KUWAIT: Sunshine Live 2020, the very first Virtual Summer Camp conducted by the Indian Community School Kuwait (ICSK), has been one of its kind all over Kuwait. When the current pandemic came as a hurdle towards our annually planned and successfully executed Summer Camp, instead of abandoning the plans, ICSK decided to execute the Virtual Summer Camp, Sunshine Live 2020. With wholehearted support and guidance from the ICSK Management, Dr V Binumon, Senior Administrator and Principal, ICSK Senior and Sherly Dennis, Principal, ICSK Junior, Team Sunshine Live lead by Dr Mary Isaac, Vice Principal, ICSK Amman took the first baby steps towards the Virtual Summer Camp. Participants from classes LKG to 10 were divided into three age-based categories; Sunny Smiles, Dreamers and Dazzlers.

The Camp began on June 14 with an Inaugural Ceremony and ended with a bang on July 13. Amol Vaidya, Senior Director, Operations Global Indian International School, UAE was the Chief Guest for the closing ceremony. The ceremony was attended by all the participants, their parents, resource persons from UAE, Kuwait as well as India. Glimpses of each of the categories left no doubt in the viewers' mind on how much the participants enjoyed each day. Certificate distribution was a delightful event for the campers when each participant saw their names on the screen.

The ceremony began with Islamic prayer by Azlan Ghansar and was followed by a video presentation by the tiny tots of Sunny Smiles, singing "God's love is so wonderful," a prayer song they sang every day at camp. The prayers were then followed by a very crisp and yet descriptive welcome address by Dr Mary Isaac, Vice Principal ICSK, Amman and Coordinator. There were video presentations of not only the activities, competitions for the tiny tots, dance video compilation but also an amazing song sung by the participants. Chief Guest Amol Vaidya expressed his delight in the colorful presentations and congratulated everyone present for the event.

Vaidya was himself a part of one session for Team Dazzlers and knew from his experience there, how each session was planned, executed and followed up with yet another zest-filled activity. He shared a few slides during the closing ceremony encouraging everyone present to make the most of the current situation and keep themselves updated. He mentioned a quote, "Sun has no Sunday," on which he went ahead and elaborated how there is no difference left between a weekday and a holiday anymore due to work from home scenario.

We should yet stay positive and make the most of our possible options. Participants, Nurjannah Aga from Sunny Smiles, Arisha Jilan from Dreamers and Lovis Liza Pothen from Dazzlers were very expressive about their happiness when sharing their feedback with everyone.

Saumya Vivek, Roshna Vinai and Dr Eldho George, representing the parents shared their thoughts on how they found the Summer Camp to be extremely informative, productive and yet entertaining for kids of all age groups. Felicitation for the external Resource Persons was done virtually through Mementos presented by Dr Mary Isaac. She also shared her heartfelt gratitude to all the in-house resource persons, the teachers who put forward their best efforts to make sure every activity was a huge success. The vote of thanks by Jaya Nirmal was extremely gracious and made everyone present understand how it took a great team and incredible team efforts to make the camp a huge success. The Ceremony ended with a live dance session on the theme song.

The overwhelming response from the parents and participants encouraged ICSK and Team Sunshine Live 2020 to proceed with Sunshine Live Camp 2 from July 18 to August 17. The registration link for Camp 2 is active. Those who wish to register may visit the ICSK school website (www.icsk-kw.com) to utilize the opportunity of participating in the upcoming activities under Camp 2 and make productive use of their vacations in this crisis hour.