16 people, comprising of students from the University of the Gambia and volunteers from the Young Men Christian Association (YMCA) recently received a five-day comprehensive and intensive training on digital video at the YMCA headquarters in Kanifing. The training was conducted by Swati Khurana, an artist and instructor from New York, USA.

Speaking to the Daily Observer, Dr Rosamond King, the coordinator of the training programme expressed delight about the enthusiasm manifested by the participants during the training. “I am glad to see that within such a short period of time, the participants have been able to assimilate so much knowledge”, she said.
She added that the purpose of the workshop was to enable young Gambians to be able to make their own movies, commercials, and musical video clips, as a means of creating self employment among the youths.
 
Thomas Kojo Quayson Junior, of the university, applauded the initiative which he described as a worthwhile venture.
Joseph Jallow a participant  from the YMCA applauded the organisers for coming up with such an initiative, adding that it will go a long way to enhance their capacity in video editing as well as help to build the foundation for a strong movie industry in the country.
Buba Touray, Momodou Njie and Mariam Jaw also participants from the University expressed similar sentiments. They further urged the organisers to come up with more of such training packages.
 
During the course of the training, the participants embarked on two projects which resulted in the production of two public service announcements (PSAs), one on internet fraud and another on public smoking.  The two PSAs were displayed in a video show on Friday 6th June at the Girl Guides headquarters during the closing ceremony which also entailed a certificate awarding ceremony as well as an a lecture by Ms Khurana on her works.