‘It’s not where you start, you can turn out a success story” – Min. Lawrence encourages Bare Root residents
− engages large youth population
DPI, Guyana, Thursday, November 14, 2019
Bare Root is a village located on the southern side of the Railway Embankment along the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) with surrounding villages such as Bachelor’s Adventure and Dazzelle Housing Scheme. In the community, there is a youth population in search of a better life and a positive future.
During a visit to the community, on Thursday evening, Public Health Minister, Hon. Volda Lawrence was flocked by teenagers, young adults and older residents who took the opportunity to highlight suggestions on the way forward for the young people in the area.
According to the residents, access to basic necessities, including loans and grants to be able to transform the lives of the youths in the community, was lacking prior to 2015.
Describing what they endured as “political victimisation” the minister remarked that it was not the end of the road.
“It is not where you start… We know some challenges affect you after years of neglect… We see the issues, but I want you to know that with great effort and determination, you can turn out a success story.”
Minister Lawrence reiterated the APNU+AFC Government’s commitment to ensuring more young people become entrepreneurs and employers. She noted that in previous years, students were promoted to the next class despite not having made the grade. This, she said, resulted in many students leaving school without the necessary qualifications.
“That is why the president is focusing on education, that is the key… Everyone must be able to go to school and learn something… We want for our young people to become employable!” she underscored.
Minister Lawrence then highlighted some of the measures implemented over the past four years, aimed at providing a second chance for young people to learn a trade or access business grants towards becoming employable or establishing their own business ventures.
“There is the BIT programme, I was a former of Minister of Social Protection so I could tell you that they have adjusted the age limit for applicants. It was up to 18, but now you can be as old as 36 and get into that programme… There is SLED [Sustainable Livelihoods and Entrepreneurial Development] where persons benefited from business grants… We have started night schools offering free night lessons so that persons can send their children to rewrite CXC.” Minister Lawrence noted.
A resident, Burnelleen Lynch, who has been living in Bare Root for over 21 years, agreed with the minister. She shared that her sister had benefited from a $300,000 business grant with which she established a day care centre in the community. Lynch noted that this centre is providing a quality service for residents in the community while also providing jobs for a group of people who are employed at the facility.
“What the minister was saying concerning the cash grants, it is real, it is true because my sister has a day care right in this community. It was established after we took out a grant, she got it, and she did her place real nice, with swings and everything… the government did that.” Lynch said emphatically.
Lynch opined that young people must be determined and have the desire to do better and make meaningful contributions to society when the opportunities are being provided. “My son, who didn’t go far in school, he went to the Buxton institution. This is for all the people that say they are not getting work; he was trained there in Buxton, and now he is a mason doing masonry.” Lynch testified.