Jones Town, Craig Town youth benefit from skills training
Published:Wednesday | February 23, 2022 | 4:52 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
THIRTY-ONE JAMAICAN youngsters in the Jones Town and Craig Town communities on Saturday completed their seven-week development and life skills training programme, targeted at expanding economic prospects and lowering youth involvement in crime and violence.
The programme was made possible with the support from United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Positive Pathways initiative, a five-year project conducted within 12 inner-city communities throughout Jamaica.
The participants were awarded certificates of completion.
Held at the Craig Town rehabilitation centre’s multipurpose court, USAID Pathways’ Chief of Party, Paul Teeple, congratulated the participating youngsters, who were between the ages of 10 to 24 years.
He expressed gratitude to the residents for their support of the youth participating in the programme. He also thanked the Jones Town/Craig Town Benevolent Society (JTCTBS) volunteers who went through training and delivered the lessons to the children.
In his remarks, he expressed his delight in seeing the training being brought to life and put into practice, stating that when he and his wife arrived at the event site and were unsure where to go, a group of youth from the programme went out to greet and welcome them, as well as guide them to the designated location.
“They were taking full responsibility for what’s going on in their community and it made us feel good, it made us feel welcomed; it made us feel safe because we were in the hands of young people,” he said.
Some of the lessons learnt and expressed by participants included the fact that the programme enabled them to be more confident, fight less, and learn more.
“All of these things are important in the construction of peace. Peace is not going to come from outsiders, peace is going to come from you all,” said Teeple.
Member of Parliament for the St Andrew South constituency, Mark Golding, who was also present, stated that programmes like these are critical in guiding the youth to becoming upstanding members of their community and to take care of themselves, because not all children are taught these lessons at home or on the streets.
POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR, POSITIVE THINKING
“And sometimes we need a likkle opportunity to reflect and learn more about ourselves and what is positive behaviour, what is positive thinking, and what can take you forward in life in the right direction, and avoid the wrong direction,” Golding said, urging people to be better individuals so that future generations of children will have more opportunities for a better life.
He also urged young people to acknowledge the valuable lessons taught to them about caring for others and themselves.
“I hope you’ve drawn some positive inspiration from this and you’ll use it as a stepping stone to your future in life, and have a lot of happy memories that you can rely on to guide you when you have tough choices in your day-to-day life, because life nuh easy and it always full of tough choices. But if you have the right mentality and you can approach it from the standpoint of what you learnt in a programme like this, then you have a better chance of making the right decision when you have a hard decision to make,” he said in his message to the youth.
PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Dr K’adamawe K’nife, a lecturer and researcher at The University of the West Indies’ Mona School of Business and Management, issued a special call to parents to fulfil their parental responsibilities, which include creating a platform that makes the lives of the youth much easier, and learning to listen to their children.
“The conflict that we see amongst young persons is a reflection of the conflict amongst adult persons, because children learn from their parents,” he said.
As a result, K’nife believes that parents’ goal should be to help their children in such a way that this type of programme is no longer necessary.
K’nife, a father of six, said he encourages his children to be focused, disciplined and confident, as well as to always familiarise themselves with the material offered, even after programmes like these have concluded.
“There is no weakness. Look at the relative strengths you have and build upon those strengths,” he said.