The first few times I ever encountered the World Youth Alliance (WYA) was when three of classmates talked about it when they joined the summer camp back in 2015, and last January when the WYA Iloilo Chapter held a seminar for high school students.
After those encounters, I started to do more research on WYA and took an interest in the 2017 WYA Asia Pacific Summer Camp.
Me and the rest of the campers from Iloilo, Philippines took a head start by traveling 21 hours from our province going to the camp venue, doing both land and sea travel. When we arrived, I was a bit nervous and hesitant for the first day of camp the following day.
Will the other campers like me if I will be myself? What will happen when I go home and told my parents that I failed in the training? But I told myself everything will be fine and run smoothly.
I still remember the late nights of doing those long essays after having discussed two chapters of the Certified Training Program (CTP) a day. All of us, 32 campers in total, learned to help and ask each other questions to facilitate the understanding of the CTP Manual. Learning aside the most fun activity we did was the Amazing Race where we, through our teams, applied and learned a great deal of teamwork and cooperation. As the camp began to near its end, many of us got very sentimental, and at the same time very grateful for our new learnings.
At the end of this experience, we all considered our bond not just of friendship, but the bond of family.
Written by Ralph Francis Acanto, a WYAAP 2017 Summer Camp graduate, and certified member.
