By: Precious Mills
BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (WEDNESDAY 14TH MARCH 2018)- Dubbed ‘Each One, Teach One’, yesterday (13thMarch) the Rotaract Club of St.Kitts started a mentorship programme at the Cayon High School which saw over 18 students participating.
Topics covered included Drugs and Violence, Sex and Relationships, Social Media and also Career Choices.
This school-based outreach programme comes as part of the club’s activities in observance of World Rotaract Week (March 12th to 18th).
In giving media comments, Community Service Director Kadian Banton who is also the Assistant District Rotaract Representative (ADRR) for St.Kitts, Nevis and Montserrat talked about the objective and reasoning behind the club’s project.
“This programme came about because as young professionals we saw the need for this type of programme in schools and community at large. It is geared towards creating a safe and comfortable environment for students to come and speak openly and express themselves without feeling judged or criticised for doing so.”
She continued: “We basically want to establish a relationship with these students where they can feel free to come to any of us and talk to us whether it is good that happened or something bad. We want to be a support system for these students. If something bad happens, they can know at the end of the day this particular person or this particular group of persons they have my back. If something bad happens we want them to feel free to call and talk to us about it and if something good happens, we want them to feel excited and call us and share with us likewise.”
Banton gave a review on the start of the programme.
“The children were very cooperative and they were interactive. They had a lot to say but based on what we saw today but based on what we saw today, we are aware that we have a lot of work to do but at the end of the day we are prepared to do so because at the end of the day if we can positively make a difference in just one person’s life, just one person out of the group- of course we are hoping it would be more but if we came just reach out to pone person positively then the programme would have been a success.”
In regard to how regularly the club intends on meeting with the students, Banton informed: “We intend to meet with these students at least twice per semester. We intend to follow up with their teachers to see how see how they are doing academically and maybe eventually meet their families to see how they behave at home and their communities.”
Local activities to highlight World Rotaract Week, in celebration of the 50th anniversary, have included a ‘Rota-Represent-Wear Your Pin Day’ held on Monday and a Blood Drive Awareness on Wednesday. Come Friday, there is a planned food carton distribution to the need and a whistle stop on Saturday.
A beach social to be held at Reggae Beach to be held on Sunday will be the climax event.
The Rotaract Club of St.Kitts- sponsored by the Rotary of St.Kitts which is part of Rotary International- currently has over 13 members. Membership age requirement is 18-30.
The focus of Rotaract Clubs in general is the coming together of members, including prospective members, totake action to enhance their communities in various areas, develop their leadership and professional skills and also have fun socialising with each other.
Notably, the Cayon High School is home to an interact Club which is a younger age group club category of Rotary International. The Basseterre High School also has an Interact Club.