Feedback from the Young Leaders Camp

Three weeks ago we went to Mvii for the Young Leaders Camp. It was a great time of spiritual and personal development for the Young Leaders (YL) as well as the coaches. In this update we are giving you a few Comments from two participants and from a YL’s parent, a brief report of our activities, and a few pictures showing what we did.

Comments about the YL Camp

“I enjoyed every hour of it. I am able to tie a neck tie now. I really wish we could stay here a whole month. Now I will get back home and begin to idle. I can’t miss the camp next year” Davy Pondy

“Before the Mvii 09 Camp, I used to think you pray only when you have a problem or need something. I used to think you pray only when there is a specific situation. Now I have not only learnt prayer is a natural everyday activity in the life of a Christian leader. I know how to meet with God every day. I now know how to pray.” Michelle Metougou

“I have noticed a big change in my son Vianney since he came back from the YL Camp. He is more responsible in his attitude, and he now leads devotions at home” Mrs Lissouck (parent)

YL Camp brief Report

All of the young leaders who attended the camp live in cities in Cameroon, and most of them are not used to living conditions in the village. The main expectation from the parents who sent their children for this camp was that they would be exposed to the living conditions in the village and learn to work hard. And as you will see in the report below, living in a village in Cameroon is not a peace of cake, even for young people who usually live in the city here.

After devotion and after doing domestic work, Young Leaders (YL) went into exciting days, made of different activities including the following:

Bible Studies: We explored salvation in Christ, how to maintain a good fellowship with Jesus. We also taught the youths how to start every day with God. The last two days of the camp, we gave them the opportunity to start the day with God, applying what they had learnt in the previous days

1. Leadership issues discussions and community work: A highlight of the leadership discussion was the leadership of king Rehoboam. He ignored that a great change had taken place in the kingdom, he thought he would be able to discipline the people of Israel more harshly that his father did; he ended up realizing to the detriment of many who suffered the terrible consequences, that change had taken place. Young leaders learnt from these discussions that a leader must lead and some times initiate change, instead of watching it or trying to ignore it. Young Leaders understood the lesson so much that when we went to clean the village water spring. While working at the water spring, Vianney-one of the Young Leaders- exclaimed: “We are leading change!”

2. Sports: We played volleyball, football (soccer) and we even played a friendly football game with the village’s youth. The score of the game was 3 vs 3

3. Adventures in the forest: This was the best activity for many in the group. A highlight of this activity was when we went to learn how to set traps. “Dr Kumaloh”, a village specialist in traps hunting explained different techniques, as well as principles to follow for a successful trap hunting in the Jungle. After his explanations and demonstration, young leaders had to set their own traps.

4. Story telling around the fire and Jesus Film show: One of the evenings, we showed the Jesus Film in Bulu, the language spoken at Mvii. 137 gathered to watch the film. At the end, Victor challenged them to receive Christ and about half of them prayed to invite Christ into their lives. Another evening, wise people of Mvii told young leaders stories from African traditional wisdom. ‘’Once upon a time, the Turtle the hare were very good friends…” went one of the stories

Culinary and Cultural show: Young Leaders learned how cook traditional meals from a few tribes of Cameroon, they also prepared songs and traditional dances. They had an evening show with exhibition of all they had cooked. The show also included Christian singing and traditional dances