Fifty chil­dren re­cent­ly had the op­por­tu­ni­ty to learn more about the work of the Per­son­nel De­part­ment, the Par­lia­ment, the In­dus­tri­al Court, and what it means to have a ca­reer as a mu­si­cian and an artist, when they par­tic­i­pat­ed in the CPO’s sec­ond an­nu­al Three-Day Va­ca­tion Camp.

A re­lease from the Of­fice of the Chief Per­son­nel Of­fi­cer (CPO) notes that the event was ded­i­cat­ed to the chil­dren and rel­a­tives of staff mem­bers at the Per­son­nel De­part­ment and de­scribes it as a re­sound­ing suc­cess.

“The Camp was host­ed from Au­gust 7th to 9th 2024 and de­liv­ered a di­verse pro­gramme which was thought­ful­ly cu­rat­ed to en­sure a bal­ance of fun and learn­ing,” the CPO’s Of­fice re­lease said, “as well as show­cas­ing the Chief Per­son­nel Of­fi­cer’s com­mit­ment to cre­at­ing en­rich­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties for the 50 chil­dren who par­tic­i­pat­ed in the Camp.”

Quick Shot - CPO campers and volunteers gathered for a photo in the Parliament’s House of Representatives subsequent to a tour facilitated by Corporate Communications Officer, Melissa Griffith-Belgrave, on August 8th, 2024. [Image courtesy Office of the Chief Personnel Officer]

The CPO, Com­man­der Dr Daryl Din­di­al, had asked for mu­sic, art and vis­its to the Par­lia­ment and the In­dus­tri­al Court to be in­clud­ed in the list of ac­tiv­i­ties for the camp.

Ac­cord­ing to Dr Din­di­al, they were cru­cial el­e­ments in de­liv­er­ing a well-round­ed and im­pact­ful ed­u­ca­tion­al ex­pe­ri­ence for the chil­dren.

“By ex­plor­ing these in­sti­tu­tions, the chil­dren could bet­ter un­der­stand the op­er­a­tions of the Par­lia­ment and In­dus­tri­al Court, which are both di­rect­ly linked to the Per­son­nel De­part­ment and would help fa­cil­i­tate the un­der­stand­ing of the roles and re­spon­si­bil­i­ties as­so­ci­at­ed with their par­ents’ jobs,” he ob­served.

He added: “Hope­ful­ly we have in­spired fu­ture lead­ers in var­i­ous fields—whether that be a Prime Min­is­ter, a Judge in the In­dus­tri­al Court, a Mu­si­cian, or an Artist to fur­ther con­tribute to the de­vel­op­ment of Trinidad and To­ba­go.”

Art in Progress - Camp volunteer Elian Derrick assisted campers with their paintings at the CPO Three-Day Vacation Camp, on August 7, 2024. [Image courtesy Office of the Chief Personnel Officer]

The young­sters ben­e­fit­ed from a part­ner­ship be­tween the Per­son­nel De­part­ment and Kei­ba Ja­cob Mot­t­ley of the Art So­ci­ety of Trinidad and To­ba­go, which fa­cil­i­tat­ed an art work­shop on day one of the three-day camp.

Pro­fes­sion­al artists Ch­enelle Ma­haraj and Chan­tal Quam­i­na fa­cil­i­tat­ed the art ses­sion de­signed to in­tro­duce campers aged 4-13 years to pro­fes­sion­al-lev­el artis­tic skills and tech­niques to ig­nite their cre­ativ­i­ty.

The mu­si­cal com­po­nent of the camp was fa­cil­i­tat­ed by Em­manuel Stephen, who of­fered the chil­dren a unique op­por­tu­ni­ty to con­nect with Trinidad and To­ba­go's rich mu­si­cal her­itage through its na­tion­al in­stru­ment, the Steel Pan.