Youth learn new skills

There is a call to invest in more projects that will enable young people to acquire new skills.

This comes from Mark Durant, a participant of the Ruk-a-Tuk Inc. and Human Resource Development Strategy (HRDS) Training Workshops in the Artistic Forms of Limbo Dancing, Fire Eating and Flute Playing, for persons aged 16 and over.

“By investing in initiatives likes these, it gives youngsters something positive to do, it gives them a skill; keeps them off the block,” he stressed.

“Through these workshops, we have about 20 people who can now make a living from the cultural arts.”

Addressing the closing ceremony held at the Ministry of Labour on Friday evening, Durant, top student in the Fire- Eating class, tutored by Winston ‘Cassius Clay’ Yearwood, said that before commencing the training 10 weeks ago, he would not have imagined being able to eat and blow fire.

“Such training would not have been possible without someone coming up with an idea. Therefore, I want to thank Wayne “Poonka” Willock for developing the idea, for taking the idea to the Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Human Resource Development, which through its Human Resource Development Strategy, supported by the European Union (EU), made the funds available to make these workshops a reality,” he said.

“I hope that the Ministry and the European Union sees this as a project that can be repeated.”

Durant also encouraged fellow participants to embrace their new skills. “Go out there; you can engage people and you can be paid. But, most of all you must love what you do, as Poonka loves what he is doing so much that he made it possible for others to learn.”

Poonka, Managing Director of Ruk-a-Tuk Inc. and flute tutor also lauded the Ministry for embracing the training workshops.

“I sent out many proposals to several entities and I got no response at all. However, the Ministry made it happen within about three weeks.

“I believe the government, by funding such projects and allowing them to develop, will eventually find that there are avenues for young people to gain meaningful employment,” he said.
(TL)