BAKER LAKE - Plans are in the works that could see a successful youth retreat continue this summer at Sahara Lake, about 160 kilometres northwest of Baker Lake.

The Mianiqsijit Project is, primarily, a counselling group in the community of Baker Lake.

It accepts counselling referrals from individuals and groups on a variety of issues.

Mianiqsijit staff members also go into Baker's elementary school to do short presentations on self-esteem and sexual-abuse prevention.

The camp used for the project's first youth retreat during the summer of 2010 was donated by Cameco Corporation Canada.

The site has five weather haven tents that feature a fully-functional kitchen, three sleeping tents and a wash tent with washer and dryer.

Co-ordinator Katie Snow said the Mianiqsijit Project used the camp as a retreat for five Baker youth in August of 2010 and hopes to expand upon that endeavour this coming summer.

She said the retreat is a way of helping some kids in the community develop good self-esteem, and have a sense of well-being in terms of their mental health.

"When our board members realized Cameco wasn't going to use the site anymore, they jumped at the chance to take ownership of it because they knew we could send youth groups out there," said Snow.

"We keep one sleeping tent for the youth and another for employees, so we'll probably only be able to send five or six youth every year.

"For our first group we asked around for the names of some girls who could use the time out at the camp.

"A family was recommended to us and a couple of girls from that family agreed to go and picked a few friends to accompany them, but this year we'll be looking for

recommendations from the schools to select different girls."

Making the first trip were Maisie Tunguaq, 11, Cynthia Tunguaq, 14, Kalu Qaqimat, 15, Amarutuaq Nukik, 15, and Magdeline Ukpatiku, 14.

They were chaperoned by Snow, Jean Pudnak, Bill Kashla (guard) and Arnold Moess (maintenance).

Among the activities the girls took part in were berry picking, hiking and wildlife watching, fishing, roasting marshmallows, swimming, baking muffins and cupcakes, outdoor and board games, bracelet making, drawing, colouring and painting.

Snow said the project is trying to focus on good kids who don't necessarily participate in a lot of activities outside of school.

She said the first camp was a positive and rewarding experience for everyone involved, and Mianiqsijit is looking forward to doing it again this year with different campers.

"The girls were very shy when we first began the trip last summer, but they really started to open up by the end of the first night at camp.

"They became very outgoing as the week progressed, and they were able to just be kids and have a fun time instead of having to take care of people at home.

"We receive funding for camp supplies and food, but we're covering the cost of the flights out there and camp maintenance by ourselves.

"In the past, we rented the use of the camp to other groups and we're using that money to cover the flights and additional expenses."

Snow said the girls who took part in the 2010 camp almost always come up and talk to her now when they see her in the community.

She said one of the girls really wants to return to the camp in 2011 and has other friends she'd like to bring.

"They really enjoyed the experience and we definitely saw a number of real benefits to their participation at the camp.

"We were really pressed for time last year with insurance issues and other things we had to have done to get the girls to the camp before school started, but this year I'll have the girls selected much earlier.

"With both our workers being female we decided to go with girls starting the project, but we'd like to get men involved to take boys out to the camp and do male activities.

"But we'll be trying five more girls this coming summer until we can get some male chaperones interested."

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