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local Monday 6 March 2023
13 youths receive their diploma in the second edition of Jump18

(Oranjestad)—On Friday tion of Jump18, this edition
night, the closing cere- had 13 participants. This
mony and graduation of was less than the first edi-
the second edition of the tion, but the results were
Jump18 project took place. the same, as Dr. Busari in-
Jump18 is a project with the dicated. This means that
goal to help and guide chil- whatever the Jump18
dren and youths between 4 team is doing to help the
and 18 years old and their children is indeed working.
parents to live a healthier
life. Through this project, He further explained that
the Jump18 team contrib- they saw improvement in
uted in reducing the risk of the participant’s self-es-
obesity and other diseases teem. Not one child gained
in children and youths. weight in the period of six
weeks of the project. More
Jump18 consists of a group than half lost weight and
of young Aruban profes- their physical abilities im-
sionals in the area of medi- proved; they were more
cine, along with pediatri- active.
cian Dr. Jamiu Busari, who
developed this project to Dr. Busari also added that
help kids and their parents they helped some of the
improve their health. The parents to have access to
philosophy behind Jump18 a part of the community
is to motivate and allow the that would otherwise not
children of Aruba and their be accessible had they not sons, workshops, guidance
parents to live a healthier participated in the project. and help in different areas,
and sustainable lifestyle including the topic of self-
that will prevent the harm- “I can say that jump18 esteem, physical activity,
ful effects of obesity in chil- worked the first time. This cooking and more. Damian
dren. time, we are seeing the took his time to express his
same results, and we hope gratitude to everyone who
“We are very excited, be- to see it work better next helped him in the different
cause it went really well. time,” he remarked. areas of life during the proj-
There were of course a few ect: “I wanted to say thank
challenges along the way, Damian Henriquez (11) was you to the case managers
but it was extraordinary to one of the participants who that helped and guided
see how motivated the completed this edition of me with this big change,
children were,” Dr. Busari Jump18. He shared his ex- because it isn’t easy to see
expressed. He explained perience in the project to people eat something I
that the challenges they our reporter. Damian found can’t. Also a thank you for
faced in getting parents to out about Jump18 when their guidance on the topic
participate in the program he got diagnosed as a pre- of bullying, self love and
varied, but they noticed diabetic and was told to on team work. I feel much
that all parents had the change his habits and life- more secure with myself,”
same motivation to support style. “I learned a lot from he expressed.q
their children and to moti- this program and I believe
vate them into participat- that this program was a
ing in the project’s activi- big help to all of us and our
ties. “That was very inspiring families,” he stated.
for us to see,” he stated.
During the program, the
Compared to the first edi- participants received les-