Basseterre, St. Kitts (April 30, 2004): HIV/AIDS Change Agent Mrs. Celia Christopher has highly commended the two young persons from the Federation who attended the Caribbean Summit for Children on HIV/AIDS.
She noted that they displayed much self confidence and represented the Federation well. Mrs. Chrisopher added that their ideas were among those presented at the “Yes Mr. Minister” session which allowed the young people, the chaperones and the Ministers to come together.
Mrs. Christopher said that the children questioned the Ministers on a diverse variety of HIV/AIDS related issues. She said that some of the questions were so in-depth that the Ministers had to pause and seriously consider their responses.
The Change Agent who was the appointed Chaperone for the children also noted that it was time for adults to heed the opinions of young people.
Mrs. Christopher elaborated that adults tend to want to do things in the adult way, but particularly at that Summit, the children emphasized their need to be heard. She said they should be given opportunities to set their own programmes and carry them out. She also said that the Summit participants stated that more young people can be reached with modern and creative methods including hip hop music.
Next year’s Caribbean Summit for Children on HIV/AIDS is scheduled to take place in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
