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THE media headlines are screaming with the delinquency of Guyana’s juveniles – ganging up on another student and injuring him, even with death sometimes being the consequence; attacking teachers, with just recently a teacher being severely injured just for instructing a group of students loitering in the corridors to get back to their classrooms; males molesting females and teenage aberrations, including schoolgirls’ pregnancies.
And depending on parental guidance to steer them on the right pathway is often a lost cause, because oftentimes even the parents don’t know that pathway of righteousness. In fact, in most instances, the parents are also culprits who choose a divergent pathway and inculcate anti-social behavioural characteristics in their children, many of whom eventually become hard-core criminals with no respect for the rights and sanctity of property of others, not even for the lives of their victims.
Last Friday, at the Leonora-based PPP Regional MP’s office in Region 3, scores of elderly citizens were treated to a sumptuous lunch and a hamper that contrived to contain almost every basic dry good and condiment that would satisfy the heart of a householder.
Minister of Housing and Water, holding the portfolio of Tourism, the indefatigable Irfaan Ali, spearheaded the activities and did the honours on behalf of the General-Secretary, incumbent President Donald Ramotar. Both men hail from Region 5.
PPP activities generate a sense of family, with the young and the elderly working harmoniously side-by-side to serve their communities and their country; and this occasion was no exception. It was a joy to witness the deference accorded the older folks by the young volunteers who joined Minister Ali in sharing out the food and the hampers.
Working together with absolute camaraderie in this PPP community initiative were young people from across every racial divide.
This is a hopeful indicator that some day, in the near future, the PNC would not be able to use its supporters as cannon fodder and bait to derail democratic processes and norms in the country, because they are recognising and enjoying being a part of the PPP’s community-building and citizen development and enhancement programmes.
In an exclusive interview with the Chronicle, Minister Ali said, inter alia, that events such as the activity on Friday are part of a continual reaching out to the people and efforts to work within communities in attempts to achieve productive goals, especially in restoring the societal balance so urgently needed to sustain peaceful and supportive family roles within the framework of the community.
To this end, the minister informed this newspaper that officials had been working diligently with the young people of the region in an integrated, holistic approach to getting them involved in healthy activities, such as competitive sports.
Many patriots of the past had served their community and country well; and one of these stalwarts was the minister’s grandmother, Sakeena, who had taught young girls and single parents life skills such as upholstering and sewing, a resuscitation of which activity the ruling party proposes for the immediate future, along with creative and character-building exercises such as poetry-reading, elocution, debates, drama, inter-secondary schools debating competitions, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, in efforts to resuscitate community life. Counselling will also be provided, and a comprehensive computer and related training programmes are also in the works. Minister Ali said that these activities will be a countrywide initiative, not extraneous to the formal educational concepts in the school system, but compatible with the ruling party’s grounding in the working-class people of the country.
“We are also hoping to provide counselling in conflict resolution and other psycho-social dynamics; career guidance too, but not limited to young people,” said the minister, who continued, “We are hoping to extend our reach to NGOs that provide counselling in anger-management and other related areas, such as sports counselling. These initiatives are certain to result redound to greater care and love within the social landscape of the communities nationwide”, posited the minister.
That the ruling party is succeeding immeasurably in these initiatives was attested to by the group of young volunteers from across every divide, whose selfless and committed work ensured the success of the joyous event, which was reflected in the happy countenances and expressions of appreciation of all the participants – both givers and recipients, and which is testimony to the fact that Guyana’s young people are not quite lost, but with the right approach, can become productive and responsible citizens of this country, with potential for leadership, instead of criminal pursuits to which they are directed by self-serving politicians who crave only power, with their supporters, especially the young whom they are training in the art of banditry, being “collateral damage”.
And depending on parental guidance to steer them on the right pathway is often a lost cause, because oftentimes even the parents don’t know that pathway of righteousness. In fact, in most instances, the parents are also culprits who choose a divergent pathway and inculcate anti-social behavioural characteristics in their children, many of whom eventually become hard-core criminals with no respect for the rights and sanctity of property of others, not even for the lives of their victims.
Last Friday, at the Leonora-based PPP Regional MP’s office in Region 3, scores of elderly citizens were treated to a sumptuous lunch and a hamper that contrived to contain almost every basic dry good and condiment that would satisfy the heart of a householder.
Minister of Housing and Water, holding the portfolio of Tourism, the indefatigable Irfaan Ali, spearheaded the activities and did the honours on behalf of the General-Secretary, incumbent President Donald Ramotar. Both men hail from Region 5.
PPP activities generate a sense of family, with the young and the elderly working harmoniously side-by-side to serve their communities and their country; and this occasion was no exception. It was a joy to witness the deference accorded the older folks by the young volunteers who joined Minister Ali in sharing out the food and the hampers.
Working together with absolute camaraderie in this PPP community initiative were young people from across every racial divide.
This is a hopeful indicator that some day, in the near future, the PNC would not be able to use its supporters as cannon fodder and bait to derail democratic processes and norms in the country, because they are recognising and enjoying being a part of the PPP’s community-building and citizen development and enhancement programmes.
In an exclusive interview with the Chronicle, Minister Ali said, inter alia, that events such as the activity on Friday are part of a continual reaching out to the people and efforts to work within communities in attempts to achieve productive goals, especially in restoring the societal balance so urgently needed to sustain peaceful and supportive family roles within the framework of the community.
To this end, the minister informed this newspaper that officials had been working diligently with the young people of the region in an integrated, holistic approach to getting them involved in healthy activities, such as competitive sports.
Many patriots of the past had served their community and country well; and one of these stalwarts was the minister’s grandmother, Sakeena, who had taught young girls and single parents life skills such as upholstering and sewing, a resuscitation of which activity the ruling party proposes for the immediate future, along with creative and character-building exercises such as poetry-reading, elocution, debates, drama, inter-secondary schools debating competitions, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, in efforts to resuscitate community life. Counselling will also be provided, and a comprehensive computer and related training programmes are also in the works. Minister Ali said that these activities will be a countrywide initiative, not extraneous to the formal educational concepts in the school system, but compatible with the ruling party’s grounding in the working-class people of the country.
“We are also hoping to provide counselling in conflict resolution and other psycho-social dynamics; career guidance too, but not limited to young people,” said the minister, who continued, “We are hoping to extend our reach to NGOs that provide counselling in anger-management and other related areas, such as sports counselling. These initiatives are certain to result redound to greater care and love within the social landscape of the communities nationwide”, posited the minister.
That the ruling party is succeeding immeasurably in these initiatives was attested to by the group of young volunteers from across every divide, whose selfless and committed work ensured the success of the joyous event, which was reflected in the happy countenances and expressions of appreciation of all the participants – both givers and recipients, and which is testimony to the fact that Guyana’s young people are not quite lost, but with the right approach, can become productive and responsible citizens of this country, with potential for leadership, instead of criminal pursuits to which they are directed by self-serving politicians who crave only power, with their supporters, especially the young whom they are training in the art of banditry, being “collateral damage”.
