Fourth Year of Summer Library Camp 2012 Underway

Fourth Year of Summer Library Camp 2012 Underway
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 7/5/2012

Some of the activities that took place on the first day of the Summer Library Camp included talks on caring for the environment, taking care of their own dental hygiene and listening to children’s stories.

During the talk, they showed a short animated film called “The Kingdom of Teeth” in which Dr. Tooth and Dr. Smile, with the help of several children armed with toothpaste and tooth brushes, save the kingdom from cavities and germs. After the film, Uncle Colgate gave each of the children a dental hygiene kit and a bar of Protex soap.

The Office of the First Lady (DPD in Spanish) formally opened the 4th edition of this summer camp at the Children’s Library of the Dominican Republic (BIJRD in Spanish) in which some 300 children and teens learned the basics about the environment including the principle of recycling, reducing and reusing.

Following the slogan, Recycling with Values!, camp monitors talked to the group everyday about the importance of caring for the trees, not wasting water and not littering the streets with garbage.

The children and teens also received a special visit from Uncle Colgate who told them how to correctly brush their teeth and why it is important to brush after every meal.

During the talk, they showed a short animated film called “The Kingdom of Teeth” in which Dr. Tooth and Dr. Smile, with the help of several children armed with toothpaste and tooth brushes, save the kingdom from cavities and germs. After the film, Uncle Colgate gave each of the children a dental hygiene kit and a bar of Protex soap.

Beginning at 2:00 in the afternoon, children between the ages of 5 and 7 played a series of healthy games and listened to fun stories. At the end of this, Dominican theater actress and children’s storyteller, Dulce Elvira de los Santos, set their imaginations on fire as she told them stories of Gotita Curiosa y La sombrilla que perdió los colores [The Curious Drop of Water and The Shadow that Lost it Colors], among other stories.

Library Camp 2012 will continue through July. During the first two weeks, children from DPD families are attending. During the second week, some 300 children from among the BIJRD members as well as residents from San Carlos, Gazcue, Villa Juana, Villa Consuelo, Don Bosco and Ciudad Nueva will attend the camp.

Special Activities

Several companies are visiting the Library Camp where they will give educational lectures and hand out free products. Those companies and institutions include Nestle Dominican, Kimberly Clark, Vida Azul Foundation, Colgate Palmolive, National Soft Drinks, Association of National Savings and Loans, and the Dominican Red Cross.

Throughout the camp, the children will visit the Museum of Telecommunications and, with the Ministry of Environment, will participate in eco-visits of various parks in the city.

The main objective of this camp is to promote values and to teach children to respect the environment and preserve our natural resources. They will learn the importance of recycling through fun activities, entertaining workshops, lectures, dialogues, audiovisuals and artistic activities.

The camp also seeks to motivate the integration of the participants to join together with a collective sense of this important project and to learn such values as solidarity, honesty, respect, perseverance and humility in an atmosphere of participation, respect and healthy competition as well as showing them the importance of the library and to awaken a love of books and the environment.

A total of 34 monitors belonging to the Young Leaders Project as well as library members and medical personnel will be in charge of receiving and guiding the nearly 600 camp participants throughout the month of July, in the morning and afternoon sessions.