Youth energy, if harnessed constructively can bring about not just a changing face to the youth themselves but also to the community they live in. Our tribal villages have a large population of literate as well as semi literate youth whose needs have to be addressed and channelled in order that they do not fall prey to the exploitation of political and radical groups. The poor quality of education provided by the government has deprived them from landing quality jobs in the market. These factors prompted us to develop an adolescent education programme so that the tribal youth use their time constructively and be helpful to themselves and their community.

To kick start this programme and introduce the activities for youth,Dhaatri organised a Youth Camp at the four Village Resource Centres of Killoguda, Kamayyapeta, Poolabanda and the newly adopted Ippaguda Centre of Velugu ,Srikakulam. Our Field Resource Centre team and the team from Main Resource Centre, Vizag facilitated the four day camps at the different resource centres.

The youth camps at Killoguda, Poolabanda, TERDS were organised between 27 April and 30 April 2009.The Velugu camp was conducted between 8 May and 11 May 09. The participation at all these places was quite overwhelming.

The attendance at each of these centres was as expected, around 50. The CBO heads inaugurated the four day session and apprised the youth on the significance of having such a camp, preservation of tribal culture and how to take it forward beyond the youth camps. The youth were initiated into an open discussion on the current situation of tribal youth in the fields of education, professional and social environments and the slow degradation of tribal culture. The participation from the youth was overwhelming and they were very vocal in their opinions.

Each day started with prayer, rhythmic activities, tribal songs in their native languages. To improve their communication skills, as a regular exercise, they were made to speak about themselves or communicate with others. To review their basic skills in Maths and Telugu, a short assessment was done so that we could also concentrate on improving their scholastic skills. The outcome of the assessment was indeed a matter of worry. Enhancing their basic knowledge levels was also an important task in the camp, which is going to be an ongoing effort from our side.

One of the many intentions of this camp is to reinforce the tradition and culture which is slowly disintegrating in the villages due to external influences. Simple, grass root level projects on Collection of leaves, identification of trees , Collection of Creation stories ,Collection of seeds and storage information of seeds were designed and they were divided into groups and assigned each project to them. A presentation on the collected information was done by each group later. All these informations from each area are going to be consolidated and compiled to bring out a document.

There was fun as well at the camp along with the serious assignments. Competition on tribal games and sports were conducted and prizes distributed on the last day.

At the Killoguda Resource Centre, the Annual seed Festival,(Paatha Vithanaala Pandaga) was organised by Sanjeevini as part of the camp. It was attended by a large number of people from communities who brought in varieties of vegetable seeds, grains and pulses and displayed them. Prizes were distributed for best display and the village that brought them.

The first attempt at bringing all the youth under one umbrella proved to be a success. More camps are planned throughout the year to monitor, assist and enhance the skills of our youth.