Social Solutions

Last week Pastor Phillip Gumbs of the Church of God Holiness invited me to join with him on his regularly scheduled Talk Show on Radio Anguilla called Social Solutions. The programme began promptly at 8:30 am on Saturday, March 15 and as always was sponsored by Cable and Wireless Anguilla.

Pastor Gumbs has been doing this show as far as I can remember dating back to at least 2005 and he must be commended for his commitment and dedication to Anguilla and its youth. Originally, the aim of the show was to speak in great detail about the Anguilla Youth Crime Watch and have join in on the discussions some of the children representing that organization. When I arrived and was informed of the change in programme, it was surprising to see that Pastor Gumbs had decided to change the format and turn it into an open discussion about youth in Anguilla. Indubitably, it turned into a great programme in which many important points were raised not only by us, but by the several callers who contributed in a big way to the show.

The radio listeners were promised that in the next few weeks, with the cooperation of the National Youth Council, it would be my duty to compile and publish a list of every youth-oriented organization in Anguilla so that children and parents could be fully aware of the options they have in terms of getting involved in a worthwhile and meaningful extra-curricular activity. We also discussed how unfortunate it was about the latest news dealing with the resigning of New York’s Governor Eliot Spitzer. This topic was brought up because a caller mentioned the fact that our leaders in government and the community are role models and both children and adults follow their lead. This also brought up another interesting point that power does corrupt even those who we think are impervious to deviance or subversity.
Pastor Gumbs is to be lauded for his commitment to providing social solutions for Anguilla. Not only is he a talker, he is a doer as well. He is one of the main coordinators of the Youth Crime Watch in Anguilla and this organization needs the support of the entire island if people really want to combat the issue of youth violence and crime. Adults consistently berate the youth for their shortcomings. Yet here, we can see a concrete example of a youth group taking direct action and ownership of the problem at hand. The evidence of their work can already be seen in the fact that, statistically speaking, extreme violence in the schools has gone down since 2005. Of course there are the fights and usual threats, but the days of stabbings and young men carrying weapons that discharge in there groin region have subsided. This is not the time to become complacent as it is critical to keep the momentum and continue to affect change in a positive way. Anguilla needs action-oriented adults and children to become the new role models and leaders of Anguilla and hopefully the children will begin to follow and mimic their actions. Pastor Gumbs and Kristie Webster are two of the young pioneers in this area and could greatly use your support. Do not hesitate to contact them if you have any ideas or concerns.