Almost two weeks after she became the first woman toshao of the Pakuri Village (formerly St Cuthbert’s Mission) on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway, Beverley Clenkian is on a mission to improve educational opportunities for the youth and develop the community socially.
While she does not have it all clearly mapped out, she is determined to pull together the expertise of her 12 council members, three of whom are also women, to achieve the agenda.
The abuse of alcohol among youths in the village is also a heavy burden on the heart of the 45-year-old mother of three and that is another issue she plans to tackle during her three-year term. Unemployment is high, and this results in many young people leaving, often for the interior, particularly since many of them would have dropped out of school at an early age to assist their struggling families financially.