The youth
of our nation are of course its future. This is a fact and not a new one. That
is why it is most gratifying to read in this week's Youth Forum column in The
Point that the Kombo South Youth Committee in Western Region has embarked on a
massive sensitization campaign among the young people of the district to form
youth committees.
The campaign, which started in Kartong last Saturday, was aimed at forming youth committees in all the 55 villages of Kombo South thus reducing the load on the District Youth Committee so as to better coordinate the activities of youths.
Such coordination will no doubt yield fine results and not only empower the young people of Kombo south but give them a sense of ownership in their own empowerment.
Everybody knows that the bread that is earned is tastier than the bread that is received through handouts or charity so these young people working for themselves will appreciate their empowerment all the more because they have had to work for it.
Speaking at the occasion, the chairman of the Kartong Village Development Committee, Omar S.B Jabang, said development goes with certain difficulties before success.
This is no doubt the case. Success is not an instant thing but something which comes over time and through effort on the part of those who wish to achieve it.
Here again we see the reward aspect of these efforts bearing delicious fruits.
Speaking earlier, Mr. Dembo Kinteh of Kairasu, sole sponsor of the campaign, asked the youths of Kombo South to unite to achieve their development goals.
He called on the communities and authorities to support and encourage the youth for them to succeed as the youth is the backbone of any nation. This is a vital aspect of this and any other campaign of its kind.
All communities should rally around their young people and support them in their efforts to empower themselves and their peers. This is true in the micro level of the village but also at the macro level of the nation as a whole.
The government must do as all community leaders should do in their communities and support the youth to empower themselves so that the nation as a whole may reap the benefits in the future.
"Youth would be an ideal state if it came a little later in life."
Herbert Asquith.
