The roads in upper Mc Kai Lands, Belmont, are narrow, and the prospects for many of the community’s youths appear to be even narrower. The young people face many social issues growing up in a community which many would describe as a depressed area, and many of them come from backgrounds of disadvantage and abuse.
But at least seven of them are hoping to turn their lives around by taking up the challenge and scholarships offered by the MP for Port-of-Spain North/St Ann’s West Stuart Young to participate in Servol’s (Service Volunteered for All) Adolescent Development Programme. Funding for the scholarships came from private sponsors. All they wanted was a chance to prove themselves, improve their lot in life and give back to their community with the skills they are learning at Servol.
Young, minister in the Office of the Prime Minister and the Office of the Attorney General, believes the youths of Mc Kai Lands can be beacons of hope for their community.
Young said: “When I first entered the constituency of Port-of-Spain North/St Ann’s West, there were a lot of warnings and somewhat negative connotations about an area called Mc Kai Lands.
“I made contact with persons who interacted with the youths and ventured into Mc Kai Lands to see what the community was about. Over time, I built a relationship with individuals from the area including Carl Clarke, who works with the youths.
“It has been a very rewarding relationship to see a community bond together and look after its youths in the way that they have.” He said he was happy to see the young people progressing through Servol’s programme and challenged them in turn to be leaders of their community and positive beacons of hope for the others to follow.
Young said Mc Kai Lands had proven to be an exemplary community and he welcomed the opportunity to work with any other community in the constituency that was willing to help itself the way Mc Kai Lands had. He said he was also working with residents to provide running water in the community for the first time. During the election campaign in 2015 he provided a number of water tanks for the community.
Clarke: Youths in Mc Kai Lands come from broken homes
Community activist Carl Clarke, 40, who is like a big brother or father figure to the youths in upper Mc Kai Lands, said he wanted to thank Minister Young for his initiative to give the youths the opportunity to learn a trade through Servol, a stipend of $50 a day, counselling and mentoring.
He said he hoped that other ministers and citizens of T&T followed Young’s example and help parents with jobs as well. Mc Kai Lands needed a Cepep (Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme) gang, a construction crew, among other things for the area.
Clarke, a barber by trade, said he had been doing community work for ten years, but for four years he had become disillusioned with politicians and businessmen’s broken promises to assist the community.
He said Young was different however; when he talked to the MP he sounded very positive towards the youths and helping the community. Clarke said even before the election campaign started Young asked him if he could get four youths to enrol in Servol.
But it was a challenging task to get the youths involved. At first the youths didn’t really gravitate to the idea, Clarke said. But retired Scotiabank managing director Richard Young, the minister’s father, urged him to get them involved—it started with one youth, Roy Bobb, who said he wanted to give it a try, then six other youths came onboard.
The elder Young, he said, helped source several sponsors and donations, books and equipment for the youths to go to school, and Francis Fashions donated shirts, pants and shoes for them to attend church.
He said while introducing them