Lok Virsa to hold summer camp for children

ISLAMABAD
The National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage (Lok Virsa) is all set to organise ‘Virsa Summer Camp for Children in Regional Languages’ with the aim to appreciate diversity of Pakistan.
Two separate camps will be arranged from July 27 to August 25 at the Pakistan National Museum of Ethnology (Heritage Museum) for children in the age group of 6 to 12 years. These will include ‘Camp-I: Learn Balochi Language and Glimpses into Balochi Culture’ and ‘Camp-II: Learn Wakhi Language and the Diversity of Gilgit Baltistan.’
Talking to this scribe, Lok Virsa’s Executive Director Dr Fouzia Saeed said that the objectives of the programme are to provide an orientation to children about the language, poetry, crafts, music and festivals of both these communities. “It will eventually create ownership among children regarding Pakistan’s languages and cultural heritage. It will also reaffirm our identity of being multi-cultural and pluralistic country,” she said.
The summer camp will be a 20-day activity (Monday-Friday) with daily timings from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Children will be taught about the language (alphabets), culture, arts, crafts, music, festivals and sports in different periods and in an interactive and enjoyable manner. The programme includes 15-day classes, a 2-day interactive workshop and 3-day educational visits to the reputed museums, i.e. Heritage Museum, Pakistan Monument Museum and Pakistan Museum of Natural History. Apart from informal learning of languages, children will also be encouraged to participate in practical activities like folk singing, music, craft making and painting. Folk artistes, artisans, story-tellers and craft experts will interact and share their experiences with them during the summer camps. Pakistan, a multi-lingual country, is enriched with more than 24 languages and dialects. These languages portray excellence of literature, poetry, folk songs, and spiritual quotes of Sufi saints and enhances the richness of our cultural heritage. Our regional languages, though distinct from each other, promote unity among people of different provinces and regions and cultivate love, respect and a firm adherence to the universal brotherhood.
In Balochistan, people speak different languages but there is a similarity in their literature, beliefs, rituals and customs. The cementing factor is religion which provides a base for unity and common social order. On the other hand, Wakhi people are occasionally called Pamiris. The origin of this language is Wakhan and it is, according to many sources, more than four thousand years old. It is spoken by the inhabitants of the Wakhan Corridor in Gilgit-Baltistan, in some parts of Tajakistan and Xinjiang in western China. The language belongs to the southern group of the Pamir languages, in the Iranian group of the Indo-European family of languages. The Wakhi live in different countries. In Gilgit-Baltistan, the Wakhi people mainly live in Gojal, Ishkoman, Darkut and Broghol. Registration for the summer camp is currently in process.