Participants at the Youth Red Cross study-cum-training camp in Bhubaneswar. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, March 2: Around 190 college students from 26 districts are attending a state-level Youth Red Cross (YRC) study-cum-training camp in the capital.

The four-day camp, which is being conducted by the Indian Red Cross Society-Orissa, began yesterday at the Adivasi Ground. Students from districts such as Rayagada, Deogarh, Sundergarh, Nuapada, Kalahandi and even Maoist-infested areas of Malkangiri and Koraput are participating.

This training camp is based on the theme “Find a volunteer inside you”. The colleges, which were selected on the basis of annual activities, regular reporting to the state unit and remittance of fees, deputed two students and one counsellor each for the camp.

The young volunteers are being trained in first aid skills, disaster management and preparedness, road safety, HIV-AIDS awareness and prevention, climate change as well as an idea on leadership qualities and the role of youth in bringing about change.

A host of activities starting from essay writing, debate, and elocution (both in English and Oriya) to painting and quiz competitions will be conducted during these four days.

“The awareness about HIV-AIDS is very low in the rural areas. In my village, a woman who had contracted the virus was shunned by the others and left to fend for herself. After her death, no one, including her husband, was prepared to cremate her. Finally, some of us who volunteer under YRC buried her,” said Narayan Behera, a student from Anchalika Mahavidyalaya (Jagannath Prasad) in Ganjam district.

“Initially, people were even against the idea of staging street plays on HIV-AIDS awareness. Although we have been able to sensitise them to some extent now, we still have a long way to go,” he added.

Another volunteer, Rasmita Ranbida from Suvarnapur said awareness needed to be generated to end social evils such as child marriage, dowry and illiteracy, especially among girls.

“The youth has a key role to play in bringing about these reforms in society. We are also taking up environmental issues such as global warming and climate change through plantation programmes in our respective areas,” said 16-year-old Rasmita.

The camp, which was inaugurated yesterday evening by governor Muralidhar Chandrakant Bhandare and secretary of higher education, Chandrasekhar Kumar, was last organised in the year 2008. “But even after a gap of three years, and March being the examination season, the turnout has been very impressive.

“The aim is to make our youth better citizens,” said YRC officer Sarita Supkar.