Art and Culture Summer Camp
By Nain Tara
Tehrik-e-Niswan Karachi Youth Convention for Cultural Appreciation was held last week from Monday 16 till 23 July 2017 at the Kohii Ghott Hospital.
The participants arrived via buses mostly by 5 in the evening and settled in their dorms. All boys stayed at the Malir University while the girls remained at the Kohii Ghott Hospital.
Next day the inauguration ceremony led by Sheema Kirmani, Dr. Shershah and Dr. Shaheen Zafar, took place at 7 in the morning where schedule and regulations were made clear to the participants. The biggest bummer for me was to wake up at 5 in the morning for yoga with instructor Vinesh and that we were not allowed any junk food. They welcomed us warmly and shared their objective for the week-long event at a hospital to inform the youth of the city about the importance of education, health, and basic rights away from the hustle bustle of our city. But we learned energizer exercises, seat up meditation, discussed mental and physical health and interestingly, how can we get rid from cancer through exercise. All part of fun.
Like clockwork every day for the rest of the week, sessions with great instructors would start at 9 in different genres which included music, theater, painting and drawing, dance, film appreciation, clay making, puppet making.
Consecutive sessions for straight three hours would tire the participants who were then given periodic breaks. They held three to six conversations with intellectuals and artists like Duriya Kazi, Javed Jabbar, Aslam Khwaja, Sania Saeed, Zaheda Hina etc. Heavy rainfall in the middle of the week also made things difficult because of being far away and with not as many facilities. Sadly, even though it was a well-intentioned initiative, it lacked discipline and poor management.
On 23 July participants gave presentations from all genres and were given participation certificates, concluding the camp for all.
