Youth encouraged to be catalysts of change

YOUNG people at Keetmanshoop on Friday gathered at the Youth Centre to celebrate Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) under the theme “making a difference”.

The occasion was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Hendrik Witbooi and National Youth Council (NYC) Secretary General, Pohamba Shifeta. Shifeta told the gathering that GYSD focused on stimulating greater awareness and support for ways that promoted “positive youth development and volunteer action since the first celebrations in 2002″.The GYSD is an annual global event that celebrates and recognises the year-round contributions young people make to improve their communities and their world through voluntary service and contributions.It is also aimed at mobilising the youth.Witbooi urged those involved in the upbringing and education of the youth to change their attitudes and perspectives.”We have to look at our youth from a different perspective altogether and treat them as multi-dimensional beings from now on,” he said.The Deputy Prime Minister expressed gratitude that youth had become important “catalysts of change” in changing social environments.Witbooi warned that the scourge of HIV was one of the greatest threats to the country’s socio-economic development because the “virus spreads like wildfire among the youth”.At the event, N$7 400 was pledged to the Karas Regional Youth Forum after Witbooi led by example and contributed N$2 000.Shifeta told the gathering that GYSD focused on stimulating greater awareness and support for ways that promoted “positive youth development and volunteer action since the first celebrations in 2002″.The GYSD is an annual global event that celebrates and recognises the year-round contributions young people make to improve their communities and their world through voluntary service and contributions.It is also aimed at mobilising the youth.Witbooi urged those involved in the upbringing and education of the youth to change their attitudes and perspectives.”We have to look at our youth from a different perspective altogether and treat them as multi-dimensional beings from now on,” he said.The Deputy Prime Minister expressed gratitude that youth had become important “catalysts of change” in changing social environments.Witbooi warned that the scourge of HIV was one of the greatest threats to the country’s socio-economic development because the “virus spreads like wildfire among the youth”.At the event, N$7 400 was pledged to the Karas Regional Youth Forum after Witbooi led by example and contributed N$2 000.