BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE Ministry of Youth Empowerment’s Summer Camp held a Career Fair yesterday (July 26) at the Beach Allen Primary School with the aim of instilling positive skills in campers, instead of them participating in negative activities.
Jelani Johnson, one of the groups’ leaders, told SKNVibes that several businesses in the community were a part of the fair and had made presentations about their specific jobs to the campers.
“The aim was to expose campers to different jobs that they can enter, allowing them to see that there is more to life than gang violence and negativities going on in society at this time. And they have been emphasising the positive things they could do,” he said.
Johnson said it was the first time the fair had been on the Summer Camp’s agenda and that it went well.
He said that representatives of several businesses, including ICT Centre, National Skills Training Program, Frigate Bay Beach Resort, Customs and Excise and the Health Promotion Unit, had spoken about their respective workplace to the 225 campers who are between the ages of eight and 16.
Johnson said that there are 56 group leaders managing the campers.
Environmental Health Officer Josef Markman made presentations on various parts of animals after they have been butchered, including the lungs and kidneys.
He told the children that after the animal is butchered and inspected, the process continues with the removal of certain parts which are referred to as the pluck.
“With that pluck, we check the heart, the liver, the lungs, and we cut along looking for worms. The kidney stays in the carcass and the carcass is cut in half. There you look for your abnormalities on different places on the animal’s body,” he said.
There was also an Environmental Health Officer who dealt with water quality, and a Vector Controller who educate the campers on rodents and mosquitoes.
“This is a good for them if they like doing different things, as you wouldn’t do the same thing twice each day,” Markman said.
Assistant Comptroller of Customs Theodore Browne said that their experience at the fair was great as the children asked many important questions.
“The interaction was good,” he said. “We had a group of girls who asked some very pertinent questions. They asked about what we were doing to curb the gun situation in St. Kitts, and we were able to let them know we have our K-9 Unit, also to let them know we are responsible for patrolling the borders and we are doing just that.”
