For the second time in a fortnight, young people, representing various church and community groups, and holding membership in the National Youth Council, met among themselves, and with Ministers of Government and other influential officials, particularly in the Ministries of Social Development and Youth, Culture Education and Sports, to express some of their burning concerns.

On the first occasion, at the House of Assembly, they met with the four Ministers for a short time before they (the Ministers) had to leave for an important meeting with the Salamander Hospitality Group. At the promise of the Chief Minister, who thought that the meeting with the youth was critically important, it was rightly arranged for the Ministers to sit with them for some five hours on Wednesday this week to listen to their recommendations and to respond accordingly.

Some of the wide-reaching recommendations called on politicians and persons in authority to be role models for the youth; to work towards a technical and vocational school; to provide guidance and counselling sessions to help develop self-respect and self-esteem among young people; to address, through legislation, issues of drug and alcohol practices and domestic violence affecting youth; to develop more sporting facilities for young people; to introduce policies relating to price control on basic food items; and to establish a minimum wage among other important recommendations.
These may be the first occasions that the boys and girls had the opportunity to meet with the island’s leaders some of whom might not even have been known to the youngsters before. Much credit for the compilation of the recommendations and organising of the meetings is not only due to the Department of Youth and Culture, as a collective organisation, but in particular to the very effective and knowledgeable Programme Officer, Ms Hyacinth Augustine.

In today’s society the youth in a country are its most important resource and treasure, for on them really lie the burdens of continuity, responsibility and leadership when our elders quit the scene. However archaic or repetitive it may sound, the maxim is still true that young people are a country’s future. To slight and not to listen to them is a recipe for trouble if not now, certainly in the long run. The idea is not to indoctrinate them in any way, like in some countries which shall be nameless. It is rather to promote them in their desire to be free thinkers to decide what is best for themselves and their country and to provide fulfillment for every positive wish they might have. When young people can of themselves, or with some assistance by others, come up with the type of recommendations to which we referred earlier, it is both an encouragement and a blessing in a small society like ours.
It must be acknowledged that over the years successive Governments in Anguilla have more than paid lip service to the needs of our young people. The existing playing facilities, programmes and services already provided through the appropriate ministries and departments, speak to that fact. But there are many more avenues through which the youthful energies of this great human resource can be harnessed and developed. While the lives of many of our young people have been touched and influenced, many others have not yet been reached. These, sadly, include a growing number who are behind bars and at other places of discipline, control and hopefully reform. We must make a concerted effort to help them and stop, as much as it lies in our power, the slide into the abyss.

It is hoped that Government, church, community organisations and individuals would unite in a common cause to listen to the voices of our young people, to provide role models for them and to save them either from themselves or from those who might wish to mislead them. Only then can we have an upcoming noble generation to move our island home forward, to shun the pitfalls of drug abuse, gang violence and the other evils waiting to snatch them up.

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