42 attend 18th Emmaus Teen Camp

KOTA KINABALU –Forty-two young people attended the 18th Emmaus Teen Camp at the Catholic Student Group Centre here on 27 Nov – 1 Dec 2016.

The participants aged 16-16 came from the different parishes in the Kota Kinabalu Archdiocese.

The objectives of the annual camp are to provide awareness and assistance to them in recognising current living conditions of teens today, to make wise decisions and choices based on Christian values, and to inculcate a sense of responsibility to spread Christ’s mission amongst their Catholic peers.

The five-day annual camp, organised by KK Campus Ministry Office, adopted the theme taken from Luke 24:31 “…And their eyes are open and they recognised Him…”.

The ETC programme was divided into two main parts; some spiritual inputs helped the teens to see how special and unique they are and provided knowledge of faith while other sessions offered understanding on the importance of Christ’s presence especially in the family.

Besides spiritual inputs, the camp also provided sessions on environmental topics where participants were brought to experience hands-on composting activity. They were also brought to an ‘exposure’ activity in GAMUT Penampang to see and learn composting using green wastage.

GAMUT is a composting programme under CLEAR (Community-Led Environmental Awareness for our River) established in 2014. It is an initiative to overcome river pollution and disposal of rubbish to the river.

Father Joshua Liew of Sacred Heart Cathedral celebrated the closing Mass at the centre. He urged the teens to always believe in Jesus and to continue to be active in Church programmes. He encouraged them to share their Emmaus story gained in the camp to their other peers in their parish. – ETC documentation team/CS