Cairo 18-08-2008: The Arab Digital Expression Camps (ADEC) project concluded its 2008 session Saturday (16 August), sending back home 34 children from seven Arab countries who spent two weeks of fun and produced diverse works in digital expression.

The camp's administration organized a final ceremony Friday which included the campers (aged 11 to 16), their parents and visiting artists and individuals working in youth development. The audience cheered to collaborative projects represented by two musical performances and four films in addition to dozens of individual works in animation, film and sound and music – all of which have been uploaded and can be viewed on the campers' portal (www.arabdigitalexpression.net).

The 2008 supervising team included 21 specialized trainers from Egypt and Lebanon who accompanied the youth in their journey of digital expression. The 2008 session also included six ex-campers who formed the camps' "popular committee" and took active part in organizing some events as well as representing the campers' views and demands.

The ADEC project had launched its 2008 session with a one-week training of trainers' session (July 26 to August 1) followed by the camps (August 2 to 15) which was held at the Six Corners Resort in Abu Sultan, Ismailiya. The campers came from Morocco, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

The camps' program included fun-based workshops in filmmaking, sound and music, animation, web 2.0, sports and arts all designed within a comprehensive program aimed at empowering youth and developing their skills in digital expression.

Several well-known guests, including percussionist Hany Bdeir and Egyptian hip hop, rap and break dancing group "The Flavour Project" performed during evening events. These visits were highly successful and effective as the visiting artists not only performed to the youth but conducted workshops prior to their performances, leading the performances to be jointly conducted with the campers included.

At this time and age, the symbols of modern life - satellite TV, internet, cell phones, electronic billboards, etc - are connecting children and youth to a world their parents never knew. With this technological media domination comes a content that rarely reflects their culture and heritage. The Arab youth are more on the receiving end of this technology. The goal of this project is to empower Arab youth with the tools and skills to make use of the technology they are exposed to, and to become creators of their own content rather than receivers or mere spectators. This camp aspires to teach the youth how to use technology to develop their knowledge and sense of identity in a creative way.

The organization of ADEC's 2008 session was made possible with the support of Team Engineering and Management Consultants – the project's main supporter. Several other companies, non-governmental organizations and individuals from Egypt, Jordan, UAE, KSA and Morocco have contributed to funding youth to join the camps. Among the sponsoring companies are Sadco (Egypt), Team-Maroc, Saudi Human Resource Development (KSA) and Pepsico (UAE). The Jordanian Ruwwad organization sponsored two children and two trainers to take part in the event while the Culture Resource's Mawa3eed program for supporting cultural and artistic exchange in the Arab region funded the travel of six trainers from Lebanon. Several individuals also supported youth from Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq including: Nadeem Shaath (Palestine), Essam el-Khatib (Jordan), Helmy Sallam (Egypt), Mohammed Ismail (Egypt), Nabeel Shaath (Palestine) and two other contributors who asked not to be named.

This is the second year ADEC organizes its big annual event. In August 2007, 64 children took part in the program supervised by 30 trainers from Egypt, Lebanon and Palestine, where they produced many works in digital expression in filmmaking, music, web design and graphic design.

For more information about the project, visit www.arabdigitalexpression.com. To follow-up on the youth's projects, visit www.arabdigitalexpression.net.