…donates $50,000 to Linden Youth Leaders group

MINISTER of Public Health, Volda Lawrence, on Saturday commissioned the office of the Linden Youth Leaders (LYL) group.

The office, located on Republic Avenue, Mackenzie, Linden, will further position the group to fulfil its mandate to empower youth and contribute to community development and nation-building.

The office will serve as a space from which members of the group can collaborate and network in the execution of various initiatives that cater to youth and the wider population.
Minister Lawrence in her remarks, said she was happy to commission the office and is thrilled at what the group has accomplished.

“I’m very elated at what you have come together and began to do for your community. This is exactly what Guyana needs. You are taking ownership of your culture. One day I’ll be in my rocking chair seeing your faces on television talking to me and I am very happy about that,” Lawrence noted.

She added, “You have taken the right step in the right direction” and promised to do whatever she can to assist the group in accomplishing its goals.

The group will be collaborating with the Ministry of Public Health in the near future to carry out health projects in high-risk communities.

“We have so many young people who are on drugs, who are smoking marijuana…. Then we have adolescent sexual reproductive rights. I am talking to you about that because health is a big thing in our country; and many of our young people are doing things that they don’t want to do, or they did it one time and they don’t know how to come out of it and they are looking for counselling,” Lawrence said.

As a token of her appreciation, the minister also presented the group with $50,000 for their “embryo.” stage. The group thanked Lawrence for her presence and contribution made at the ceremony.

The Linden Youth Leaders is a non-governmental organisation which seeks to empower young people for their future endeavours, fostering a sense of discipline and leadership. It also promotes mental and spiritual growth, creates opportunities for young people to serve their communities and the wider world and harnesses a sense of national pride.
Initiatives include educational programmes that venture into schools to engage children and youth positively; projects of a developmental purpose that add value to society such as work with the elderly and clean-up campaigns (as was recently undertaken). LYL also provides mentoring by connecting youth to positive role models for guidance– a function that a physical office helps to facilitate; the office is also functional as a safe space for members to meet with their peers, socialise and discuss plans for their organisation.
In addition, the office will be used as a reading space for youths and also one where persons can be assisted with SBAs, assignments, and the filling up of forms in the near future.

In February of 2018, the LYL pulled off a dynamic $5 million Linden Games 2018, which was said to be the start of something new for the mining town of Linden. The goal of the games was to resuscitate sports tourism in Linden and promote the development of Region 10 through sports.

It is also a way of encouraging fitness and healthy living and engaging the constituencies in celebrating Linden as a sports-loving destination.