By Marissa V. Foster
The Youth Ambassadors Program brings together outstanding young people from across the Americas for an enrichment programme to promote mutual understanding, increase leadership skills, and prepare youth to make a difference in their communities to participate in a cultural and leadership exchange program in the United States. It is focused on civic education, community service and youth leadership development.

Follow-on activities are an integral part of the programme, as the participants apply the knowledge and skills they have learned to implement projects that serve needs in their communities and country. The #CatchMeInside Virtual Engagement Program is the fifth follow-on project initiated and executed by the 2015 cohort.

More than ever, Guyana needs creative projects to help persons mentally survive social distancing during the COVID-19 outbreak. As such, the U.S. Embassy’s Youth Ambassadors alumni recently launched a virtual engagement programme to combat the social effects of the pandemic. This group of young leaders believe that any assistant during this difficult time needed inclusive of alumni of the U.S. Embassy’s youth and cultural exchange programs. They have all reunited with one mission in mind; to lessen the social effects the virus may have on Guyanese youth and their communities.

As such, the team has been working on a virtual engagement program, titled #CatchMeInside. This is an initiative that was started by Natisha Mokutnauth and Ashraf Dabie, participants of the 2015 Youth Ambassadors Program The #CatchMeInside programme will take the form of 14 days of social media conversations. Today marks the second week of the said project. #CatchMeInside addresses topics such as wellness, being productive, smart spending and staying engaged.

According to Mokutnauth, a student of the University of Guyana: “While COVID-19 is a global health threat, there are other side effects that will accompany this pandemic, which we cannot ignore,” She continued by saying, “Many of us have never experienced something like this and it can affect us in so many ways, beyond physical health.” With those thoughts in mind, the pair crafted this very initiative in hopes of providing the necessary information to the youth of Guyana.

The very information released from this project can also be used as sustainable measures to safeguard not only one’s physical health but also their social, mental and financial health, during these exasperating times. Dabie, a former Youth Ambassador pointed out that: “This pandemic will not go on forever. When it is over, we need to ensure our youth are ready to take our country forward, rather than being left behind, battling to recover”. He also further noted that: “This is also a way of reducing the fear and anxiety brought on by the pandemic and allowing Guyanese to connect and engage with likeminded individuals, which is crucial now more than ever”.

Every day, a new featured topic is being discussed on Facebook through live sessions or posts, hosted by the alumni as well as other young professionals in Guyana. Among the lineup are local entrepreneur and owner of Java Café, Evie Kanhai, women in business advocate Abbigale Loncke, digital marketing expert Dr. Rosh Khan and former beauty queen and fitness enthusiast, Ashley John.

While the messages are being targeted to youth, all Guyanese at home and abroad are invited to tune into the Youth Ambassadors Guyana 2015 or the U.S. Embassy Georgetown Facebook pages to participate in this virtual program. The sessions commence at 13:00hrs each day and last for approximately 30 minutes. Persons can also follow the conversation at any time, using the hashtag #CatchMeInside. As the rest of world and Guyana battles against the spread of COVID-19 and return countries to normalcy, all are asked to stay inside, stay safe and tune into the #CatchMeInside virtual program to stay engaged.