Empower Beetham youth

THE EDITOR: We must stop looking at Beetham youth as problems to be solved and alligators in a lagoon. We must not view them as a menace, but we must see them for what they really are – critical resources for building a better tomorrow for TT. "Acting Attorney General and Laventille West MP Fitzgerald Hinds disclosed that Government has been trying to deal with flooding in the Beetham, but certain elements have robbed and threatened a contractor to the point where no contractor wants to go there," according to a newspaper article.

I have a registered construction company and I have received contracts in the past to do retaining walls. Beetham is not the only area where these types of situations occur. It unfortunately happens in quite a few areas in Trinidad. Many of the contracts I received involved areas that contractors were unwilling to go because of the dangers faced. Many of the jobs were left incomplete because of the difficulties experienced with residents from the area. However, I was able to complete jobs in extremely difficult areas by working with the youths in the area, hiring them to do the work and paying them fairly.

Many contractors go into these areas with the wrong attitude. They go there to see how much profit they can make for themselves rather than going there to see how much they can give to the community and empower the youth.

Some Beetham youth also have a responsibility to change their perspective of life. They must learn to change the way they have been conditioned to think and come to an understanding of the importance of stepping outside themselves and into another persona and stop viewing everyone with scepticism.

Beetham youth must dare to dream like an artist who has the ability to create something out of nothing. Youth must dream and think like a professional athlete such as Usain Bolt who has the will to persist and overcome any obstacle standing in his way. Youth must be taught to dream like entrepreneurs who know no limitations in thought or action.

The law abiding citizens of this country desire for the youth of this nation to turn away from a life of crime and immediately gain a different perspective about life and the circumstances that are confronting them and causing them to rebel. Beetham youth must immediately begin to think and dream bigger, more clearly, creatively and problematically, which will help them to break down the walls that are preventing them from living successfully and making TT a better place.

SIMON WRIGHT, Chaguanas