BASSETERRE ST. KITTS (September 13, 2009) -- Three YES Programme students on job attachment with Farrell Canvas of New Road have recently finished upholstery work and delivered finished products that are being hailed as masterpieces to a number of government offices around Basseterre.
Following an intensive training conducted by Don Farrell, proprietor of Farrell Canvass, the three (Everette Stephens of Cayon, Trisha Johnson of Camps and Sheno Berridge of Sandy Point) have managed to set up chairs that have been delivered to the Inland Revenue Department, the Electoral Office, the Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport and the Customs Department.
The Customs Department received the chairs, which have been set up in the Long Room, last week. Comptroller of Customs Rodney Harris is full of praise for the workmanship displayed by the three students of the Youth Empowerment through Skills (YES) Programme which was launched in February by Prime Minister, the Hon Dr Denzil Douglas.
“We are a service oriented department and we were trying the best on how well we can serve the public, and I am telling you that this is a very good initiative by Don Farrell and his team of YES Programme students,” said Harris, who was in the company of his deputy, Georid Belle, as they inspected the chairs placed in the Customs Long Room.
He explained that the chairs, which will be used by members of the public as they wait to be served, were of a professional quality. The people who come to do business at Long Room will no longer have to stand for long hours as they wait for their documents to be processed by customs officers. According to Harris, the clients have shown great appreciation.
“In terms of the work done by the youths, as we know them to be people who maybe have come from off the streets or people who are underprivileged, I think that it is really a good thing that they have done and we could see that the youths are not all bad,” commented Harris.
“And they are all not a waste of time, because if they could do this kind of work, I think that there is ability for us to look at them and to assist them in any other way we could in terms of getting their craft together. They might not all be academically inclined but the skill that I see displayed here I think that they can go further and we have to open up avenues to help them to go further.”
He praised the government for having initiated such a well thought programme because it is starting to show results, when youths who would have been ignored and end up in trouble, are now able to discover their hidden talents. He noted that in short order, all of them will hold meaningful jobs as organisations, public and private sector, can seen what the youths have to offer.
“The YES Programme reminds me of the work programme the government initiated some years back,” recalled the Comptroller of Customs. “From that work programme we have custom officers who work here and are doing very well. They have elevated themselves and some of them have reached the rank of three-bar officers.
“Those initiatives are good initiatives, but I think this one here (YES Programme) helps and we will see the fruits eventually. It cannot entail everybody but at least the majority of the people who go out into these fields based on these initiatives they will eventually be seen as productive people.”
Don Farrell who trained them explained that Trisha Johnson has completed that phase of training and is currently undertaking computer lessons under the YES Programme. He is now left with Everette Stephens and Sheno Berridge. However Sheno is more into welding than upholstery.
“We have already pinpointed out a government place which is down at the ferry terminal to put up an extension on the eastern side of the terminal where the people sit,” explained Farrell. “Sheno will be involved in the putting up of the extension there. The extension will be about twenty feet and at the end of the day, the government could see exactly what he has been doing for past five months on the programme.”
