The restart of the youth club at ICCI was marked by an indoor camp for boys from 14 to 17 years of age from 26th to 29th October 2015, under the title: “The Muslim youth – Past, Present and Future”
Throughout a four-day camp, 23 young men in four groups competed against each other to win the title of the best group. Football tournament, workshops on young Muslims at school, team building games, stories of great young Muslim men in the past, best carting driver, blockbuster movie night with review and analysis discussions, surviving skills in an all-day mountain trekking and much more.
The participants were divided into four groups; “Usama bin Zaid”, “Ali ibn abu Talib”, “Mus’ab bin Umair” and “Az Zubair ibn al Awwam” who were competing throughout the programme and the winner was EVERYONE. However, one group exceeded in their effort and had the biggest score. This group was Usama bin Zaid with Osaid as the group leader!
“That was the best camp”, said one of the participants. We had prepared for a great camp and the youth made it happen. The football tournament prove that our youth love to be active and play football. The four teams played many games and all of them were very intense and interesting to watch. Great games with a great sport’s atmosphere, fair play and fun, all in all great night. The workshops concentrated on the young Muslims in school and the challenges they face therein. There were lots of ideas how to deal with different situations and issues. Also there were interesting drills conducted by the groups on how to deal with different situations and challenges. The camp aimed at establishing certain positive behaviours and building necessary skills; throughout the camp there were many team building games and activities. They helped for strengthening the relations relationship of the boys in the groups and gave sense of belonging to the group. As the title of the camp was “Muslim youth Past, Present and Future”, we learnt about great examples of Muslim youth in the past; namely Ali Ibn Abi Tallib, Usmama Ibn Zaid, Musiab Ibn Umair and Zubair Ibn Alawwam (may Allah be please with them all).
Those examples of young Muslim men were very well received by the youth. Then the future was discussed and concluded that the future starts now in the present and the decisions they make now will shape their future.
The young men like fast driving so we had a great carting race. The adrenalin went quite high in the racing track and everyone was very excited after the race.
Later in the day, we had a movie night watching the story of youth working together for a noble cause in the future… The movie was flavoured with a hot chocolate and discussion at the end.
Last but not the least was the mountain trekking. In the beginning the weather was fine and we went up on the mountain full of energy. After a while, the rain started and we were all wet. However, the rain could not stop the youth; They continued tirelessly in their trekking. It was not easy but all of us showed great endurance and strength. We spent all day walking in the rain. We covered a great distance and at the end everyone was tired but we did not gave up. It was a real test for the young men and we passed it successfully, alhamdulillah.
Yes, it was a great camp and it end it with a prise giving ceremony for the “best group” award, “best helper” award, “best mannerism (Akhlaq)” award, “never give up award”, “Change one thing to good” award, and “special brother” award.
Everyone had a great time and learned something new. We made new friends and took home new experience and beautiful memories. We thank Allah for the great time we had, we thank the supervisors we thank and the management of the ICCI for providing us the venue and support for the camp and we thank our parents for giving us the trust and support to participate and being part of this adventure.
