Bridging the divide - Development programme gives youth opportunity to excel

Patrina Pink, Gleaner Writer

"I feel like a father whose children have all done well and have exceeded my expectations," proclaimed a grinning Omar Davies, member of parliament for South St Andrew.

Davies was speaking at 'The Journey', a celebration of a decade of excellence in the South St Andrew Education Development Programme. The event was held at The Ruins at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, on Tuesday night.

The Ruins is one of the few remaining buildings of what was the Mona Plantation and, for those who understood the historical significance, served as a lesson in irony.

It might have been unfathomable to many of the Africans that built that plantation and others that generations later their descendants would be dining in a colonial relic or even more shockingly in rooms they were previously denied entry.

Davies expressed a related sentiment, telling special guests that the youth from South St Andrew were a force to be reckoned with.

"Given equal opportunity, these young people that you see will perform just as well or even better than some of your children and grandchildren." The sentiment appeared to have connected with many and the small pause that followed was hardly enough time for many of the society's elite, who were present, to appreciate what some argue is Jamaica's class divide.

The programme was established in 2000 and has churned out thousands of gainfully employed young people. Seventeen of its former beneficiaries are now attending tertiary institutions such as the UWI, Mona; the University of Technology and The Mico University College.

Guest speaker at the function, Professor Gordon Shirley, lauded Davies and his team for an enviable educational model.

AMBITIOUS PROJECT

"This is one of the most ambitious projects of this type ever undertaken in our history," said Shirley, who is also principal of the UWI, Mona campus. He added that that the UWI Township project was in part shaped by a "careful study" of the South St Andrew project.

Despite a thought-provoking and inspirational speech by Shirley, it was the students and their tribute to Davies that was the highlight of the night.

Twenty-one-year-old tutor Michael Morrison was one of the programme's first achievers and expressed gratitude on behalf of the youths present.

"Our community is one where youths are often given less-than-adequate opportunities for development and are fed a constant diet of hopelessness ... but you are a great leader for you have inspired people to have confidence in themselves."