The continuing pile-up of garbage in Kwakwani is a major concern of the young people in that community.
This and other concerns were expressed at a meeting with two sisters – Guliana and Leonela Jacobs – who grew up in Kwakwani but have been living in the United States of America for several years.
The sister, both tax consultants – Guliana in New York and Leonela in Georgia – met with a group of almost twenty young people last Friday to explore the possibility of assisting them to form a youth group in Kwakwani.
Observing that the Leo Club is no longer functioning in Kwakwani and that most of the young people at the discussion knew nothing about the Leo Club, Guliana informed them that she was the first President of the Leo Club at Kwakwani.
She said the young people – teenagers and young adults – in her time took the initiative to engage in community projects such as cleaning the Kwakwani Park area as well as building benches for the park and assisted the Lions Club to build bus sheds. “That kept us very busy, for one,” Guliana said, “kept us out of trouble and gave us a sense that we could do things for ourselves and the community without waiting on the community to do things for you.”
In promising to support the endeavour to form the club and to make it successful, Guliana shared her vision for the club to connect with similar youth clubs in other countries including the USA so that from a relatively young age, its members would be able to have reference points in relation to life in Guyana and other places and how they fare as young people in comparison with their peers in other countries.
“A lot of children in Guyana want to go to the (United) States but they don’t know what it’s all about,” she cautioned. “So, they can share with you what their life is all about and you can share with them what your life is about and one day you can have a visit.”
Guliana further cautioned the Kwakwani youngsters that such a visit will not materialize unless they can show that they have a well-organized club. She also stressed that public speaking would be an important aspect of the club as she encouraged those at the meeting to participate fully in the discussion on the possible goals and objectives of the club.
During the discussion, many youths expressed the yearning for a cleaner environment; better role models; more respect, love and cooperation among members of the community so that children would grow up respecting themselves and others, particularly the older people; and encouraging drop outs to go back to school. They also called for better roads and pointed to the need to arrest the decay in important public facilities, including the basketball court, swimming pool and the Kwakwani Workers Club building.
One youngster went beyond calling on just the people of Kwakwani to come together; he said he would like the people of Linden, Ituni and Kwakwani to come together to fix the Linden-Kwakwani road.
Earlier Guliana met with Canisha Primo, who last year scored the highest marks ever for a student writing the Common Entrance Examination at Kwakwani. Canisha obtained 525 marks, which ascertained a place for her at Queen’s College. She has been able to attend Queen’s College through assistance from a partial scholarship that has been personally presented to her by Guliana.
