H.S. student to take part in Caribbean Youth Summit
Adolescent Reproductive Health will be the focus of a special summit for youths of the Caribbean this month in Barbados.
Sixteen year old Robert Burgess of Belize City will join other young people from across the region for the 1998 Caribbean Youth Summit. Burgess and the other delegates will discuss ways of advancing the agenda for action on issues pertaining to adolescent reproductive health. According to B.F.L.A.’s Teen Coordinator Raphael Sosa, Burgess was chosen from a pool of sixteen candidates.
Raphael Sosa, B.F.L.A.
“We at B.F.L.A. actually on September eleventh, a letter of invitation came in at the office for us to choose a representative from one of our youth groups, particularly the Youth Advocacy Movement which was formerly the under twenty club. We sat down and we reviewed the files of all the members and we unanimously nominated Mr. Robert Burgess.”
Q: “Why was Mr. Burgess nominated?”
Raphael Sosa
“Well let me tell you honestly that we looked at the tenure of all the youth members and I must say when compared against all the others, Mr. Burgess has been with all the youth groups for quite sometime now. He has been with the youth group for a period of ten years. He is an active and vibrant youth member, he also assist us with some of the recruiting, when it comes to getting in a new cadre of young people.”
Q: “How do you feel knowing that you were the person chosen to represent Belize at the Caribbean Youth Summit?”
Robert Burgess, 16 Years Old
“Well I feel very wonderful about that decision because I have been with B.F.L.A. for the past two and a half years and I’ve also gone out of districts and in school and other places to talk about sexual reproductive health. And I’ve never gone abroad before and it is a pleasure for me to go to Barbados.”
Q: “What will you guys be discussing over there in Barbados?”
Robert Burgess
“We will be discussing different problems facing young people in Belize such as teenage pregnancy, lack of recreational centers and other problems.”
Burgess will head for Barbados on Saturday to attend the summit which is being sponsored by the United Nation’s Population Fund.
