Youth Called On to Take Personal Responsibility

Caribbean Youth Advocate, Choc’late Allen, has called on young people to take personal responsibility for their development and for peace and stability in the nation.
“Personal responsibility benefits our community, ourselves and our nation. We can’t just talk change, we must live the changes that we want to see in our nation,” said the Youth Advocate, who delivered the main address at the National Students’ Day function held on Monday (Nov. 17) at the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) in Mandeville, Manchester.
“Once we regulate our thoughts and actions as young individuals, distinguishing right from wrong, we will see a crime free nation,” she stated.
Choc’late encouraged the youngsters at the function, who were drawn from high schools and youth clubs across the island, to work to overcome obstacles and make their own contribution in supporting exiting youth building initiatives, and also work to correct ills in the society.
The 15 year-old activist, who gained publicity in early 2007 by staging a five-day fast in her native Trinidad and Tobago, in an effort to plead to people to stop criminal activity in the country, said that with young people leading and advocating for positive change, societies will transform for the better.
“Whether its crime, teenage pregnancies, drug and alcohol abuse, child abuse; there are many things that we can name that we need to correct but it all starts with us. We cannot expect to have youth empowerment, or a youth body that is changing things in the society, if as individuals we don’t make the changes ourselves. Youth empowerment for change; it starts with us,” she stated.
International Students’ Day was organised by the National Centre for Youth Development (NCYD), and is observed around the world each year to remember students, who lost their lives at the hands of Nazis in 1939.