That's the only way to describe the various facets of the Hope Mathematics Camp. The camp, which caters to inner-city children from non-traditional high schools in the Corporate Area, is now in its sixth year and with limited help, the camp's founder and administrator, Damion Crawford, has managed to pull it off yet again.

On Friday, the students at the Hope Mathematics Camp got a treat in more ways than one. They were fêted with food catered by the Gourmet to Go staff from the Bars to Go Group of Companies and were given brief motivational speeches by lecturers from the University of the West Indies, Mona campus, and Senator Warren Newby, parliamentary secretary with responsibility for youth in the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.

"Throughout the years, we have had a tremendous amount of help from a number of organisations, including the University of the West Indies," said Crawford, who is also a lecturer at the UWI, Mona campus. "But because of cuts in the Budget and the many financial responsi-bilities many persons have, this year, we funded the camp mainly by ourselves and through donations made by friends and generous help from others."

Since the start of the two-week camp last week Sunday, its 30 young participants have been immersed in an intense mathematics programme while they live on the UWI campus.