The Xtremely Young Zoroastrians (XYZ) a Parsi non-government organisation (NGO), has organised a week-long educational summer camp for Parsi children. The camp started on Monday, May 18 and will go on till the end of the week. The camp is open to children between the 5 to 15 years of age
Set to have various activities like treasure hunt, quiz, sports and games, cooking competition, storytelling, and the camp will also include lessons on how to speak and write Gujarati. The aim of the camp is to get the children closer to their Parsi roots.
The camp had the ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan’ as the theme for a poster making competition which saw 300 children create posters and charts to inculcate the importance of cleanliness and hygiene yesterday on Day 2 of the camp.
Located at four different venues in the city Cusrow Baug at Colaba, Rustom Baug at Byculla, Tata Blocks at Bandra and Salsette Colony in Andheri the camp has seen a total of 300 children attending in the last two days. The camp is from 11 am to 6 pm with ‘make-learning-fun’ games through the day.
“We live in a headphone-driven society where kids of all ages are depend on their smart phones, laptops and flat screens for knowledge and entertainment. Seldom do we think that we are eroding their fertile minds with misinformation and western ideals.
It’s time we take the baton into our hands and preserve and nature our future rightfully”, said Hoshaang Gotla, founder of XYZ, explaining why his NGO has started the camp. “People keep complaining that the Parsi community is shrinking day by day, but what are they doing to curb it?
We young Zoroastrians feel it’s our responsibility to take matters into our hands so that our rich culture doesn’t die a slow death,” said Bazyan Mistry, a volunteer with XYZ.