CREATIVE ECO SUMMER CAMP 2019

You can take a glance at the bottle of the table water you just drank and see an item fit for trash, or you could see an additional resource to create a dazzling ottoman.

It is in the spirit of creating a nationwide waste optimization culture, starting from our base here in Ibadan, that DSIgate fully collaborated with African Creative Hub to organize a summer camp for students of public schools in Ibadan, to learn the requisite skills to transform waste to wealth.

The convener of the event and CEO, African Creative Hub, Mrs. Jumoke Olowookere, has the desire to create an engaging and creative activity this summer, for public school students who are usually excluded from various alternative programs during the post-school seasons.

The summer camp is scheduled to hold as follows:

August 1: IDC Model School 1 & 2, Akobo

August 5: St. Cyprian’s Catholic School, Oluyoro, Oke-Offa

August 8: Ebenezer Anglican Church School, Akingbile, Moniya

August 10: School for the Deaf, Ijokodo

August 15: UAMC Eleja, Odo Ona, Apata

August 17: Ebenezer African Church Pry School, Salvation Army Ekotedo

August 20: Community Pry School, Olode Egbeda

August 22: Community Pry School Olu Ode, Akala Expressway, Elebu

August 26: St. Peters Schools Apete

August 29: Methodist Basics School, New Bodija

Each camp day is designed to provide an opportunity to sensitize the participants on the power and inherent wealth in waste. DSIgate and African Creative Hub are on a mission to help people realize that Waste is simply disguised Wealth.

  

However, unlike many things in life, having the wrong perspective of waste can be fatal to the planet, our environment, and your pocket.

Plastic waste is damaging to the planet because the production process is among the leading cause of carbon emission that leads to global warming. Yet, it takes hundreds of years for any piece of plastic to degrade, though millions of tons of plastic are produced each year. At the end of the day, the disposed plastic continues to survive in landfills and the ocean which destroys marine life and the ecosystem at large.

Thanks to plastic waste, by 2050, there would be more plastic in the ocean than there are fishes!

Anyone who has lived in Nigeria will readily agree that we have inadequate waste management culture. The more we consume packaged items and produce waste, the worse our immediate surroundings become as water sachets, bottles caps, nylons, used cartons, can-drink covers, foams, used plastics, fabric pieces, plywood, used newspaper/magazines, and other types of materials are dumped on the streets, in the canals, in drainages, median strips and everywhere. Thanks to waste, flood and air pollution are no longer news in our clime!

As if the damage so far is not enough, your personal purse is not immune. Do you know how much you spend on items that can readily be made from what you quickly regard as waste? Do you know how much you can save by leveraging on the lifespan of these items? Many of us have bucket lists that we should at least fulfill, but we end up spending the better part of our income on survival-related expenses. What if you don’t have to spend a fortune to put furniture in your house and for interior decoration? This is what waste can do for you.

Thanks to a paradigm shift from waste to wealth, you can now save for your dream vacation!

 

The aim of the DSIgate and African Creative Hub Summer Camp is to train 10,000 students on how to convert waste into useful items. Each edition of the summer camp focuses on training participants to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repair, Refuse and Up-cycle waste. In the two editions of the summer camp that have held, the following items were produced from waste:

Rugs

Materials: Tailor’s scrap, crochet and cement bag

Uses: for Decoration and Insulation

String Art

Materials: Plywood, nail, hammer, string

Uses: Decoration and Toy

Ottoman

Materials: Plastic bottles, plywood, rope (wool or twine), Cello tape, foam, chair cover fabric, carton, cutter, adhesive, glue gun

Uses: Furniture and Decoration

Stationary Case

Materials: Plastic bottle, needle & thread (or gum), zip, fabrics (or spray paint)

Uses: to store school supplies

Vase

Materials: Thread (wool or twine), plastic bottle, spray paint, bond and fabric

Uses: To hold flowers, for decoration

Piggy Bank

Materials: Plastic bottle, spray paint, black tape, cutter, cardboard and adhesive

Uses: To save money

          

The outreach to St. Cyprian’s Catholic School, Oluyoro, Oke-Offa began with an awareness campaign around Oluyoro and Oke-Offa communities where residents were initiated into fundamental techniques to better handle their wastes and transform them into creative and useful products. Next was the documentary that featured the meaning and effect of plastic waste pollution. The documentary discussed the menace that plastic waste has become to our society and how everyone must join in the fight against it. The highlight of the day was the practical session where students were taught on various ways to transform waste products to useful everyday items. The students were allowed to practice turning waste to precious products.At the end of the day, the students learnt that nothing in itself can be defined as waste and it is only our own limited perspective that makes it seem like some items are no longer useful after fulfilling their primary function. Waste has no end, if we do not consciously and inventively transform waste to useful products, they will only continue to wreak havoc to the environment in the drainage, canals,streets, roads, landfills and oceans where we dump them.

 

 

 

A product only becomes a waste when we stop finding ways to put it to good use.

Many of the trainees shared their excitement about the things they learnt and promised to practice them on their own back home, with some promising to share their knowledge and products with family members and friends.

The event ended on an entertaining note with lots of singing and dancing as the students and facilitators feasted together.

The third camp day was held on the 8^th of August at Ebenezer Anglican Church School in Akingbile, Moniya, Ibadan. The fourth camp day was held on the 10^th of August at the School for the Deaf in Ijokodo, Ibadan

The fifth camp day was held on the 15^th of August at UAMC Eleja, Odo Ona, Apata, Ibadan. The sixth camp day was on the 17^th of August at Ebenezer African Church Primary School, Salvation Army Ekotedo, Ibadan.

Community Primary School, Olode, Egbeda, Community Primary School, Oluode, Akala Expressway, Elebu and St. Peters School, Apete hosted the seventh, eighth and ninth summer camp days on the 20^th, 22^nd and 26^th of August, respectively.

    

The last camp day recorded many eyes who witnessed the event on the 29^th of August at St. Peters School, Apete, Ibadan. It began with the proper physical training as it has been done in the other schools throughout the summer camp. Hundreds of younger-age teenagers were in attendance from different schools in Ibadan, to learn the art of making wealth and valuables out of waste. The day had a second part that was exhibition, appreciation and celebration. There was an exhibition of products of different forms, that were brought to reality during the period of the summer camp, products exhibited included ottoman seats, string arts, wallpapers, jewelries, banners, wall paint, piggy banks, vases, crafts and many more…. All these were produced from waste materials brought together by participants of the summer camp.

Awards and certificates were presented to the sponsor, partners, media personalities, trainers, outstanding participants, and some other notable individuals. Highly respected and important individuals and firms in our society today, graced the event, in attendance was Mr Kunle Awotiku, Charles Alade, Afouda, Paul Alasiri, Pa Odunlade, AIT, Galaxy TV, OYOWMA, and other dignitaries.

We can say, it was a really bright day as some persons were surprisingly empowered with machines and equipment needed to thrive in their choice of trade, these included sewing machine, hair clipper and other vital trade equipment.

It can therefore be concluded that there is actually nothing like waste, what many see as nothing turns out to be something very valuable, so It’s high time we all started managing our wastes properly, from our homes which is considered a smaller unit, down to the community at large, this is in order to create a sustainable world without waste.

You can show your support towards this project by donating via the link below: https://dsigate.com/donate

more pictures below: ↓↓