Building communities of strong families

OLIVE GOPAUL has never lost her touch of class! And while she has long resigned from the runways and beauty queen shows her heart is set on a discovered purpose in the social construction of families and communities through empowering at-risk youths and promoting social cohesion nationally.

Olive Gopaul was that Miss Guyana World 2001 beauty queen who represented Guyana at Miss World and was named by Global Beauties as the ‘Most Beautiful Queen in South America’ that year. Her facial beauty seems perfect and her personality, smile and love for people have certainly complimented her reign.
At-risk youths are less likely to successfully transition into adulthood without being involved in crime, to achieve academic success, and become financially independent according to online reports.

Gopaul said it is out of this concern and the fact that reports recently revealed that more than half of Guyana’s population was under the age of 24, the beauty has adopted the purpose of adding class to the lives of at-risk youths and families to preserve Guyana’s future. She is now Director of O-zone.
“O-zone Foundation’s mission is to build communities of strong families and goal- oriented youths. It is important that while our mission is to capture the youth at risk and we want to ensure that we can intercept them before they become law- breakers,” the former beauty queen told Pepperpot Magazine in a recent interview.

One of the communities to which she has directed her attention is Plastic City on the West Demerara where a massive health outreach program was coordinated by her non-governmental organization (NGO).
Gopaul, who now works within the Social Cohesion Department at the Ministry of the Presidency said it brings joy to her heart when she is able to chart the life course of youths who are at risk, and to change the lives of those who have already been caught up in delinquency, making them better goal-oriented individuals through mentorship, education and employment opportunities.

“And even those who would have had negative contact with law enforcement, we would still capture them under our program which sees mentorship, education and employment as the three key factors that can positively impact the lives of these young boys and girls who were at risk of becoming hard core criminals, and who can pretty much live a very short life span.”
The average age of persons committing crimes is between ages 19 and 28 and with half of Guyana’s population around 24 and younger she expressed concern that too many youths were becoming criminals.

“So if you have so many persons below the age of 24 who are committing crimes and are losing their lives, then in a couple of years our population will diminish significantly.”
And with complex problems and situations influencing youths to become criminally involved, the organization is working beyond the individual and targeting families.
“This is where the family comes in, and if we have individuals (young men), who are losing their lives at a very early age it means that there will be less and less of families which will lessen our population size. So it is important for us to extend our program to families as well, to ensure that the mentorship makes an impact.

She said mentors were persons who would have had real experiences and have overcome such troubles. They can now through empathy and knowledge fit comfortably within a group of “young hardcore persons” who are thinking about crime, and talk them out of that conversation.
O-zone Foundation partners with government ministries and other credible organisations like the Rotary Club of Central Georgetown, the United States Embassy, and a few others to push its work.

“We can live in peace and harmony and reduce and eliminate our personal prejudices against individuals so that together we can work to be a stronger nation,” Gopaul said.
She is also pursuing a Masters’ Degree at the University of Guyana, and is a proud mom of two handsome boys.