Creating a ‘youth’ safe environment in society
Deneita Fredericks, Founder and President of SWIFT
Deneita Fredericks, Founder and President of SWIFT

By M Margaret Burke

SWIFT – Social Wellness Interest for Teens is a youth organisation formed by a group of teenagers when they were yet in Fourth Form at St Joseph High School in the city.

Founder and President of the group is 17-year-old Deneita Fredericks, who, along with other members of the group was at the time in Fourth Form, heading toward the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations. However, they all grasped at the idea of forming the group after discussing the ideas that were put before them.

“As a teenager in life we all tend to have our ups and downs, and many times we feel like if we have no one to talk to and this problem that is occurring causes us to lock ourselves in, and with this lack of attention by society we feel so alone – we tend to lash out on other people; we tend to let other teens pressure us into doing stuff that we are not supposed to do; we have people committing suicide and the like,” Deneita told the Pepperpot Magazine. “Growing up I experienced this stuff; I went through it; I know what it is like; I know the challenges that you can face and I didn’t have anyone to talk to. I felt like if I went to speak to people they will judge me and they would look at me differently.”

She said that because of all the issues affecting teens, she wanted to create a group where teenagers would be able to be a part of, and be given the chance to take part in activities to get their minds off what was bothering them, and at the same time be able to give back to the community.

Deneita explained that with the plan in her mind, she approached her fellow classmates and other Fourth Formers and together they decided to launch the group at school. “The group was launched; we got our logo and we then got sponsors from Dinas Embroidery for our teE shirts, which we use whenever we go out on official business,” she said.

Deneita reported that the group has been going well and they have been engaged in the counseling of some teenagers, who would have confided in them about their problems.

A PAUSE, A BRIEF SETBACK

As the students entered Fifth Form and with the CSEC exams encroaching on them they started experiencing some amount of difficulties, effectively balancing studies and the engagements of the group. According to Deneita, “It was either one or the other.”

Some of the members of the SWIFT organisation

She said that it became necessary for most of the group’s activities to be put on pause for a year, which she felt was an unfortunate setback of not being able to properly help other students who would have been going through their own issues in life.

“However, after the CSEC exams were finished we fully continued the work we had started,” she said. “Last month we had our first Bar-B-Que, which was to raise enough funds to do a feeding programme at one of the orphanages, which is really to help young children and this was a success.”

THE YOUTH HAVE A VOICE IN SOCIETY

Deneita said that one of the primary objectives of the group is to create a safe environment for teenagers; an environment where teenagers do not feel alone; where they have someone to talk to and express themselves.

“We all know that teenagers do not always feel comfortable to share their problems with adults, because they feel that the adults may lash out at them saying like: ‘you are young, you have nothing to study, you don’t have to pay bills, you don’t have to do this or you don’t have to do that,” she said.

So this environment, she posited, is one in which the youth would feel much more comfortable; also it is one that will bring awareness to the wider public that the youth have a voice in society and they need to be heard.

AWARENESS PLAN

Young Deneita stated that as a group, they go out to distribute posters and also seek some amount of publicity so that people are made aware of the group and what they do so that they can do even more.

Additionally, she noted that the way forward for the group is to make Guyana, “A socially acceptable place especially for the youths; a place where youths can excel both academically and socially,” she said.

She said that Guyana has a lot of resources that can be harnessed and so, as a group, they just need the teenagers to be able to reach their full potential as they benefit from these resources.

SOCIAL COHESION

“All of us in the group have our own challenges, even as members of the executive body – we all have challenges,” said Deneita, who said that their biggest challenge at first was “getting social cohesion.” However, having been able to meet as an executive body to discuss the way forward and plans for the group, she said that they were able to come up with agreements, which would help to make the group successful in the various endeavours.

“As a 17-year-old, this was a bit of a challenge for me and I know that along with line people would ask, ‘why are you doing this?’, but it is because I want to make a difference in society,” Deneita said. “People would say that the children have already gone astray in life – you can’t bring them back and that is their decision, but this is what our group was formed for – to be there to speak to them; to help them; to help them feel wanted; to help them feel like if they are needed in society,” she said.

She said she wishes to get the necessary support from the wider public on issues affecting youths. However, she stated that she is aware that some people do not really view a social group for youths as necessary because she believes that many people have already made up their minds that once teenagers behave in a certain way, they would not change.

Deneita , however, concluded that the way forward for the group is to “unite youths, bringing them together; to combat social ills in society, such as teenage pregnancy, suicide, peer pressure, bullying and so on and make Guyana a place where youths can join and unite with peace, love and unity and generally make Guyana a better place.”

She said their group falls under the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports and that the group is willing to continue to accept new members by contacting them at : fredericksdeneita@gmail.com or telephone 648-7607, as well as the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports. (mercilinburke2017@gmail.com)

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