On Tuesday we told you about a week long programme for the exchange of ideas on non violence between youths from across the country at the House of Culture. The exchange movement, which is sponsored by UNICEF, ended today but before the youths headed back to their home districts they had to come with a plan of action. Those ideas were presented at closing ceremonies this morning and 7NEWS was there.
Keith Swift Reporting, [keithkswift@gmail.com]
Steve James will act on the problem of illiteracy in rural areas of the Belize District.
Steve James, Belize District
"We came up with a plan and education is the topic of our plan of action. We want to target parts of the districts like Gales Point Manatee because most of the youths down there come out of school and they don't need to read and write. So our plan of action is for us to go down there for two weeks and form a program where we could teach ten youths per day to read, write, do maths, arts, and music."
Alford Bainton will hit the streets when he returns to Corozal.
Alford Bainton, Corozal District
"We'll go back and we'll work as hard as possible and we'll to get them off the streets as soon as possible and we'll try to get them into activities as early as possible so that they can have a positive mind about things."
And a few miles down in Orange Walk, Leith Paulino will work on getting youths back to work.
Leith Paulino, Orange Walk District
"We decide that we need to get down and deal with this issue of unemployment because I guess Belize starts off with the youths and to have the youths not doing anything really hurts and thing like that because we can't build our nation non at all. So our plan of action is to go out to the community, the business community on a whole, and also the community in general and try to work what we put on paper."
Three youths from three different districts with three different ideas on uplifting their peers. UNICEF's Marleni Cuellar says the success of these plans of action will depend on the youths themselves.
Marleni Cuellar, Coordinator
"The main motto of 'Xchange' is that it begins with you. The success or failure of this is based upon the commitment of each individual young person in there. We can accept the reality that sometimes young people will lose interest, but there are also a good number of committed young people who are willing to see a difference in our community."
These Xchangers will return to Belize City on September 17th for a "Fear for Dreams, Dreams for Reality" concert which will be headlined by Machal Montano. The concert will be held at the bliss center and admission will be free.
