6^th WFDYS JUNIOR CAMP

WFDYS Board with the 6th WFDYS Junior Camp 2017 Camp Organising Committee,
Vicdeaf CEO Christine Mathieson and Manager Brent Phillips, and a supporter Ramas McRae

The 6^th WFDYS Junior Camp has just recently concluded. Hosted by the Deaf Youth Australia, the camp was held at the Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia from 11 to 17 April. 23 countries participated in the camp with a total of 63 youth participants and 23 youth leaders.

The objectives of the camp included:

• leadership training for Deaf youth
• support for youth organisations and advocacy
• networking and cultural exchange
• educating on human rights to strive for equality
• celebration of our linguistic and cultural identity.

These were achieved through the theme ‘Yellow Brick Road’, an adaptation from the 1900 children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Like the novel, the camp takes the youth on a journey of developing specific life skills (Courage, Knowledge, Passion and Belonging) and empower them to overcome barriers through the knowledge gained in workshops, team building exercises and adventures.

 

WFDYS Board would like to thank the sponsors, Camp Organising Committee, media team and not forgetting the deaf junior participants.

Check out WFDYS Junior Camp 2017 facebook to reminisce and/or experience the thrills of the youth participants!

CAMPS OF THE WFDYS

One of the main work of the WFDYS is to organise camps for deaf youths, which include three separate categories namely WFDYS Children Camp (ages 6-12), WFDYS Junior Camp (ages 13-17), and WFDYS Youth Camp (18-30). These respective camps are held quadrennially. The upcoming ones are:

• 4^th WFDYS Children Camp in Argentina, 2018
• 7^th WFDYS Youth Camp in Paris, France, 2019

WFDYS Camps aim to empower and inspire youth participants who would in turn transfer the knowledge gained to their respective local youth Deaf Community. Deaf youths who wish to participate in upcoming WFDYS camps are to apply via the WFDYS Youth Ordinary Member (youth deaf associations), or WFD Ordinary Member (national deaf associations).

31^st WFDYS Board Meeting in Melbourne, Australia

WFDYS President Cecilia Hanhikoski, Vice President Mark Berry, Simon Herdman, Shirley Liu and Alejandra Galione

The WFDYS recently had their 31^st WFDYS Board Meeting in Melbourne, Australia on 9 April 2017.  All the WFDYS current board members were present. A separate workshop was also held on 8 April 2017 to discuss on issues to be approved at the board meeting.

Since the election of the new committee, the WFDYS Board has convened at the following board meetings:

• 28^th WFDYS Board Meeting in Belfast, North Ireland, United Kingdom (November 2015)
• 29^th WFDYS Board Meeting in Amman, Jordan (May 2016)
• 30^th Board Meeting in Singapore (October 2016)

The main issues discussed at this meeting were:

• Youth Ordinary Memberships: strengthening relationships with current members as well as recruiting new ones
• Composition of WFDYS Board: possible replacement of WFDYS Secretary after the official step-down of WFDYS former Secretary Laith Fathulla on 21 March 2017
• 4^th WFDYS Youth Camp in Argentina, 2018: planning process

WFDYS UPCOMING WORK

The WFDYS work is guided by its Action Plan 2015 – 2019. The upcoming months will see the board members focusing on producing its 31^st WFDYS Board Meeting report in International Sign, finalising its board composition, and planning for its 32^nd WFDYS Board Meeting, which will be held in conjunction with the 3^rd International Conference of the WFD in Budapest, Hungary.

More information about the WFDYS and its memberships can be found here.