The journey to greater youth development
Devica Uditram (All photos courtesy of Devica Uditram)
Devica Uditram (All photos courtesy of Devica Uditram)

By Gibron Rahim

GUYANA’S young people are arguably among the most brilliant and talented in the world. This was no more evident than at the National Youth Awards held on August 12 at the

Pegasus Hotel. Devica Uditram was among the awardees.

The 23-year-old native of Ogle on the East Coast of Demerara attended Stella Maris Primary School where her scores at the Grade Six Assessment gained her admission into the Bishop’s High School. Graduating with 10 subjects, eight Grade Ones and two Grade Twos, Devica then went on to the University of Guyana to pursue a diploma in Banking and Finance. She will graduate this November with a 4.0 GPA.

THE START OF SOMETHING NEW
Devica’s interest in volunteerism was born during her days at Bishop’s. She told the Pepperpot Magazine that she was in First Form when one of her classmates introduced her to the National Library’s Children’s Reading Circle programme. “It’s a programme for children between the ages of five and 10,” she explained. The programme’s volunteers teach the children who attend to read and improve their reading skills. Devica noted that the volunteers are comprised of students from various secondary schools. “Through that friend, I became involved in the Reading Circle and that was my starting point of volunteerism.”

Devica spent all five years of her secondary school career volunteering in the Children’s Reading Circle. It became a cherished routine for her. Every week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school, Devica would go over to the library and interact with the children. “That experience was just great!” she enthused. “Over those five years, I interacted with about 200 students in total who showed tremendous improvement in their literacy skills.”
Her volunteerism at such an early age also sparked a great deal of personal growth for Devica. At just 12 years old she was teaching children who were only a few years younger than her. “It shows that there is a little bit of a flaw in the education system and more needs to be done,” she said. “And I felt very passionate about that because I grew up in a household where you only read books.” Television simply did not play a significant role in her home life. Devica still feels very strongly that children and youths should have greater exposure to books and develop a love of reading. Reading, she acknowledged, is her favourite pastime.

Devica had to leave the Reading Circle when she became employed in 2013. That was not the end of her volunteerism, however. She then became involved in voluntary activities through the Guyana Pandits’ Council, her mandir’s umbrella organisation. She explained that the Council, along with medical personnel and volunteers, visits various communities for outreaches. “We go and we administer help to persons who need it within the community,” she related. Devica was eventually selected to be the coordinator of the Council’s Youth Arm. The Youth Arm’s main objective is organising social projects.

MENTAL HEALTH

Devica receiving her National Youth Award

One of the main platforms of Devica’s work with the Youth Arm is mental health and suicide awareness. That focus is for two reasons. “Back in 2015, I myself went through some very difficult times which led me into depression,” she explained. “Fortunately for me, I had someone there to help me overcome that.” Devica used that experience with depression as a lesson to empower herself to in turn empower youths to start speaking out more about mental health and suicide, not being afraid to confide in others when they are battling problems in their lives. She has visited mandirs in the communities of Diamond and Wales where she has conducted mental health workshops targeting youth.
Devica’s volunteerism has never been focused on receiving accolades. She told the Pepperpot Magazine that she has asked herself whether her 11 years of volunteering has had an impact on the lives of the people she sought to help. “You sacrifice your time, your effort and your energies to go out and do something for people,” noted Devica. “You have to love what you’re doing and this award is just a reminder that ‘you are doing something right, you are doing something good’,” she said, “and I should continue to do what I’m doing because I’m doing it for the benefit of the youths, communities and Guyana as a whole.”

Seemingly small efforts can have a great impact, as Devica has discovered. “It didn’t seem significant but our actions, no matter how small they may be at first, collectively grow and create this huge impact,” she said. “So receiving [this award] was very humbling for me and it made me really reflect on my work over the years.”

INSPIRATION
Devica noted that her late father played a significant role in her life. He was the one who taught her to be compassionate and humble she said. “I started volunteering in September 2007 and he died a few months after in December,” she related. Devica’s godfather, Pandit Richard Sharma, has always been supportive. She noted that it was Pandit Sharma who encouraged her to take on the leadership of the youth group. Her mother has always checked in with her to ensure that she is able to balance her career and volunteer work. “My mom was a very big supporter, of course,” Devica said. “My sister is very supportive of me as well.” She also credited Ms. James, Head Librarian of the National Library’s juvenile section, with always supporting and encouraging her.

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
Youth development has already started in Guyana, according to Devica. “I’ve seen that we as youths have already started to raise our voice,” she said. She referenced a quote by Meghan Markle who said, “Women don’t need to find a voice, they have a voice, they need to feel empowered to use it and people need to be encouraged to listen”. Devica noted, “In order for youth development to happen and to prosper, you need to be encouraged to listen to the youths and to give them that platform to speak.”

Devica added, “And youths are being vocal these days, they’re brilliant, they’re so brilliant and they bring fresh perspectives and insights to the table.” These include the areas of volunteerism, education, LGBTQ rights, entrepreneurship and environmental protection. “They bring so many new perspectives and these can help to build our country,” she related. “In order to foster youth development you need five Cs – competence, confidence, connection, character and caring or compassion.” Possessing these traits, she said, enables a youth to carry out their duties as a youth leader or youth activist which will result in them contributing toward society.

“Youth development is a very long road, it’s not going to be easy. There will be various obstacles along the way but with dedication, a little bit of motivation and, of course, support from our leaders, it can go a long way. And I would love to see Guyana prosper. We may be a small country but we have brilliant minds and we need to tap into those potentials and those abilities of those persons to ensure that we reap the full benefits of it.”

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