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Hanover youth disengaged, not unattached – SDC

Published:Saturday | May 25, 2019 | 12:05 AMBryan Miller/Gleaner Writer
Mashario Bisasor, the parish manager for the Social Development Commission (SDC) in Hanover.
Mashario Bisasor, the parish manager for the Social Development Commission (SDC) in Hanover.

Western Bureau:

Mashario Bisasor, the Social Development Commission’s (SDC) parish manager for Hanover, says there are no unattached youth in the western parish. According to him, all the youngsters are attached to something, whether positive or negative.

Bisasor, who was speaking recently against the background of the lack of support for last week’s SDC’s week of activities in the parish, is of view that there is a significant disconnect between positive happenings and the youngsters in the parish.

“This mentality on the road about nothing nah gwaan, it is a false mentality, because the youth just come to the window of the church or the community centre, see a meeting going on, kiss them teeth, squeeze up them weed in their hand, drink dem rum and gone, and then say nothing nah gwaan,” said Bisasor.

According to Bisasor, things are happening in the parish that could be beneficial to young people if they were willing to get themselves engaged.

“A lot of things are going on because a lot of our programmes are undersubscribed or not subscribed, every single month,” he said. “We are wondering what is happening because of the lack of interest. Once the youth have to put on a pants and a shirt, and tuck in his shirt, cut his hair and groom himself well, he is not into that.”

Bisasor said that the nonchalant behaviour of the youngsters was due to a prevailing free-for-all mentality among youth in the parish.

He said that of 78 representatives from the 30 Community Development Committees (CDCs), which participated in the week of activities, none of the participants were under the age of 25 years old.

“While the SDC is not a welfare organisation, one of our aims is to uplift and try to teach an individual how to fish, rather than give him a fish,” said Bisasor. “The SDC will not be deterred by the age disconnect, but will continue in its efforts to identify the developmental challenges in the parish and work with the people in identifying solutions to the problems,” Bisasor said.

The activities for the week included an anti-violence seminar, with special focus on women and children, a conference involving the 30 CDCs, a Local Economic Initiative bus tour across the parish, and a reflection and assessment seminar.