– President urges protection of environment

PRESIDENT David Granger has urged scores of overseas and local youth campers participating in a five-day Survival and Wilderness Training Camp to reach for greatness and to protect their future by preserving the environment.
The President made this call at the Guyana Conference of Seventh-day Adventists’ campsite, located at Loo-Creek on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway, where close to 3000 campers are participating in a Caribbean-wide Camporee being held under the theme, “I Dream of Greatness.”

The camp comes under the Caribbean Union Conference which includes countries of the Leeward Islands, Virgin Islands, Windward Islands as well as Guyana and Suriname. At the opening ceremony, President Granger was invited to deliver the feature address and to receive the presidential salute at the programme, which was packed with presentations of Guyana’s cultural diversity.

Present too, were: Minister within the Ministry of Public Health, Karen Cummings; Minister of Public Affairs, Dawn Hastings-Williams; Director of Youth, Melissa Carmichael; outgoing Mayor of Linden, Carwyn Holland and his deputy Aneka Arrindell, as well as Region 10 Chairman, Renis Morian, among others.

There were also cultural performances from the National School of Dance, the National Steel Orchestra, the Acapella group ‘The Circle of Love’, as well as the various countries represented. President Granger, in his delivery of the feature address, matched the energy of the youthful crowd as he spoke on the topics of leadership, the environment and climate change.

He acknowledged that most of the campers present are at the stage in their lives where the lessons they learn and the decisions they make will impact who they become and therefore congratulated the organisation for its emphasis on youth. “This organisation, this pathfinder club, plays a vital role in your intellectual, your physical, your social and your religious development,” the Guyanese leader stated, adding: “This organisation will help you and is helping you to develop an appreciation for the love of God and for its church. It will help you to develop your own talents, your own potential…it will help you to develop skills, so that when you become adults you can handle the challenges of life.”
President Granger welcomed the visitors and presented Guyana as home to many of the world’s largest animals and protected forests, while expounding on the country’s ‘green’ initiative to serve as the “lungs of the earth”.

The campsite was highlighted as one such example of how Guyana must protect its natural assets as it joins with the rest of the world in the fight against climate change, which the President pointed out was “very real”.
He stated that the negative effects of climate change are present in the formations of hurricanes which have damaged and continue to threaten many of the countries represented at the camp. As such, he implored both the local and international youths to be protectors of their environment, while quoting passages from the book of Genesis which speak to God’s creation of nature.

In keeping with the theme, he admonished the youths to not only dream of greatness but to achieve it, by becoming many of the great leaders that the future needs. “I urge Pathfinders to become path breakers in helping to protect God’s creation which is Mother Earth; I encourage you to spread the gospel of care, of protection, of respect for the environment,” the President said.

Following his address, Caribbean Youth Director, Pastor Anthony Hall on behalf of the Caribbean Union of Seventh-Day Adventists, presented the Head of State with a token of appreciation for taking the time out the speak at the camp’s launching.
The camp will see Pathfinders participating in competition and training events such as first aid, semaphore, fire building, obstacle course, athletics and more.