Over the past weekend, (October 12-14) some three hundred Pathfinders, their Leaders and Directors, from Anguilla, St. Martin/St. Maarten and St. Eustatius, held their 2012 Congressorie in Anguilla and were engaged in various church and community activities.
They met for fellowship and worship at the Mount Fortune Seventh-day Adventist Church where many of them were invested by Youth Director with the North Caribbean Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Pastor Danny Philip. Later, a most spectacular event was a march, through the Upper Valley, The Quarter and Rey Hill areas, aimed at sending a message to the youth and the community in general. Their uniforms and shoes soaked by the rain, and due to the inclement weather, they were not in a position to be visited by the Governor and Chief Minister as was previously planned.
“The focus of the march this year in Anguilla is that we want to save our young people, and so we are making a statement against drugs, gangs, crime and violence,” Pastor Philip said. “We are making a statement that we cannot sit back and allow these things to continue to happen in our community while our young people are being negatively affected. They are the leaders of tomorrow and some are already in leadership positions today. If we do not have policies and make statements that will benefit them, then it will jeopardise our future.”
What was of particular note was the fervour with which the Pathfinders carried out their march, unhindered by the torrents of rain caused by tropical storm Rafael and the absence of the roadside crowd due to the inclement weather.
The Pathfinders’ salute was taken just outside the ANGLEC administrative building by Commissioner of Police, Rudolph Proctor, the Youth Director, Pastor Philip, his deputy, Pastor Philbert of St. Maarten, and the resident Ministers Pastors Virgil Sam and Sylvester Williams.
Pastor Philip spoke about other activities in which the Pathfinders were engaged. “The Seventh-day Adventist Church pays a lot of attention to its young people,” he stated. “We have different categories and over this weekend we were focusing on those 10-15 youngsters. Each year we have a Pathfinders’ Congressorie where we bring together this group of young people because they would have done certain work over the year and then we award them for what they did. They are invested in different classes and then move on to other classes.
“The activities they had to practice included drilling and marching, preaching, studying the Bible and creating banners. They exhibited some of these skills and we awarded them for first, second and third places.”
