(Claudett Reid Lake absent)
A new Board, to guide the functioning and services of the Optimist Club in Anguilla for the next year, including youth development work, has been installed. The 20th Anniversary Handover Ceremony was held at da’Vida Bayside Grill at Crocus Bay on Saturday, October 4, under the theme “Step by Step as we Re-focus”.
The 2014-2015 Board, installed by Past President, Shellecia Brooks-Johnson, comprise the following: President: Avon Carty; Vice Presidents: Andrea Benjamin and Steve Rogers; President Elect: Deborah Wynter; Immediate Past President: Charmaine Rey-Richardson; Treasurer: Emma Ferguson; Secretary: Gina Brooks; One-year Directors: Tracelyn Hamilton; Charmaine Sasso; and Damien Lloyd; and Two-year Directors: Juline Hughes; Patricia Harrigan; and Caroll Morton.
Immediate Past President, Charmaine Rey-Richardson, spoke about the various activities undertaken by the Optimist Club, last year, under her presidency, and implored the Optimist Board members: “I pray that all members of the Optimist Club will re-commit themselves…to the children who we are supporting and encouraging.” She went on: “I pray that you will mind each child one step at a time, step by step. I thank those who held my hands over the past year, through all the difficulties when I wanted to give up. I pray you will support the new Board as they take up office and serve you for the year.”
In accepting her presidency, Optimist Avon Carty thanked her colleagues for their confidence in her leadership and expressed her commitment to the principles of the club and to reinforce its work, step by step, as a “Friend of Youth.”
Early in the ceremony, five new members of the Optimist Club were enlisted. They were Imogene Connor, Jane Carty, Njeri Richardson, Travace Olonzo and Claudett Reid-Lake.
Optimist Charmaine Rey-Richardson’s husband, Rev Lindsay Richardson, Correctional Services Counsellor at Her Majesty’s Prison, delivered an address on how the Optimist Club of Anguilla can help the island’s youth, especially boys, to live positive lives, avoid conflict with the law and stay out of prison. He thought he could best advise on this by referring, in brief, to his work and experience in the prison.
Rev Richardson identified five observations which Optimists should bear in mind when dealing with young people. “The first observation I wish to share…was, perhaps, one of the most powerful experiences I have had since I have been working at the prison,” he recalled. “I was in an interview session with one of the inmates who was in for life. After listening to this inmate, just pouring out his life’s story, he looked at me and said ‘this is the first time anybody ever listened to me’, and that was one of the most touching moments I had.”
The Prison official made the point that “young people want to be listened to”. He went on: “Associated with that is the second observation, that from childhood youngsters were being ordered around and preached to – hence not listened to…Everybody – parents, teachers, the church, police and counsellors – ordering them around and preaching to them but nobody listens. Then, they end up in prison and they are being ordered around again – when to go to sleep, when to wake up; when to bathe and when to eat. Their life is structured like that. Many of them are in prison because they refuse to be ordered around by parents, teachers, adults, counsellors, preachers and Sunday school teachers telling them what to do and not to do. They are just tired of it.” He said the only time they are listened to was when they did something outrageous to attract attention and when it was too late.
Rev Richardson continued: “The third lesson is what I call ‘consequent numbness’. They [the youth] just don’t care what the consequences of their actions are. They make up their mind to do what they are going to do and to accept whatever the consequences are. There is nothing you can do to tell them not to do, or else. The minute you say or else, you give them energy and fire to do it. The guys would tell you: anything I do, I make up my mind to do it and feel the consequences – if it means more time in jail or going to court, being locked down, losing privileges or to see family. It’s a numbness. How do you get that person to obey you?”
He said there was a deep distrust in what they refer to as “the system” or anyone who represents “the system”, hence it was necessary to work towards winning their trust and helping them. “The fundamental principle that I discover young people hold fast to and treasure, and will not compromise on, like a devout Christian treasures the Bible, is respect,” he stressed. “If you want them to respect you, you had better respect them and here is how you show respect – by giving them a chance to speak; by listening to them, by not ordering them around; and by not preaching to them like they don’t have any sense…”
Rev Richardson further told the Optimists: “There are persons in prison doing serious time because they refuse to ‘rat-out’ the crime that they are serving time for…They are prepared to stay in prison out of loyalty and respect: you do not rat-out your brother. You do the time. They believe that and hold that dear and defend it with their life…
“We need to understand what it means to listen to them. I would say that these five points alone – listen to them; stop ordering them around and preaching to them; recognising that they have this consequent numbness; that there is an issue of distrust in ‘the system’; and the importance of respect – are meat for a two-week workshop. There you will need to sit down and work out a systematic and strategic plan as to how you are going to engage these young people.”
