2019

ACTIVATE YOUTH CAMP @ 7: DANCING INTO THE YEAR OF PERFECTION






As 2019 launched Activate Youth Camp into its 7th year, the number resonates with us as the year of perfection and  the theme Convergence becomes perfect to bring it all together.Our third day started with our early morning drills after which campers headed out to breakfast.

The next on our agenda was flash light where we reflected on the lessons learned from the second day and how to be in a better shape for today.

Today’s adventure opened our eyes to understand it was in times past that curiosity killed cat. Now, curiosity with direction and focus saves the cat and makes the cat exceptional and we were challenged to always want to know more and be more than what we are now. We moved on from adventure to general training facilitated by Ruth Goma.

In the general training, Champ Ruth Goma guided us into reflecting on the themes of Activate Youth Camp from the first year from “I Have It In Me” to our theme for this year “Convergence”. In this process, we reflected on the impact of AYC on campers who had attended before and they shared their impact stories which led them to return to AYC and how they want to use this impact to change the lives of others. 


The outcome of our learning today was the development of creeds along the themes of AYC over the years and a formular for success which is listening + understanding ÷ hardwork = success.


The skills sessions are beginning to take shape as we began to see the first finished prototypes from all of our skills session today.

The spotlight of tonight was dance. 

With pumped up adrenalin and dancing shoes, our campers displayed creative moves and showed who the boss on the dance is before our celebrity guest; award winning dancer, choreographer and director Segun Lawal of the Spirit if David Dance Group.

Before leaving, Segun Lawal noted that “being at Activate Youth Camp, you have the opportunity to let your creativity change you and your environment for better” before reiterating his commitment to the vision of Activate Youth Camp over the past 7 years and the next 100 years.


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Monday 5 August 2019

FUN, STYLE AND COMEDY: A NEW WAY TO FOCUS


Activate Youth Camp for 2019 has hinged on Convergence as we aim to bring it all together into focus. The morning started with the camp drill as campers woke to a warm up exercise to keep fit for the day’s session before heading for breakfast.


Following this was flashlight! Flashlight was a recap of what was learned from arrival and introductory sessions of yesterday and expectations for today. Straight out of flashlight, we moved into Adventure. This is a breakout session in small groups supervised by mentors where campers discuss frankly about their career objectives, ask sincere questions and share ideas openly about what they need to achieve their goals with fellow campers guided by mentors in their groups and coordinated by Mrs. Rotimi Adeaga. 

To set the pace, they were asked to daydream into the future, explore their passion, find where they want to be and build on them after which they came to share with the entire camp their discovery of what they want to become in future. 

Today, we were graced with the warm and lovely presence of Dr. (Mrs.) Bola Balogun who is the Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development representing the wife of the Lagos State Governor Dr. (Mrs.) Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu. She brought goodwill messages noting that “Activate Youth Camp builds independence and confidence. It is an opportunity for youth to learn new skills that will be useful and help them make a meaningful participation in the society”. In rounding up, she admonished that as campers here and as young people we should: “understand our focus, organize our life, know our purpose, trust people to do things, set priorities, avoid distractions, ask for advice and don’t lose track.” 



In the afternoon, our skills sessions started. The skills for this year are sewing, craft accessories, graphics design, Ankara accessories making, paper craft, dance, adire, photography and small chops making. Today being our first day, theoretical and introductory trainings were held for the skills. The break sessions formed the rest of the afternoon and evening which were were used for sports. After all, “all work and no play? ... 

The climax of tonight was when our participants displayed their talents in comedy with selected performers gracing the stage to flex muscles on comedy before ace comedian Saco who was our guest for the night. He went on to share personal experiences to motivate campers to “focus on their dreams as it is never too big neither can you get arrested for dreaming big.” 

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Sunday 4 August 2019

CONVERGENCE: BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER





The journey started in 2013 when Activate Youth Camp set the pace to bring teenagers across the country together for a summer break of a lifetime. From the get go, AYC taught teenagers to tell the world “I Have It In Me”. This self-affirmation led to the development of “Leadership From Within” in 2014 and by 2015 we led a clarion call to “The Awakening” of giants to stand tall and ready to face life challenges and be “Courageous” throughout 2016. By 2017, we deviated from the norm by being “Divergent” and the results of this status quo shift led our teenagers to lead an “Ingenious” life in 2018.


This year, with the theme “Convergence” we are bringing it all together. We will be harnessing our collective strength and successes over the past 7 years to create an energy fusion launching us into the next 7 years of transformation, rebuilding and reshaping our nation for greatness through the teenagers (“Champions” as referred to in camp) that are coming through the doors of Activate Youth Camp.


A brain child of Pastor (Mrs.) Kikelomo Omooba, AYC has attracted top ranking and highly successful global Nigerians from academia, government, international organisations, corporate/private world, Music and entertainment to share experiences, mentor and have down-to-earth interactions with the Champions.


Over the years, our champions have transformed into great mentors; our mentors  have gone on to be global achievers and the positive feedback from parents, guardians, sponsors and partners have continued to inspire us to be better.


At the close of arrivals today, we have 280 teenagers, 16 facilitators and 40 mentors/interns and kicked off the day with a session on Focus through Photography by the ace photographer Modamo followed by Champ Rotimi Adeaga where campers were made to introduce themselves to and make 5 new friends.





To round up, she shared a breakdown of schedules for the week, camp guidelines and code of conducts to be followed by all.

Now, all is set as we are bringing it all together at Activate Youth Camp 2019.








Follow us on this journey for the next 7 days of impact at as we begin this journey of guided learning and for the 7th year in row, join us in our Champions Creed:

I will think right
Think fast
Talk right
Walk Right
Act Right and Live Right
Because I am Champion
Thank you Lord For Perfecting All That Concerns Me
I Am Aware I Have It In Me
I Am A Champion

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