The Bhutanese Leading the way.
His Majesty The King on 15th January 2016 granted an Audience to the participants of Camp Raven during the closing ceremony of the camp.
RBA and RBP teams played the final football match at the closing event. The winning football team, as well as the winners of the basketball matches held earlier, won an airline trip to Bumthang, which was extremely exciting for the children.
The Chief Operations Officer of the Royal Bhutan Army gave away prizes to winners of various events held during the camp.
Children of Armed Force Personnel from the Royal Bhutan Police, Royal Bhutan Army, and Royal Bodyguards participate in the month long camp held at three different locations. Volunteers taught the children dancing, art, and other skills, besides which the children also took part in various sports. Prizes were sponsored by business organizations.
The top performing student participant from RBA, RBP and RBG each will also receive a scholarship for further studies based on their marks in this academic year.
The camp was initiated in 2011, upon the Royal Command of His Majesty The King, to engage children in fun activities during the winter vacation.
A leadership camp for scouts recently concluded in Tencholing, and a winter enrichment camp for girls in eastern Bhutan is currently underway in Gyalpoizhing. Both camps were initiated upon Royal Command.
Last week the first ever marathon for Camp Raven since its inception took place on 8th January with all the 575 participants involved in Camp Raven from Royal Body Guards, Royal Bhutan Army and Royal Bhutan Police. The coordinators are from RBP, RBG, RBA, headed by officers from the Dasho Zimpon’s Office.
It started at 8 am in the morning from Dechencholing and ended with children arriving at Changlimithang ground within an hour. Most of the students who signed up for the marathon could complete the run successfully.
The winners for boys and girls were categorized differently. Tandin Wangmo from RBG, a 15 year old girl who has completed her class 8 exams from Dechencholing Middle Secondary School, came first after completing the marathon in just 32.5 minutes. Dechen Wangmo, 17 and Dechen Zangmo, 16 stood second and third respectively. In the Top 10, 9 girls were from RBG and 1 from RBP. “I expected to complete the race and was hoping I would win,” said Tandin the 15 year old winner. For her it was the first time she participated in Camp Raven.
Galey Tshering, 18 from Royal Bhutan Army, who had been participating in Camp Raven since 2012, came first in the boy’s category by completing the marathon in 37.5 minutes. He is a student from Babesa Middle Secondary School. He said that the routine morning jog is his secret to winning the marathon.
In the top 10, there were 6 boys from RBA, 3 from RBG and 1 from RBP.
Dechen Namgyal, 15 from RBG and Karma Phuntsho, 18 from RBA came second and third respectively. Under Royal command, the winners were awarded each with a smart phone, Nike shoes and track suits and water bottles. Similar prizes are there for the ones in second and third positions.
“I am glad that I could complete the marathon. This year Camp Raven was very fun, it lets us get familiar with many sports and recreational activities and marathons like this helps make lots of friends.” said 16 year old Dawa Dema studying in Yangchenphug Higher Secondary School.
Camp Raven is conducted in three different grounds for RBP, RBG and RBA. With this marathon the students from all three places could gather and interact.
Under Royal Command, Camp Raven is meant mainly for the children of armed forces was from 18th December 2015 to 15th January 2016. There were 575 youth attending in the Royal Bhutan Army (227), Royal Bhutan Police (152) and Royal Body Guards (196) camp grounds. Of the total 255 were girls and 320 were boys.
The main objective of this camp is to keep the children engaged and productive so they will deter themselves away from crime and other unhealthy activities.
