Cadets move into new dorm at Gracie Rock

We hear a lot of talk about the problem of youth and crime, but when it comes to concrete solutions the silence can be deafening. That’s why the efforts at mile twenty-one on the Western Highway continue to merit our attention. News Five’s Marion Ali has the latest.

Marion Ali, Reporting
Today the National Youth Cadet Service Corp celebrated two milestones as they inaugurated a brand new dormitory and held a passing out ceremony for Intake Number Nine. The young men enrolled in the programme six weeks ago and today received certificates for having completed the first part of the two-year training.

Established in 1999, the institution offers an alternative to youths who have, for some reason, detoured off the right path in life. The Challengers are clothed, fed and taught a trade along with the basic academic classes, and strict discipline modelled off the Belize Defence Force. Cody Palacio, who won two awards, has no regrets that he signed on.

Cody Palacio, Challenger, Youth Cadet Service Corp.
“I find it good because it teaches about respect, self control, self esteem. It gives you courage to be a positive person in your life.”

Marion Ali
“What you used to do before you came here?”

Cody Palacio
“I wasn’t studying. I mi di work before I come here after here when I graduate I will attend high school and go into the Belize Defence Force.”

This positive trait is what guest speaker, Minister of Defence, Sports, and Youth, Rodwell Ferguson, would like to see more of.

Rodwell Ferguson, Minister of Youth
“I believe that every single person, every single individual have their role to play in the development of our country Belize and they must be given the opportunity.”

“I wish the day would come when we turn on our radios and televisions and hear all the positive things about our youths and don’t hear that today another youth has been killed in Belize City. We are now going down like flies. We are bigger than that, we are human beings and we have something in this life and let it be something positive that everyone can see.”

The new building cost almost a hundred and eighty-eight thousand dollars, most of which came as a loan from the Caribbean Development Bank. Now that it’s ready, Acting Manager Sandra McClaren believes the youngsters will be much better off in their new surroundings.

Sandra McClaren, Acting Manager, Nat’l Youth Cadet Service Corp
“We had four separate dorms in the back, those buildings right there and it would house the youths separately as compared to this new dorm that we have where everybody is in one dorm and we have a better control over the youths.”

Marion Ali
“It’s an all-day six week programme? And what does the programme entail?”

Sandra McClaren
“This programme is for two years. The first phase of the programme is six weeks and during that time it’s strictly residential where the young people are moved completely from their environment and they are hosted here at mile twenty-one. It entails spiritual and personal development, academic, and some vocational skills.”

As an added means of entertainment, businessman Marion Usher donated an ice hockey table to the facility. The National Cadet Service Corp presently has an enrolment of twenty-five youths and continues to register newcomers. Reporting for News Five, Marion Ali.

Families pay a fee of two hundred dollars per year for their youngsters to attend the programme. For those who cannot afford it, the boys’ participation is sponsored by the Social Security Board. Meanwhile, plans are to transform the institution’s current office building into a resource centre for residents of Gracie Rock.