CPR for the environment

Each month features a message of the month, an environmental fact, and a picture of a child participating in some environmentally friendly activity. Those invaluable lessons are there to see every day of the month. Children are encouraged to mark an X on the days they will be bagging bottles and a check mark on the days for truck collection.

Children learn the value of using a reusable cloth bag as opposed to plastic bags, which are bad for the environment. Children are encouraged to protect the environment and be part of the environment – to play outside rather than sit at the computer, which uses energy.

What is most striking about Yahweh’s calendar is the simple, clear messages that resonate with young people, and the pictures which demonstrate children actively participating in environmentally friendly projects. Through Yahweh, Tobago children actively participate in plastic collection in Buccoo.

Through Yahweh, Tobago children learn at a young age that they can make a difference in protecting the environment. It gives them a sense of responsibility.

This is how you create pride in your island; pride in your country.

This is how you harness the positive energy of children and prevent future cynicism. It is empowerment in its purest form. These children are learning organisational skills and leadership skills. They’re learning about their neighbourhood — who lives there and who needs help — and they are being put in a position to teach adults about the value of protecting and preserving our environment. What strikes me most about Yahweh’s project is how it enables young people to feel connected to their environment and indeed their country. It gives them a purpose in life at a time in our country where most young people don’t feel a sense of purpose.

It is so easy for children in this country to grow into that passive role played so well by adults in this country. Everyone grumbles, everyone complains, everyone feels that there is nothing they can do to make this country a better place.

These children will not grow up to feel this way because they see they are making a difference with every bag of bottles they collect. Recycling bottles is a very visible exercise in making a difference.

I know how important it is for young children and teenagers to feel connected to their country; to feel they have a purpose and feel their life has meaning. In the ten years that I have taught at the Youth Training Centre and the Port of Spain Prison, the number one problem I have found is that feeling of being disconnected from this country. That awful, helpless feeling is consuming.

I have seen how much young men in prison crave a sense of purpose; a sense of belonging. They thrive when they become engaged in positive activities. On any given day, I think about how different life could have been for these young men in prison if they had found a purpose in their lives.

To see the pictures of smiling children in this calendar working together to achieve a goal is a heartwarming sight. So many people disregard a child’s voice. So many children are not given the opportunity to express themselves in meaningful activities. These children are demonstrating that together they are a force to be reckoned with in a country that often ove r looks our most valuable resource: our children.