UNESCO Small Island Voice: St. Kitts Representative attends America Youth Forum
Mrs. Maria Crawford, an Information Officer at the St. Kitts and Nevis Information Service (SKNIS) speaks with Miss Sharina Laws who returned from the Americas Youth Forum held in Mexico in late 2007. (This is the first in a two-part series).
Maria Crawford: Sharina, how are you today? ~~Adz:Right~~
Sharina Laws: I am fine thank you.
MC: Sharina, Tell us a bit about yourself - where you went to school?
Sharina Laws: I am Sharina Laws, and I am 18 years old. I attended the St. Theresa’s Convent School and I am now in my second year at the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College.
MC: What was the transition like for you from primary to high school?
SL: The transition was smooth, seeing that I stayed at the same school. From high school to college it was sort of tricky because we are now on our own - nobody is looking over us. We got an opportunity to meet new friends with different ideas and a different way of learning which would help us somewhat when we reach to university. So it is beneficial.
MC: Can you tell us what was the objective of the Americas Youth Forum? Did you feel empowered by being there?
SL: The objective was to bring youths from the Americas together to gain an understanding of the problems or issues facing youth in the region. What they wanted from the forum was to get some insight regarding solutions to various problems so that we could go back to our countries and make a difference for youth.
Yes I do feel empowered as that was the first arena where I got to see so many people from diverse backgrounds. We met people from the Caribbean and also Mexico and Nicaragua who have different backgrounds and issues, and ways of dealing with them. It gives you a sense of empowerment.
MC: How important is it that youths are involved in the policy making process in any country?
SL: It is very important for youth to be involved because we speak about the youth being the leaders of tomorrow when in fact they are leaders of today. We must involve them in every step because if we are going to do something for the youth, it has to be by the youth so that they can gain insight.
You can’t bake a bread for someone if they don’t want to eat it so we have to make sure that at every step of the process, the youth are involved. We have a lot of ideas, but it is the avenue through which we share those ideas we need to look at.
MC: What do you think are the main challenges to youth involvement in policy making?
SL: There is a myth out there that youth are up to nothing good. For every one thing that a youngster does good we hear ten (10) different things that a youngster does bad. The media tends to portray negative images of the crimes that are committed and we don’t try to boost the self-esteem of the youth. As a result sometimes, when one wants to say something, one fears victimisation and that one would just be caught up in the stereotypes so one just does not do anything.
MC: Do you think that your views are not valued? For example in my day, although that is not so long ago, youths were more seen but not heard, so perhaps this is something from the past. Do you think this is so?
SL: Yes, it is something from the past, but today, I think more youth are being heard. Right now youth are taking a stand for themselves in some way or form. Some may not even notice what they are doing when they do that. It is time to stand up and stand out, and if we only just stand up, and nobody knows we are there, there is going to be a problem still. ~~Adz:Right~~
MC: How can youths use today’s information and communication technologies to advance their own cause and to facilitate their participation in the establishment of future policies?
SL: Every youngster has a cell phone, and most of us have access to computers and the internet, so if we now utilise these tools to do good, to send a text message to promote some sort of youth activity gearing towards AIDS, youth involvement and even breast cancer awareness, then we can see something happening for the youth. We need to use the internet as a tool, use Hi-Five, My Space, Space Book – use these as groups. If more groups are involved, then they can share their ideas, and can see something relevant for the youth.
MC: How can adults be more successful in encouraging youth towards good health practices, or better yet to get youths to take ownership of their own health?
SL: I think we need to stop saying “do not do this.” We need to come out and speak to youths on a youth to youth basis. Adults need to come down to our level and tell us what you expect of us and what you want us to do. Don’t tell us what to do for sometimes when you tell children what to do, they turn around and do the opposite just because of curiosity. So we need to talk on conversational levels.
End of Part 1
Part 2 (Continued )
Maria Crawford, an Information Officer at the St. Kitts and Nevis Information Service (SKNIS) speaks with Sharina Laws who returned from the Americas Youth Forum held in Mexico in late 2007.
MC: Youths today are faced with the consequences of bad choices made by their ancestors in relation to the sustainability of the planet earth on which they live. There are economic, social, environmental and cultural consequences. What can youth do now to ensure that future generations are not faced with the same circumstances and issues?
SL: We need to stop fighting down our own. That’s the first thing. When we speak of economic, social, environmental and cultural consequences we need to hold on to our background. Sometimes, we are influenced by America because of the media and other forms of technology.
We need to go into the schools and start to teach about our culture. A lot of us don’t know anything about our culture. We see it come alive at Christmas time but we need to keep it alive throughout the year so that we can know. ~~Adz:Right~~
In terms of the environment we need to educate the youth about environment. We can’t do anything if we are not educated about it. We participate in beach clean-ups. As a member of the UNESCO Small Islands Voice Back Chat group, there are many environmental and social issues such as drug abuse and teenage pregnancy. These are alarming problems that the youth need to be educated on before they can do something themselves.
MC: Now, you referred to the Small Islands Voice Back Chat Group. Can you tell us a little more about that? What is it all about?
SL: The Small Islands Voice Back Chat Group started about four (4) years ago, and it drew participants from each high school in St. Kitts and Nevis. The members try to sensitise the public about environmental and social issues. Every month they are supposed to hand out newsletters showcasing the views of youths and what is happening in the community. They also go out to schools and inform the students of the projects they are working on. They recently went to Saba to talk to the students there about what they have been doing in St. Kitts and will continue to do.
MC: Now, I know you spoke earlier about staying away from the negatives that involve youth. The reality is that in today’s world, crime among youth is really on the increase. From a young person’s point of view what is the reason for this criminal activity? Is it cool to be involved in crime or is there a void in these persons’ lives?
SL: I believe it is filling a void in these persons’ lives because we can see a breakdown in family morals. If the home is not strengthened, persons will go out and look for love in the wrong places. So when they join these gangs or take part in these criminal activities, they are looking for a sense of belonging. What we need to do is to form groups that can bring these youths together, see their problems and help them curb the issue of crime.
MC: Do you think this is something for adults to address? Or do you think it will be more impactful if the youth actually got together, went into these communities, and met with some of these youths who are involved in crime?
SL: I think it will be more effective if you do it, but we always need adults behind us to push us, to give us the right direction, to tell us what to do if we cannot handle a big issue by ourselves. If we get a set of young people to do it powered by adults, then it will be more effective.
MC: Finally, Sharina, can you tell us about the special resolution which was passed as a result of the Americas Youth Forum, and how it will impact youth in the Federation. What do you consider to be the high points?
SL: There were many high points coming out of this declaration as we dealt with thirty-three (33) countries in the Americas, although some may not be relevant to St. Kitts, but some are. There was one in the final declaration which said to make full use of “actors within the educational community to tackle and prevent problems of poverty and violence, the main objective being to integrate the individual into a holistic educational system from an early age.” ~~Adz:Right~~
Sometimes, the educational system only focuses on education itself, but we need to teach our children a holistic view – how to deal with problems, how to answer questions not only just for school but for life as well. We need to promote the integration of shared values and human rights with help from UNESCO into educational institutions. This will help with the implementation of mentorship and peer to peer youth programmes, utilising successful role models who display such values. We need people to look up to so if you can create a group of people that children can look up to and say, “I want to be like that”. – then we can have a future as well.
We need also to create a network of young volunteers to help spread information at the community level on topics such as sexual and reproductive health, free from stereotypes and taboos. They need to be sensitive to cultural diversity and grounded in the values of human rights and the responsibilities associated with the said rights. We are all aware of the problems of teenage pregnancy and the rampant spread of AIDS – through these groups we can educate the youths on these issues.
The declaration also promotes a political campaign by youth organisations to address national and regional legislation, to ensure that public policy is recognised and to protect sexual and reproductive rights of young people.
It also helps to foster youth volunteerism to achieve better communication between peers, giving out information on drugs and their effects with a focus on human rights; to get the support of governments, private initiatives, financial institutions and social organisations to offer financial and technical assistance, as well as to help to develop business plans all directed towards youth. We must finally create a communication network, the digicel media and mobile training to publicise success stories of young people in the Americas as well as to strengthen the transfer of science and technology to improve systems of production and to stimulate constant innovation.
When we consider the importance the media holds as an ally of young people with respect to participation in decision making, we propose to establish agreements that are allowed to design programmes for television, radio and the written word in order to discuss themes related to youth participation in public policy. These agreements are also designed to develop training workshops on political issues for youth, strengthening the volunteer networks dedicated to youth development assisted by international bodies like UNESCO and national and regional governments. The declaration is also designed to create educational materials for formal and non-formal education as methodological and interactive guides to promote citizen participation involving the perspectives of youths.
Another objective is to develop youth caravans for citizenship participation focused on motivating youth interest in public policy through creating mechanisms for youth participation including various forms of the arts such as theatre, dance and music.
MC: Thank you Sharina. We hope you will continue to travel and to broaden your horizons to make a difference in St. Kitts and Nevis, the Caribbean and indeed the world as far as youth issues go. We hope you have enjoyed our spotlight on UNESCO and what it is doing in our region.
