Youth encouraged to give back to communities

Karen Sudu, Gleaner Writer

GLENGOFFE, St Catherine:

Jacqueline daCosta, chief executive officer of the National Best Community Foundation, last Saturday encouraged the young people of Glengoffe to give back to their community and the country.

"Give something back. You are a bigger youth, help a younger one; you see children being bullied in your schools, talk to those who are doing it and say 'that's not the way'," daCosta told youths from Glengoffe and its environs in north-east St Catherine, who attended a youth-empowerment conference at Glengoffe High school.

She added: "You can be volunteers in many different ways. You can help beautify the area in which you live ... . Think about the things that you can do for your society."

In 2007, Glengoffe won the inaugural staging of the National Best Community Competition and Programme which, among other things, seeks to encourage local governance and recognise community self-reliance and self-help activities and capabilities. They won second place in 2008 and in 2009.

Against this background, the competition's brainchild noted that the young residents were already one step ahead, as they lived in an active community that has acted as a positive force for sustainable development in Jamaica.

Integral to ja's success

Moreover, she pointed out that youth and community participation were integral to the nation's success.

"If communities do not get involved in dealing with the problems and issues that we have in our country, including yourselves, we are never going to solve our problems. We can't depend on the government, we can't depend on international institutions," she said.

At the same time, daCosta called on the country's future leaders to seize existing opportunities to improve their lives and use their creativity to earn a livelihood.

"You can't just wait on somebody to come and employ you sometimes, about half of the population in Jamaica is self-employed, that means you will have to find avenues and areas in which you can find things to do that you can make a living," she advised.

The conference, hosted by the Glengoffe Community Development Committee Benevolent Society, themed 'Youth Empowerment in True Community Development,' was aimed at getting young people more involved in volunteerism and community development.

The main activity of the one-day event was a workshop which examined topics such as entre-preneurship, security and agriculture.