The YCPDM section president for Ndian IV in Bamuso, South West region holds that an informed and enterprising youth is better placed to make life changing decisions not only for himself but also for his nation.
It was within the framework of changing the mind set of youths in the area, that Teke Samuel Monjongi, YCPDM section president held a training session, which brought together the 18 Subsection presidents of Bamuso. According to the organizer, it had been observed that youths bore an erroneous understanding of the functioning of government as well as politics. Many had lost the notion of patriotism as well as being the main actors in changing their lives. This lack of knowledge led the majority of youths to be entirely dependent on the elite and government for their daily bread, a situation which the youth section president found worrisome. And so in a bid to salvage the state of affairs, he gathered his peers with whom he discussed ways of revamping their entrepreneurial minds and their role in nation building.
The mainstay of the population of Bamuso are fishing and farming. The youth who are involved in one or both activities are yet to make their trade sustainable. Fishing is not done in large scales, the youths lack the culture of saving as well as diversifying their sources of income. These aspects and more were discussed and the Subsection presidents for their part gave suggestions on how the youths could be assisted to bring positive change in their lives. “Following our discussions, we identified areas in which we could find sponsorship for youths. We intend to provide the necessary training in areas that they choose. Having identified fishing as their main activity, we will train youths to do fish farming in their backyards and not endanger their lives on the high seas. The cultivation of certain crop like tomatoes is difficult in the area but it is possible and quite lucrative” Samuel Teke said.
The Subsection presidents were assigned to go back to their communities and collect data, identifying those who need sponsorship so that once the information has been gathered, requisite action would then be taken. According to the YCPDM section president, “The idea is to give these youths who have matured their projects soft loans which they can use to grow their business, return it after six months or a year and which can then be used to help another person.” The bid to economically empower the youths of Bamuso is Samuel Teke’s way of giving back to his community and getting the youths to drop the attitude of waiting for government to do it all. At a time when the crises in the Anglophone regions has derailed many youths, it is of the essence to empower them so they in turn can uphold republican values.
Claudette CHIN
