AS parents island wide scratch their heads over what to do with and where to send their school children over the summer holidays, one Summer Camp is not only offering extraordinary services with high prospects, they are going one step further to breathe music into the lives of the young ones.
The people behind the registered organisation JUMP (Juniors Under Mentorship Programme) have put their heads together to create the event called “Koudmen”.
Bernice Joy Lewis who is the founder of JUMP and is responsible for mentoring the youth, primarily in academics, music art and sports, told The VOICE that this is the second year running for the camp.
Lewis, who said she is an avid volleyball player, said the idea came from a desire to empower the youth.
Currently, there are five like-minded teachers in total minding the children. With Lewis are Naja Simeon, Chun Young, Craig Francis and Jebidiah St Croix, all of whom have a similar vision and drive for the organisation and the children who attend.
The summer camp she said runs for four weeks and includes volleyball, art, music gardening and culinary sessions and is open to children from all over the island including the boys of the Boys Training Centre who have been participants as well as children from Augier Combined School in the South.
Volleyball sessions will be held at the Beausejour Indoor Facility while the art segment will be held at Island Mix in Rodney Bay
Koudmen was launched in March, and takes place every third Thursday at Island Mix in Rodney Bay. Unlike the Summer Camp, it is an ongoing venture.
The initiative sees students getting mentored by artistes and then they get the opportunity to perform. Artists who have taken part include Werner “Semi” Francis, Sherwinn “Dupes” Brice, Linda “Chocolate” Berthier, Ken Hardy, Yannick James and steel pan player Krystal Nestor.
Lewis said: “Koudmen was formulated by the same teachers. Mr. Chun Young is the music teacher at the Gros Islet Secondary School and Naja Simeon is the artist at the same school. I was teaching there at the time and had the idea to begin a mentoring programme. We then decided to collaborate with Nadia Jabour who is the owner of Island Mix in Rodney By to showcase the event. So they provide the space and we bring the children to be mentored.”
She added: “At the end we hope to give one scholarship to a student to attend the School of Music and another for art classes”
The Koudmen sessions are completely free whilst fees for the camp are $75 per week for the Volleyball camp and $55 per day for the art/music camp
Sandals is the main sponsor for the event and others include CFL, Blue Waters and Kiwanis.
