Youth Festival 2007-Youths take centre stage in activities |17 December 2007

The young people were given the awards at the Seychelles Polytechnic in the presence of Vice-President Joseph Belmont (VP) and top government officials, in a ceremony that saw the Minister for Community Development, Youth, Sports & Culture Vincent Meriton launch Youth Festival 2007.

In his speech for the occasion, Minister Meriton asked the youths to assume more leadership roles in their districts.
The young people did exactly that during the weekend, when they participated in numerous activities that marked the festival in all districts.

On Saturday and yesterday, they cleaned up public places, painted state facilities’ buildings such as health centres, and took time to be with senior citizens, before capping the festival with musical and gospel shows.

When launching the festival, Minister Meriton said that his invitation for the young people to be more proactive is a result of government’s new approach to make the community the centre of development.

“We have decided to hand over the management of the community centres to the youths,” he said, adding that the young people will receive the guidance of district administrators and youth workers while organizing their events.

Noting that most districts now have community centres, the minister said that the youths will be encouraged to use the facilities more, in order that they can be better occupied so they do not say, as he quoted some as saying, that there are not enough activities for them.

As with other young people who either spoke or voiced their advice through songs at the ceremony, Minister Meriton implored young people to steer clear of destructive habits such as the abuse of drugs and alcohol.

The youths who received awards on Friday came from different schools on the three islands, or various bodies which contribute to the welfare of young Seychellois, such as leaders of faith-based groups who have been luring people from substance abuse or behaviour that could expose them to HIV/Aids.

Their awards were sponsored by among others, President James Michel and VP Belmont himself.
Present at the Friday ceremony was a 15-strong delegation from the Sultanate of Oman who were here for the festival.
Minister Meriton thanked them for “faithfully responding to Seychelles’ invitation as usual,” while their leader, Qais Alazri, thanked Seychelles authorities for inviting them.

He said that Seychellois and Omanis share many cultural values, while they also have a lot that they can learn from each other.

Another one of their colleagues, Yahya al Salih, presented VP Belmont with a token from their country.