The wrong things the PPP Govt. did to our young peopl

Jul 13, 2016 Letters

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Dear Editor;
The development of a nation is vastly dependent on those placed in authority to guide the overall process of ensuring strong efficient institutions that responds positively to the needs of the masses. Placing an accountant or electrical engineer to function as a Professional Social Worker is recipe for national disaster, just as well as taking a Professional Social Worker to function as an Electrical Engineer. We as a nation must bring an end to this trend of placing square pegs in round holes if we are going to realize Guyana as a developed nation in our lifetime.
In 1973 at the Treaty of Chagaramus, it was observed that there would have been an explosion of the youth population in the Caribbean community by the year 2000, an agreement was therefore reached to train “Youth” Social Workers who will work with our youths to promote national development all across the Caribbean and Canada, since the Commonwealth Secretariat came on board and financed this Project.
At the end of their training these “youth” social workers were assigned to communities developing youth clubs and sports associations, promoting youth skills training programs and sports and cultural programs which was evident with our dominance in sports in the Caribbean and the establishment of the Guymine games , Guystac Games, Public Service Games , Inter estate games and they also played a major role in the establishment of the Guyana National Service; the legacy of the vision of our Caribbean leaders. While this was happening our nation enjoyed relative peace as our young people were gainfully employed and otherwise positively occupied in our communities.
I must remind the nation of our dynamic Youth Services Unit under the guidance of our loved and esteemed Director of Youth, Ms Lynette Seabra, she worked beyond the call of duty and
received tremendous support from Youth Workers employed in the unit who were trained by the Commonwealth Youth Program.
When the Government changed in 1992, the Youth Service Unit and the Commonwealth Youth Program were down played or watered down. In 1993 twenty youth workers from Guyana were heading to the University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus in Trinidad to pursue The Diploma in Youth and Development run by the Commonwealth Youth Program Caribbean Centre, this part of the program would last two months and the Government at
the time was asked to give us a stipend of $5US PER DAY while the Commonwealth Caribbean Center paid for our airfare, meals and accommodation. They bluntly refused to assist us. I was one on that 20 member team representing Guyana. I called the Prime Minister Samuel Hinds from Trinidad appealing to his good judgement to make this pocket money available . I was bluntly told that the debt burden that the previous Government left did not allows us to receive that pocket money. We were embarrassed by our Government since as we interacted with our fellow participants from the other Caribbean territories and Canada we were all without that pocket money to deal with emergencies.
Youth Social Workers were neglected by this new Government that came to power in 1992; many migrated to work in the Caribbean, North America and the United Kingdom. Those of us who stayed and pursued the Degree in Social Work at the University of Guyana were disregarded and poorly paid, disrespected and placed to do jobs that we were not professionally trained for, which remains very much the same today.
In the year 2000 after I completed a Florida Gulf Coast University —University of Guyana Student Exchange Program in Florida USA which lasted eight weeks engaging in Social Work Field Study, on my return to Guyana I was dismissed from my job as a HIV/AIDS Counselor at the Georgetown Public Hospital. I had applied for no pay leave to pursue this study which would have benefitted the social policy and programs here at home.
The action of the previous Government to discriminate against Professional Social Workers has affected our youths tremendously. Let us return to the communities with our Social Workers, coaches, sport organizers, skills training officers, etc. The time has come for us to build training centers in villages to train youths in various skill areas. We have to help the communities to help themselves. Undergraduates from the University are incapable of dealing fully effective with the problems that confronts our youths in the villages that have been neglected by the previous regimes. The community Development Department need trained experienced Social Workers to bring about positive changes in villages through youth empowerment.
I must mention that the Youth Commissioners in Barbados are those who are holders of the Commonwealth Youth Program Diploma in Youth and Development, and they continue to have a dynamic youth program on that Island. There are many of us here who were trained over the years, I therefore appeal to this Government to put us to work if you seriously need
progressive youth movement for national development. The time for this is right now, to wait may be too late. I must commend the Ministry of Education, Youth Department for engaging young people in their planned leadership development seminars and workshops. This is no substitute for employing those trained youth leaders whose training would have covered over three years under the guidance of the Commonwealth Youth Program Director DR Ivan Henry and his dynamic staff to complete the Diploma in Youth and Development. This inspired many of us here in Guyana to pursue the Bachelors of Social Work Degree at the University of Guyana.
A vibrant Guyana Professional Social Workers Association collaborating with the Government Institutions responsible for Youth and Development will bring about positive changes amongst young people in our communities.
RAS Aaron Blackman

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