LOCAL entrepreneur and resident of Agricola Christine Profitt on Saturday hosted a job fair at the St. Anne’s Primary School in the community as part of her ‘I Can’ project aimed at developing youths.

Speaking at the fair, Profitt said: “This project is to combat the negative thoughts we tell ourselves and the negativity that we project in the community and turn it around to say ‘…I can make a positive change in my household, in my heart [and] in my life’.”

The ‘I Can’ project is an innovation project under the US’s Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative. According to Profitt, it is centred on two goals: providing mentorship and networking opportunities for young people looking for employment as they turn away from negative influences; and mobilising members of the community to understand the role in the East Bank Demerara community, especially as it related to dispelling stigma and stereotypes.

Also speaking at the fair was Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan who affirmed: “I felt compelled to be here because this is exactly what should be replicated all across the country– a nurturing and a mentoring of our young people that is going to take them places.”

He expressed how delighted he was that Profitt took up the mantle to engage in such a project, especially in an area which has been stigmatised for crime and deviant behaviour.
“I am very proud that we have an entrepreneur who has taken the initiative to become involved in this community, to the extent that she has that desire to inspire young people to want to make it to better things,” he said.

But the minister also acknowledged that youths do rebel sometimes, and that is normal once the rebellion stems from their need to question things as against just rebelling to destroy. He said that adults must know how to contend with this, and guide youths to engage in legitimate activities and community work.

Speaking to the young people present at the fair, Ramjattan stressed that young people also have to bear some responsibility. He contended that society may tempt any susceptible person to engage in deviant activities, but it is important to have self-restraint. “That is why I want you young people of Agricola and everybody other town and village in this country to understand that wealth must come from work,” he said.

And young people and adults alike have the responsibility to create change in their communities, because the government cannot and will not attend to every single need, Ramjattan noted. That does not mean however that the government will not strive to ensure that citizens are safe and happy, he related; he added that South America is a very violent continent and to stop this from becoming the “trajectory” in Guyana, similar mentorship schemes are paramount.

And though he had high praise for the entire project, he mentioned that the job fair specifically was another great initiative, since the country has historically held a deficit of financial resources and developed human resources. “We are on the cusp of extraordinarily great things with an oil- and-gas sector [and] we have to prepare our young people to ensure that they be beneficiaries of that,” he said. “Becoming better than you are us a preparation of that.” At the job fair, young people from the community spoke to several stakeholders– particularly those entities which deal with job readiness and employment.

Other US-supported programmes which target locals came out to show their support and play their part in trying to boost the community.
Businessman in Agricola and Profitt’s father Christopher Rockcliffe noted that a few years ago he engaged similarly to help youths in the area. He shared that so stigmatised was the community that persons were turned away from their jobs just because their address was Agricola, even if they had the requisite qualifications. For him, it is important to motivate the youths so that they can make a name for themselves and so that the community can move away from the stigma.