As we told you on Monday, it’s Youth Week and activities today
centered on the Youth for the Future Office in Belize City where they held an
open day. But more than just a showcase, it was an attempt to offer moral instruction
and real-world wisdom to a generation raised in the era of bang-bang and bling-bling.
Jacqueline Godwin found out more.
Jacqueline Godwin Reporting,
These are just some of the faces of persons killed between January two thousand
to present and a frightening reminder of just how critical things have become
for Belize’s youth. Youths especially between the ages of fourteen and
twenty one are being encouraged to stay in school and take up the challenge
to become self sufficient and productive rather than choose a life of crime
and violence.
It has been an ongoing struggle to keep young persons motivated to do the right
thing but youth for the future is determined to inspire secondary school students.
There may be few success stories to share, but one that happened in 2003 was
used to help today’s high school students.
Kenrick Williams, Program Development Manager – YFF
“Five years ago we had a specific situation where a young man received
a small loan from Youth for the Future because he came to one of these sessions,
five years ago, and yesterday he was the speaker at the head table talking about
how he got that loan from Youth for the Future and now his business five years
later is successful. He is actually the one that created these t-shirts that
we are wearing, he did 500 of them. He did all our banners and stuff like that
countrywide. So that is one of the success stories, of course we have a lot
of challenges, there are a lot of assessments that need to be done to ensure
that the right people are getting the money.”
And YFF makes that possible through a close working relationship with organizations
that help to provide funding. Today the youths got a sneak peek into what is
available to them and what some of their peers have been able to achieve.
Kenrick Williams,
“We have the National Youth Cadet showcasing what are some of the
activities, what are some of the programs they provide on a yearly basis. We
have the National 4-H Center which is another department under Youth for the
Future which is showcasing some of their activities that they do, how the young
people get involved. They have jams and jellies and peppers that they do on
a yearly basis and we are also showing some of the other units, the Job Creation
Unit and Job Placement, how people can come in and get training for job placement.”
And just like how one youth was motivated to start his own business YFF hopes
that a number of the high school students who attended the open day will have
their own success stories to tell one day. Jacqueline Godwin reporting for 7NEWS.
The week of activities continues on Thursday with a national forum
at the University where youths will be talking about issues of other concerns
to them like crime and violence, HIV and Aids. Youth Week closes on Saturday
with a sports fest.
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