Students India, a cultural and educational organization for Indian students living in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, recently organized a two-day camp for its members in north Jeddah with a variety of attractive programs including debate, indoor and outdoor games, workshops, a magic show and a film review and separate orientation programs for students and their parents.
Addressing the concluding session, Jamal Alwaye, president of Thanima, urged the participants to work hard to improve the condition of the Islamic Ummah. “As future leaders of the Ummah we pin great hope on you in changing its present pathetic condition,” he said. “You should also consider your parents as your best friends,” he told the children. More than 140 students with equal proportion of girls and boys from 8th to 12th grades attended the program at a resort on the Red Sea near Obhur. Abdul Shukoor Ali, president of Thanima North Zone, opened the event while K.K. Nizar, coordinator of Students India, highlighted the organization’s objectives. Shafas Babu, secretary of the executive committee, welcomed the participants. Hisham Hafiz Abdul Latif, public relations officer, gave the participants necessary guidelines.
Ismail Maritheri of King Abdulaziz University gave an interactive presentation on “Effective Learning.” He stressed the importance of focusing on the in-born skills of a student while referring to the real life success stories of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates. The “ice-breaking” session led by Siraj Abdullah, a senior SI official, and Ajmal Abdul Gafoor, an SI mentor, was exciting as the participants were divided into 10 equal groups of 14 members based on their skills and interest. The sessions for the first day were wound up after dinner, followed by separate indoor games for both girls and boys supervised by mentors.
The next day morning session started with “Naseehath” by K.H. Abdul Rahim, a member of Thanima’s Zonal Advisory Council. The class spread lights on the importance of religion in life. It was followed by a football tournament for boys and indoor games for girls.
The participants showed their communication talents during a debate session on the topic “Social Networking — A waste of time or not.” The session, led by Shafas Babu, saw an explosion of ideas and thoughts about the pros and cons of social networking from the young minds.
The film review session, which was handled by Riyas Razak, an SI mentor, gave the message that failures in life could be stepping-stones to success.
Abdul Shukoor Ali addressed the next session titled “You and your parents,” which was attended by only students. The session reminded each student about their responsibility toward their parents and the visuals about parent-child emotional relationship made the session an impressive one.
The Juma sermon was by Abdu Subhan highlighting the importance of gaining knowledge to become a successful person in life. Sameer Manchali’s magic performance won the applause of the young participants. Shuaib Thanur and his team later gave a presentation on “how to make a film.”
The next session titled “Shoulder to shoulder” was solely for parents and was handled by Abdul Shukoor Ali. During that time a tug-of-war competition was held for boys and motivational class for girls. Prizes were also given away to winners of different competitions. Hafiz Rahman and Fathima Thansiya were selected the best campers.
