ADL member Kamil Guliyev also participated in the YLC 2019 Youth Leadership Camp organized by IDF Europe from July 7 to 13 this year.

Kamil Guliyev shared his impressions in his letter: 

My name is Kamil. I am 20 years old and I live in Baku, Azerbaijan.

I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2008 and since then I've become a member of ADL (Azerbaijan Diabetes League).

This year, I decided to take an advantage of the summer YLC organized by IDF Europe, so I presented my candidacy to the IDF Europe on behalf of my association. I received glad news that my candidacy for YLC 2019 was approved. In the month of July, candidates selected from European countries met together in Doga Tatil Koyu, Istanbul, Turkey.

To be honest I felt a little unconfident before taking part in my first camp of international scale, however the reality surpassed my expectations. I met a lot of new friends from almost all European countries that I'm very much proud of. To point out the most interesting and informative was sharing our experience with diabetes and learning from each other a lot.

We, organizers & participants, spent a wonderful and educational week full of workshops, lectures & presentations and of course, we did not forget about entertainment as well. We had quite a lot of time dedicated to physical activities - such as football, volleyball, swimming, going on excursions around the lake and mountain, Bosphorus boat trip etc.

Furthermore, several representatives from different organizations & companies, previous camp participants joined us in our workshops to share their knowledge and experience and also conducted useful trainings as well as arranged practical tasks on different topics.

In Azerbaijan, our diabetes association organizes summer camps every year. The participation of nurses and doctors in our local camp is the main difference to be mentioned. It really helps all participants of the camp to learn how to control their glucose level more efficiently and follow other instructions.

After participating in YLC 2019, I'll eagerly share my knowledge and experience I earned among ADL members through conducting informative workshops and seminars. I hope it will be as advantageous as it was for me in my first international camp experience.

I want to extend my huge gratitude to IDF Europe organizers and mainly to Sabine Dupont, Kyle Jacques Rose, Iryna Vlasenko, Cristina Petrut and so on and special thanks to our local host Turkish Diabetes Foundation, for making this wonderful event come true. And also, I want to thank my association's president - Yegana Sultanova for her great support and assistance in allowing me to participate in this fabulous camp in Turkey.

Let’s win diabetes together!