During June we see all of these programmes and projects that target the youth.
Politicians and community leaders are happy to preach about eradicating poverty, creating employment and improving lives but how often do we see these projects sustained and see the positive results?
- Do any of these projects reach fruition?
- Do we see sanitary pads being donated all year long and not just during June?
- Do we see garden projects at schools sustained all year long?
- Do the youth, themselves, continue supporting ‘Youth Month’ projects throughout the year?
I think that the hype around special commemoration days is sometimes overdone. I also think that sometimes our leaders do not see a bigger picture and co-ordinate efforts that would be sustainable.
Ideas for such projects could easily be ascertained by actually speaking to the youth in the community, seeing what their needs are and then setting goals for a ‘Youth Day’ event.
Too often, we see good ideas come from an event, only to be forgotten about because of lack of support from the people who initially started it.
We should all be thinking about how to eradicate drugs, teenage pregnancies and underage drinking all through the year. We need to get our youngsters involved in helping to curb this.
We can’t be preaching to them, expecting them to listen but not physically involve them in the groundwork.
By being personally part of Youth Day projects, the youth will learn ownership and therefore be willing to go above and beyond to see success in their chosen projects. Young minds can be easily moulded to be good or bad, as a society it is up to us to teach and do the right things.
Estcourt Resident
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