Care helps teenagers with behaviour problems |19 August 2010

The project, named Care 4 Teens, was initiated by the Campaign for Awareness, Resilience and Education against substance abuse (Care) and led by Gerald Kiwale, who has experience working with such adolescents.

The certificate presentation took place at Care House yesterday in the presence of Care director Robert Ah-Weng, Children’s Homes Foundation chief executive Noella Gonthier – who is also the vice-chairperson of Care – parents, headteachers and partners of the programme.

A group of 13 out of 20 boys from five secondary schools were enrolled at first after being identified by the Education Department.

The programme aimed to boost the students’ self-esteem and values, build their characters and teach them about spirituality.

In his opening address, Mr Ah-Weng congratulated the boys and said the year was not an easy one as there were several challenges that arose.

He said even though the teenagers have completed the programme, Care will keep working closely with the Education Department and other agencies to see how best to help them.

Through this programme these boys have built stronger characters to resist the negative influences in society, he added.
Mr Ah-Weng said Care 4 Teens needs to continue and more partners need to come on board to make these projects work.

 It would be ideal to start the project with younger children as it would be easier to identify problems relating to behaviour, attitudes and learning.

Care will negotiate the case of each boy with the Education Department and help to meet their individual needs.

During the ceremony, Mr Kiwale gave a PowerPoint presentation on the pilot project and talked about the challenges faced during the year, which included behavioural problems and a lack of resources and staff. However, there have also been successes – one of them being the change in the boys’ behaviour, he said.

Care, parents and partners in the project have now recommended that a special residential reform centre is set up to deal with children with such problems.

Representing the Education Department, Marina Jacques thanked Care for the initiative and called on others to help these adolescents instead of judging them.

The group of boys were each presented with a special certificate with a poem on it, which was read out to the audience by Mr Ah-Weng.

Ian Sidonie, Kerrel Mondon, Karim Seeward and Jude Barra received gifts for the best performances while being monitored at school and in the Care 4 Teens programme. Mr Kiwale also received tokens of appreciation from the group.
 
One of the parents, Cecile Barra, expressed her joy at seeing the great change in her son’s attitude and behaviour, and she thanked Care for running the programme.