Violence not a solution

TT Ambassador to the UN, Makeda Antonie-Cambridge has advised students of the Marabella North Secondary School against using violence as the solution to any problem.

“Don’t use violence as a solution to any problem. That is short-term and unwise. It is weakness to respond with violence. It is strength to walk away.”

The Ambassador’s visit yesterday was organised by the Ministry of Education’s Student Support Services Division. She also addressed gender-based violence saying statistics for the period 2011-2015 from the Gender Division showed that of the 11,414 reports of domestic violence, approximately 75 per cent were reported by females.

“Our women are under attack.”

She said while the Commissioner of Police and the National Security Minister, together with teachers were “doing good work,” the most effective strategy to combat gender-based violence was to look out for each other.

“The bullies in whatever form they come in, if they feel someone will challenge them, they will back down. We are seeing the impact of violence in our country, we are seeing it in our schools, we are seeing it in our communities, and we don’t want our children to be that way.

“We want you to be lighthouses, because when you excel, the community excels, and the country does well.” She said while the adage “whatever one does today affects their tomorrow” is true, the converse saying is also true: “What you don’t do also affects tomorrow.”

She said prayer should also be practised as it was not just for “old people” but for everyone.

“The next thing is to have a plan, but be careful of the dream killers – the people who will tell you that you can never do that, do something else. “Not everybody is your friend and not everybody wants you to do better than them.”

Her final piece of advice revolved around work and reminding the students that no one owed them anything. “Nobody owes you anything, not your mummy, not your daddy, not your teacher, not your MP, not your political party. The life that you want, you go after that.”