“Investing in Young people”

I was invited by the Bishop of Guyana, Rev. Francis Aleyne to attend the conference of the United Nations Population Fund, w

hich is in partnership with the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sport to mark the world population day on 11 July 2014. The conference was held under the theme, “investing in young people.” There are a few important aspects of this conference I would like to pencil on my blog.

First of all, I was moved by a young woman who shared her ordeal when she became teen pregnant. She had no one to support her, the society seems to have ignored her and seen her as a person who is disgrace. She was embarrassed to even meet her friends in school. Her testimony was an important revelation for that there is no enough support to the teen mothers or single mothers in our world today. Most countries would look at them as so-called bad mothers who are runaways of the proper families.

Young persons, especially at their teenage, are very vulnerable because they have not only changes in their body but also they are prone diseases and early pregnancies. It is in this situation that we are urged to reach out to these vulnerable people of our society. This will be a challenge for us who work with the young people of our nation. As the UNFPA helps to raise the health facilities, we are encouraged to help particularly the poor of people especially girls. Hence, it would be wonderful to work along with the health ministry to reach out to these young persons of our country.

Culture minister Dr Frank Antony, sounded very bluntly the inequalities in the distribution of the wealth of the world. According to the Oxfam Report, 1% of the world population has half of the wealth and 99% of the world population has other half of the wealth of the world. This is clear sign of an unequal world. Will this get better? I think it won’t get any better, it would get even worse because human beings are born with a vice called greed. But my concern is how can we try to reach out to the poorest of the poor in the developing countries like Guyana and India.

I was happy to hear Dr Frank mention about the parenting of the children. His convincing voice about child must have parents not mother alone or grandmother is still resonating in my mind. I do agree with him, because the child is of both mother and father. Both have to take responsibility in upbringing of the child. This calls to challenge another trend of making children and leaving with the mother, hence single mothers are on the rise. Sometimes these single mothers have to bear the brunt and meet the all the expenses of the child; many times it is hard for them in this economic crisis situation.

In the light above sharing on the conference by UNFPA, I have two important observation or suggestions. Firstly, we talked only about reaching out to the poor, but it was not clear for me about the interior young person who are more vulnerable than the coast people. The people in the hinterland of the Guyana are exposed to teen pregnancy and sexual transmitted diseases. It might be for several reasons, most importantly lack of information on responsible parenting. The concerned people can take notice of this situation and make projects to reach out to these young persons in the hinterland.

Secondly, it is significant to introduce these issues and concerns of the youth right in the school systems. Children are investing a great deal of time and money in professional subjects and just ignore some of the life issues that they are going to face in the near future. The school must have some forum to take and discuss the real life issues surrounding the young persons. It must be done on a professional basis, because as Dr Frank Antony expressed the peers guiding other peers will be a disaster. Hence, the school system can concentrate and invest time and resources to reach out to the children. The individual schools can plan a project for this, may be create a social club or life club where the children can call some of the experts to discuss their real life issues.

In all this bottom line is, tomorrow’s world belongs to today’s young people. It is they who are going to be our leaders. Hence, child is the father of the nation.