The second Youth Summit held in Anguilla recently was described as a success with a large number of students from the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School in attendance.

Selvyn Lewis (center) and other Facilitators

Patricia Beard, Coordinator of the National Aids Programme and a committed youth worker, addressed the young people at the Teachers’ Resource Centre, where the two-day summit was held by a Trinidad & Tobago-based group called “Barcam.”

Barcam is a developmental organisation whose President is Selvyn Lewis. His group is involved in various activities and sensitisation programmes and issues including HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, crime and substance abuse. It is also involved in events management and other activities. Its work has expanded to fifteen CARICOM territories as well as some parts of South and Central America. It has also done work in Africa and Malaysia.

l-r: Marilyn Hodge, Patricia Beard and Timothy Hodge

“This summit is designed to help you to deal with the problems that you are facing,” Mrs. Beard told the students during the opening session. “You in Campus A and B are going through some times that other young people have never gone through in their life in Anguilla such as violence in school. You are faced with other issues such as your sexual orientation, the threat of HIV/AIDS and other challenges. That is why Barcam is here to help you to deal with the problems confronting you.”

The summit was funded mainly by the Social Security Board. Timothy Hodge, Director of Social Security, cautioned the young people against youth violence, unprotected sex and drug abuse. He made the point that each of them had a choice to make whether or not to pursue such behavioural trends.

Students, Facilitators and others at Teachers’ Resource Centre

“I know peer pressure, and I know that those who dare to be different can exert positive peer pressure. It does not have to be the other way around,” he said. “When I was in high school and used swearing language, it was my friend who influenced me to cut it out. Each of us has a choice and none of us really should blame somebody else of peer pressure. You are to be strong enough to be different.”

Mr. Hodge told the students he was not a prophet of doom and gloom, a sceptic or pessimist. “I believe that there are a lot of good in you and that you will do a lot for Anguilla,” he stated. “I believe that by being here you have chosen to make a difference. I love this island and have chosen to live here to have a family and to bring up my four daughters here.

“I do not believe that the majority of our young people are violent or candidates for expulsion or a life of crime and will end up either in the police station, the jail or the funeral home and burial ground. But I am worried. Anguilla is very different to the Anguilla I grew up in. The family is under threat and many of the societal problems we have can be traced back to the family …and when we have problems in the family we must have problems in the society.

“We have problems in the family, teenage pregnancies, divorce, domestic violence, unlawful carnal knowledge of minors and illicit sex… The average child spends many hours watching television and becoming brain-washed by alien culture and violence. This is alien to us and needs to stamp out, kicked out and however we can, let us get rid of it,” Mr. Hodge emphasised.

“I have a lot of confidence in you, young people. I want you to make a difference; not to fall in the trap of these negatives,” he added. “I want you to be positive. Take advantage of every opportunity you have in life. Support the National AIDS Programme, the Youth Crime Watch. Support the things in your school that are positive and come out being good, positive role models for your peers and the rest of us in Anguilla.”

Main facilitator for the Youth Summit, Selvyn Lewis, said he stood by what Mr. Hodge had said. He explained that the main focus of the summit was on HIV/AIDS. “Your population is important to us,” he told the students. “HIV/AIDS in a country that has 13,000 persons is a crisis situation. It is not far-fetched that if things get out of hand, your population could be at risk. It is not far-fetched that if things get out of hand, the population of Anguilla could be 750 persons. I am not saying that to frighten you. I am saying that based on facts and what happened in Sub-Sahara, Africa. The population in some of the African States was going down so rapidly that they started to import people.”

Lewis stressed that it was not the big countries around the world but the small Caribbean region which ranked second to Sub-Sahara, Africa with the HIV/AIDS virus. “Anguilla is part of a group that run second to Sub-Sahara, Africa and your population is only 13,000 and so you have to be careful,” he stated.

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