THE National Trust of Guyana, tasked with the responsibly for the preservation and promotion of Guyana’s monuments and heritage sites, commenced its 5th Children’s Heritage Awareness Camp on Monday last.The camp caters for children between the ages 8 and 11 years old and was first held in 2011. The National Trust hopes that the camp will impart knowledge and skills of various aspects of Guyana’s heritage in order to increase appreciation for the country’s national heritage with a focus on monuments and heritage sites.

“This year the camp is offering hands-on and interactive model making projects and monument profiles as well as historic monument tours around the city to provide a face to face and practical feel of these sites while observing the children’s reaction during the exercise,” a release said.

QUIZ
A quiz on what the children would have learnt during the one-week period will be done to assess their grasp of the programme and serve as an evaluation of the week’s exercise.

At the opening ceremony of the camp, the Minister within the Ministry of Education with responsibility for the Department of Culture, Youth and Sport, Nicolette Henry asked the participants their expectations and why they wanted to attend the camp.

INCULCATING NATIONAL PRIDE
Although their responses varied, all the participants concluded that they expected to learn about their heritage, the monuments and make new friends. Minister Henry urged the children to ensure that they understand why they must value and protect the monuments. She expressed the hope that the camp will inculcate more national pride in the students.

Chief Executive Officer, Nirvana Persaud explained that the model-making exercise tests the children’s level of creativity and skills, particularly as these projects will include the development of sites from their perspective as to how and what should be done to beautify and enhance the sites identified.
They are also required to work on the locations and the significance of the respective sites, she explained.

Persaud highlighted that the programme aims to promote awareness and appreciation of Guyana’s heritage and the importance of preserving it as part of national pride and identity. Its objective, she stated, is to introduce and expose the students through presentations, materials, hands-on exercises and tours to monuments and heritage sites.
It also affords opportunities for learning about monuments in various communities, heritage in our homes and daily lives, basics in model making, taxidermy in the Museum, basics in records preservation, and tours to important heritage sites in the city.

All of these, she asserted, are geared to foster and raise heritage awareness among the younger generation for the safeguarding and promotion of Guyana’s legacy for long-term survival.

At the end of the camp each student will be given certificates of participation and an exhibition of their work will also be mounted.