‘Girls, learn how to make choices’

Minister of Community Development, Culture and the Arts Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, encouraged the girls of AFETT's REACH Mentorship Programme to take the training seriously as it would help them make important decisions in their lives.

Speaking yesterday at the (AFETT) Association of Female Executives of TT cycle launch at the Febeau Community Centre, San Juan, she said soon the 22 girls, ages 14 to 17 would have to decide what to do with their professional and personal lives so it was a good idea to take pointers so they could be successful.

“At this time you have to make these choices whether you like it or not. You have to decide what’s going to happen to you after you finish school because when you turn a certain age your parents... will be asking you what are you doing to take care of yourself.”

The volunteer mentors of the programme, in operation since 2010, passed on life skills to young girls. In the five weeks of the programme the girls from San Juan and environs would be guided on achieving a career, setting goals, best practices for communication, how to present themselves, how to improve relationships, self-esteem, body language and more.

Gadsby-Dolly said the AFETT mentors were there to guide them because, although the girls may feel as if they already know everything, all young people needed advice. She said AFETT wanted to put them in touch with people who made good professional decisions and choices, and who wanted to share their experiences.

She added that they were the future of their constituency and what they did in the next five to ten years was important. She said some of them would become mothers and what they teach their children would impact their communities and the country.

She therefore thanked the mentors for volunteering their time to the programme. “These young ladies here are the future of our constituency. Some will have children, some sooner than others, and what they teach their children would impact on how our society is in this communities. And that’s what happens in all communities and that’s how we make up our country.

“So if you are good mothers and you raise your children with good values, then we would have good people in our society... But if we are careless and if we are lazy, and if we see parenting as a bother, then we will raise children who are no good to our society, who don’t contribute anything and only take and our country would not progress.”

She said both mentors and participants had either better or more enjoyable things to do on a Saturday morning, so they should make it count and learn all that they could, ask as many questions as possible, and share what was happening in their lives with their mentors and fellow trainees.