The 16th Triennial Caribbean Youth Camp, an event that began in 1979 with the 1st camp being held at the Mt. Grace hall in Tobago was held in Trinidad & Tobago at the T&T Urban Ministries site in St. Helena, Piarco. 175 youths of all ages spent a week to remember from Friday August 9 – Saturday August 17, 2024.

The CCYC committee worked tirelessly to put the pieces together, meeting each month via zoom, each week via email, and each day via WhatsApp. The reps from T&T, Bro. Anil Gobin along with Bro. David & Kezia Edwards did all the ground work prior to camp such as the shopping, meeting with the caterers, the many airport and ferry pick-ups and drop-offs, putting together the gifts and awards and also during the week the frequent trips transporting various items. Bro. Clement Williams and Sis. Yvette Lyons Fraser printed all the name tags, managed the dorm assignments and inspections, ordered the camp shirts, set up registration, and also supervised the debate. Bro. Jonathan Ramlochan from Barbados organized the music for the week, helped with the name tag design and was responsible for the marking of notebooks. Bro. Trimal Accra and Bro. Jermaine Porte from Guyana put together the talent night, Bible jeopardy and supervised night patrol. Sis. Lorraine Johnson from Jamaica managed the kitchen with assistance from many willing hands.

The day began with breakfast at 8:00 am followed by the daily readings, there was so much discussion at each session that there was never enough time to get through all three readings. At 10:00 am bro. Josh Hodge of Ontario delivered his class on Samson the deliverer. For the 1st time in the history of Caribbean camps there were no youths seen sleeping, and that can be attributed to a number of factors: the captivating classes, the committee listened to past reviews and curfew was moved from 11:00 pm to 10:00 pm, and since breakfast was at 8:00 am, campers could enjoy a longer rest enabling them to be prepared for the classes.

After the classes each day, the camp broke into 8 groups to discuss questions prepared by the speaker, and then reported their findings to everyone, even the under 12 age group were a big hit on stage as they were quite entertaining. Their volunteer teachers taught them well and even came prepared with a number of activities each day for them.

In the afternoon, organized sports such as a cooking preparation competition, treasure hunt, relays involving the red, orange, green and yellow teams was followed by free time which was spent in the large swimming pool. The evening programs were a big hit also with the youths presenting on topics such as the influence of LGBTQ, how to handle someone who has been mis-treated at the meeting, the use of contemporary music in our worship, and a moving testimonial by bro. George Constantine on the poor choices he made as a youth and the consequences he suffered as a result landing him in prison for over 30 years. It was truly amazing to have this remarkable brother in our midst, he was able to fit right in, assisting each day wherever needed. We were also very thankful for the over 40 age group who pitched in to serve in their various capacities such as kitchen, clean-up, night patrol, life-guards, set-up, door-keeper, sports and our medical team who worked around the clock in the sick-bay and in their dorm rooms.

There were a number of firsts for Caribbean camps: an air-conditioned campus, catered meals, a swimming pool, optional morning work-out, an engagement by the exercise trainer to his lovely bride-to-be and the group discussion sessions which kept the youths engaged at all times. Some of the comments during the evaluation asked for the camp to be held each year, however coming up with the funds for such an event can be quite challenging which is why we owe a huge thank you to the CBMC for their generous contribution enabling youths and a few chaperones to travel from Australia, Barbados, Canada, Guyana, Jamaica, T&T and the US. In addition, those from North America were able to get assistance from their home ecclesias to attend the camp.

The beach day was quite challenging as torrential downpours forced us back into the waiting busses. However, a short stop at Trincity Mall, the largest in the Caribbean, allowed campers to dry off and get some food at their favorite vendors. On a more positive note, campers were able to gain some valuable experience canvassing the area around TTUM and invite persons to a gospel proclamation on the coming Kingdom of God by bro. Clement Williams. This was done on the Sunday after Breaking-of-Bread at which Bro. Trimal Accra gave the words of exhortation. For our bible class on Wednesday evening, Bro. Josh delivered a very timely message on “Israel in Bible Prophecy” and during the week a few members from Arima, Erin and Marabella were also able to visit. In speaking with the managers at TTUM, they are seeing quite a few Hindus and Muslims leaving their faith and coming across to Christianity, so that is great encouragement for us to continue our efforts to spread the wonderful truth. The managers also mentioned that our group was by far the best behaved that they have housed and they get groups all year round.

At the end of the week, there were quite a few tears as we bided farewell, but the work goes on and the committee at their next meeting will go through all the reviews which at first glance shows that campers overall were very pleased with the week together. There were a few glitches which if our Lord remains away we plan by God’s grace to iron out in time for the next camp.

Finally, we would like to express our thanks to all who pitched in to make the event a success, and we are starting to see the results as we were quite pleased to hear of the baptism of Keshawn Brewster of New Jersey, two weeks after camp, we pray our Father will guide his every step towards the coming Kingdom. We also recently learned of the engagement of Joshua Arjune and Mirako Hickman who were quite instrumental in putting together the rap sessions and skits during the week, we pray God’s blessings on them.