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Concerns Of The Bahamian Youths In The Bahamas
Related to country: Bahamas

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Youth “Say Something”:
By Sasha L. Lightbourne -
Nassau, Bahamas:


Hundreds of young persons packed the Wyndham Resort ballroom Thursday evening to voice concerns and give suggestions at a youth-driven town meeting planned by "We Are The Future" youth organization.

The forum, dubbed "Say Something," was hosted by talk show host Nikki Bethell, and gave young people from around The Bahamas to a chance to be heard by those that make the difference in the country.

The forum included a panel, which consisted of Minister of National Security Tommy Turnquest, Minister of Health Dr. Hubert Minnis, Minister of State for Social Services Loretta Butler-Turner and leader of the Bahamas Democratic Movement Cassius Stuart among others.

Mr. Turnquest told the young persons gathered that he was "overwhelmingly pleased" with the turnout and encouraged them to continuously voice their views.

"I was president of the Torchbearers youth association (the youth arm of the FNM) about 27 years ago and I remember back then talking about the need to get young people involved," he said. "I say that only to say that you are indeed future leaders of our country."

"I believe that you need to be responsible in your dialogue and in your recommendations but you ought to be heard, and that as you fight to be heard you will find that many of us as national leaders who have [traveled] the road that you are now travelling will be very supportive of your efforts in ensuring that you are heard."

Mr. Turnquest told the young persons that he would have been "foolish" to not have accepted the invitation.

Glenys Hanna-Martin, chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party, shared similar sentiments.

"This is an opportunity for the young people to interrogate us, per se, on issues that you feel are most important to you," she said. "I am happy to be a part of this forum which has both sides of government here."

She said that she felt the forum was a step in the right direction.

"From the mass numbers demonstrated here I can certainly say that all is not lost,"Mrs. Hanna-Martin said. "This is an excellent idea and I would certainly be willing to participate in those yet to come."

Forum, participants voiced concerns on a wide range of topics, such as availability of land, sexual education, crime, the economy, recycling and education.

Commenting on the issue of school violence, Minister Turnquest said much will be done for the upcoming school year.

"Let me firstly say that we are putting various strategies in place to deal with school violence as the new school year is about to begin, in terms of ensuring that our children and educators are safe," he said. "This does not mean putting policemen in schools or turining our schools into prisons and the like."

"We believe that educators ought to have charge over their school campuses and that they need to be supported by law enforcement when the need arises. With respect to aspects of school violence and school saftey, we want to ensure that we have a number of programs that deal with conflict resoltuion and social interaction between young people."

Minister Turnquest said all major agencies will be working towards ensuring safety during the school year such as the Royal Bahamas Police Force, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture.

Deon Gibson, co-founder of "We Are The Future," said he was overwhelmed by the overall success of the town meeting.

"I must say that I’m surprised personally at the outcome of what has happened," he said. "As you may have heard, we have been charged by Mrs.[Loretta] Butler-Turner to do a followup and submit solutions to some of the concerns we raised."

"We will take up that task and involve her in any upcoming events that we will be planning."

August 9, 2008

August 12, 2008 | 10:33 AM Comments  0 comments

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