BUSINESS & LIFE: Who says our young people are not worthy?

At the Closing Ceremony of the VF Inc.’s Youth Series on August 2^nd, Nea Antoine, one of the participants sang a song “Who Says?” by Selena Gomez and I think this sums up so nicely our message to our young persons: that they are worthy, special, unique, can be anything they want to be; go anywhere they want to go and ties in nicely to the theme song for the week, “I am a Promise” by The Bill Gaither Trio.

I love the Youth Series for in that week I am full engaged with the young people.  I see the promise, the possibilities, potentialities and the goodness of the young people.  I see the future and I am heartened.  There is more goodness and light in our young people than darkness and it is our responsibility to magnify that light and diminish the darkness.  During that week, I see the bright, shining stars that are confident in their abilities and what the future holds.  I see the future leaders who are prepared and ready to take a stand.  I see too, the bright stars that are not shining brightly because they either lack the confidence or do not yet realise that they are stars.  I see also the rough diamonds that need just a little polishing to shine ever so brightly.  I see also the broken pieces that just need love and encouragement to put the pieces together again beautifully.  We accept and love them as they are and they return the love and acceptance a hundredfold.  At the hike on Saturday, one parent said to me her son came to her asking about me as I had not yet reached the meeting point and he was concerned about my welfare.  She told him, you are not asking about me but you are asking me about Aunty Valda.  He responded, “Mommy, you are right here before me.  I can see you are okay.  Aunty Valda is not yet here.  I hope she is okay.”  Isn’t this so touching?  I feel the love, sense the hope and know that there is faith.

I see the Youth Series as part of the preparation of young people for their roles tomorrow.  We focus largely on developing and strengthening life skills.  Our partnership this year with the Commonwealth of Dominica Police Force, Dominica Prison Services, Fire and Ambulance Department, National Youth Council and some individuals strengthened the focus on life skills.  We take the participants as they are, and encourage them to be their best selves. We encourage them to be open to the possibilities and the experience of the week, to share and learn, to get to know at least one new person every day and to make new friends.  We leave them with positive messages and reinforce the goodness and light.  It is this approach I believe is largely responsible for the words of Father Thomas everyday, “I love this program.  It is good for the children.  They are not disturbing.”   The only issue of concern was the littering, and by the end of Series, while we had not eliminated it completely, it was much reduced.  This is a message we need to keep reinforcing that we must care and protect our environment.

This year, past and current participants of the Youth Series played a bigger role.  Ms. Anel Lewis, a fifth former (come September) at the St. Maarten School facilitated a session on “Team Building” for the seniors (4^th Formers and above).  She did a fantastic job and the evaluation of the seniors confirms this.  A team of twelve (9 of whom were past participants) served as volunteers, assisted with registration, the participants and facilitators.  They organised activities between presentations and led daily the “Praise and Worship” session to start the day.

Our sponsors, partners, parents, guardians, facilitators and volunteers, we owe a debt of thanks and appreciation.   They continue to demonstrate their faith in us. Our parents and guardians, not only entrust their children in our care; they showed up occasionally during the week, called us and gave real-time feedback, attended the Closing Ceremony to see their children perform and accompanied us on the hike.  Their presence sends a strong message of love and support and we welcome and encourage it.  The staff of VF Inc. needs to be commended.  Martha was assigned responsibility for the Youth Series and with able support from Nyome; she delivered.  I stood in the wings.  I have told them to take a bow on a job well done!  We will meet next week to review Youth Series 2013 to identify the lessons to ensure an even more successful Youth Series 2014!

I leave you with the words of our Theme Song for Youth Series 2013:

I am a Promise.

I am a Possibility

I am a Promise with a Capital P

I can be anything God wants me to be

You are a Promise

You are a Possibility

I am a great big bundle of Potentiality

And if you listen, you will hear God’s Voice

And if you’re trying, He will help you make the right choice

You’re Promise to be anything God wants you to be

You Know something?  It doesn’t matter what your name is, where you live, who is your daddy, how big you are or what you look like,

Hey, what do you look like? You short, tall, are you fat or skinny?

Got holes in your tennis shoes or freckles on your nose? It doesn’t matter one bit

You can be exactly what God wants you to be and He has something very special in mind for you.  It might be climbing mountains or sailing the seas, helping sick people get well or singing a song.  Whatever it is, You can do it.

You can go anywhere He wants you to Go

You can be anything he wants you to be

You can climb the high mountains

Cross the wide seas

You’re a great big Promise, You see

I am a Promise.  I am a Possibility

I am a Promise with a Capital P

I am a great big bundle of Potentiality

And I am learning to hear God’s Voice

And I am trying to make the right choices,

I am a Promise to be all God wants me to be.

So Keep on listening, You will hear God’s voice

And keep on trying, He will help You make the right choices

You are a Promise to be everything God wants you to be

I am a Promise to be anything God wants me to be

You are a Promise to be anything God wants You to be, anything God wants You to be.

You see, our young people are worthy!  They are Beautiful!  They are Promises!  They are Great Big Bundles of Potentiality!  They are the Leaders of Today and Tomorrow!

Valda Frederica Henry, VF Inc.’s CEO and Principal Trainer is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Certified Global Professional in Human Resources (GPHR), Certified Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Practitioner, holds a PhD in Industrial Relations & Business, a Masters in Business Administration and a BSc Management Studies. 

VF Inc. is a Human Resource & Finance Consultancy firm with a Training and Recruitment arm, and the producer and host of a live TV program “The Cutting Edge of Business”.