Youth goes green with Ste Anne Resort |31 October 2011

This was announced last week by the newly appointed chief executive officer of the National Youth Council Vicky van der Westhuizen following discussions with the Ste Anne Resort general manager Hervé Duboscq.

Mrs  van der Westhuizen said the SNYC and Ste Anne Resort had agreed to form a partnership to develop a new environment education and nature trail on Ste Anne that will benefit both the hotel’s tourists and Seychellois youth in general.

She explained that the resort had expressed the wish to develop a nature trail on the island and being an organisation concerned with the environment, the SNYC had willingly agreed to be part of this project.

“The SNYC has several programmes dedicated to environmental education and the protection of the environment and our members will be more than happy to see the project through,” she explained.

The first phase of the project will see the demarcation of the trail. Non-native plants will be removed where necessary and endemic and native one will be planted instead. Boards will be placed along the route giving details of all the flora and fauna that the visitors will encounter.

Mrs  van der Westhuizen said that once the trail has been completed, the SNYC will organise for the youth to visit the trail by groups on specific days with assistance from the resort.

The participants of the President’s Award, a programme run by the SNYC, will also use the trail for expedition.
In another development  Mrs  van der Westhuizen  said Sainte Anne Resort has also agreed to take part in SNYC’s holiday job programme.

Under this programme, S5 students are attached to different places of work during the holidays for them to have firsthand knowledge and experience of a career they hope to choose.

According to the SNYC CEO, Sainte Anne Resort will be prepared to absorb some of the students whose performance are satisfactory and who would want to join the hotel when they finish school.

She said the SNYC would gladly enter into partnership with any establishment, organisation or company wishing to assist in the shaping of our young people for the benefit of society.

The discussions, held on Ste Anne, were also attended by the SNYC director for programme development Patrick Nicette and award coordinator Bernadette Barbier.