 Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Stepping Up, I'm your host, Daniel Dubois. This week we feature the Boys Training Center. Now as St. Lucien's, we all know of or have heard about the Boys Training Center. This week, together, we will learn about the history and get to understand the inner workings as we meet the manager and other personnel who are integral to the growth and development of the boys who pass through the doors. The Boys Training Center was formerly founded on the 20th of February 1960 and was initially built to house approximately 40 boys. Its creation and founding stem from the fact that by the late 1950s, the authorities in St. Lucia were bombarded with prevailing patterns of delinquent behavior among males and suggested that it had become necessary for the nation to employ services of a residential facility that could both accommodate and rehabilitate a growing number of delinquent youths. Among the group of delinquent youths were those who were often times also churned with respect to school and home and who instead would loiter the city where they committed a range of offenses. Thus it became necessary for the state to seek to remedy the situation through a residential agency that would offer such youths greater supervision than what they were receiving in their respective domestic settings. At the time, there was no existing non-governmental organization or private entity that created such a great societal need. The founding of St. Lucia's first residential agency for children in need of supervision and care became obligatory as a government task. Mr. Stanislas James, now Sir Stanislas James, is credited with being the chief founder of the facility that would then support provide supervision and care for such youths. At the time of its founding, the institution was called the Boys Industrial School. In 1976, it was renamed the Boys Training Center. 60 years on, the Boys Training Center continues this mandate till this day. Let's take a look at the first interview with the manager of the center, Mr. Wang Song-Song, as he tells us a little bit more. Mr. Song-Song, how are you? I'm okay. Thank you very much for agreeing to do this interview. Can you let us know about, just give us a general overview of the Boys Training Center, its mandate, its role, the role that it plays in St. Lucia's society today. Okay. Well, the Boys Training Center this year, as I've been said before, is celebrating 60 years of existence in St. Lucia. The center was originally built to house two categories of boys, boys that are in need of care and protection and those that are in conflict with the law. All boys who come to the center come to us via a court order, either through the human services, probation or the police. When the boys get here, our mandate at the center is to ensure that they are cared for in a safe environment and at the center we have a number of activities and programs that are put in place all in the aim of providing rehabilitation to those boys. On staff, we have counselors, we have actually three counselors on staff, a social worker, we have a guidance counselor and their role is to provide counseling and therapeutic intervention to the boys. Each boy upon coming to the center is assigned a counselor and they are taking either group or individual counseling. We also have technical and vocational subjects being offered here to the boys. We also have some boys attend classes here at the center while some boys would go out to our secondary schools. We also have a strong sporting program. We have a member of staff who is known as the house mother and that person's responsibility is to look after the well-being of the boys, whether it's medical, hygienic and so forth. We have a wide variety of staff who cater to every need of the boys to ensure that when the boys leave here, they leave here as rehabilitated and well-rounded human beings. So we're just going to jump right into it. We know that the boys training center, there's a lot of misconception out there and a lot of persons don't really know what's really happening inside. So one time just speak to it and just dispel some of the misconceptions and let us dig deeper into these things that people say are happening at the center. Okay, as you said, yes. I think a lot of people make a perception of the boys training center out of a position of ignorance. Persons who visit the center regularly would know that these perceptions are not accurate of the center. Over the years, the boys training center has been stigmatized. Some of it rightly so, but some of it probably unfairly. The boys training center, through the years, a number of boys have gone through the center and the common thing is that the perception is that these boys are little criminals and when they leave, they graduate onto the bodily correctional facility. But however, it's always the negative which gets highlighted. There are a number of success stories coming out of the boys training center. You will learn probably later on speaking to the welding instructor of boys who have come through boys training center and have been able to open their own welding shops and start their own welding business. You would learn of boys who have left here and become custom officers, police officers, prison officers, boys who have left here and become ministers. So that religious ministers I mean. So there are a lot of success stories and there are a lot of hard working persons at the center who aim to cater to the well rounded development of the boys here at the center. So these perceptions I say and I will always invite members of the public. If you are concerned about the boys here at the center, you are welcome. You can call me, I can give you my cell number, it's 7188009. You can call, you can come in to see how best we can assist the boys here at the center. Because a lot of the boys after they leave or when they are about to leave, we have to seek employment for them, job placement, those that are no longer of school age. So we have to seek employment for them. So if persons out there are readily willing to employ some of our boys, then you can always come and assist us along the way. But generally it is a very challenging environment that we work in at the boys training center and that is why we must have persons that are dedicated to the cause and the main priority must be the welfare of the boys. Another misconception, persons are saying that the boys at the center are being abused. Since I came in as manager in 2016, the statutory rules of the center gives the manager authority to practice corporal punishment. And I have been here over this period and I've never once used that authority. Even before it was stated by the Ministry of Education that corporal punishment will be abolished from schools, this is something that we totally do not practice here. And I will not accept that any staff member here at BTC will infringe or abuse the rights of a boy here at the center because these boys need love. Most of them come from an environment where they have been abused for the majority of their lives and when they come to the center we must provide them with that support and ensure that the environment is a safe one for them. I think in the conversation we had a little bit earlier you mentioned that the center is not just about the boys being here but the fact that the community needs to step in to be able to support them because we hear a lot of stories that they're doing so well when they come and you talk about rehabilitation and the access to programs whether it be educational and grammar based or whether it be technical. Just make an appeal to community members and to family members. You know you've seen it all in terms of people walking through the doors and sometimes I'm sure you have people who return to the center. So just speak to that aspect of it in terms of the support that is needed for these boys. Okay, I will tell you that when a boy comes to the center our initial interaction with him and his support system probably his parents or family members we more than likely know if this boy will be a success after he leaves us. Because you can see throughout his stay at the center someone is always checking up on him someone is always visiting him they're always concerned about his well-being. Whereas we have some boys here who've been here for over a year and you hardly see anyone coming to visit them. It is a struggle for these boys after they leave here because they need that support. If they don't have that support they will fall on the wayside. The community not just the immediate family but the community as a whole need to be supportive of that boy because when he leaves if the thing is that you know good you came from boys training center you're a little criminal he will begin to believe what you tell him. So it is imperative because I have seen a number of boys that had so much potential leave boys training center and there is only so much we can do after they leave. The constant supervision we cannot because of our resources we cannot afford to continue that constant supervision these boys fall on the wayside and they we all know here at boys training center would have had so much potential so much talent. So it is it is always disturbing but it is most cases because of the size of our island and the resources that we have when the boys leave us they go back to the very same environment that sent them to us in the first place. So this is a challenge that we will continue to face until we have the resources to do otherwise. My final question for you because you know he was very adamant to say it's not him alone let's let everybody see all the people the faces and and the the persons who who run the boys training center to just get a little bit more insight into the daily runnings. Earlier this year you guys received support from the prime ministers independence ball fundraising activity let us know what you guys have planned for the funds. Okay these funds came at a at a very good time for us you know with the onset of COVID and the lack of resources because of the implications of COVID. So these funds we have decided that we will go on a beautification drive for the center. There's a number of areas that that needs to be uplifted because you would understand that we have boys here that need to feel that they are in a homely environment. So we are going to to do some beautification to the the center itself and some of that money we are also going to use it to go towards our educational programming agriculture for example where we have been making a lot of strides during the COVID period and up to now so we have very good plans for this money and and these are some of the areas that will be used. Mr. Afson Son final thoughts and just let my viewers know who we're going to meet as the show continues. Okay as the show continues you are going to meet some of our hard working staff members you are going to meet Ms. Jan McFarlane who's one of our counselors on staff you are going to meet Mr. Vincent Samuel our auto mechanic and welding instructor and you are also going to meet a gentleman by the name of Imran Edward although he's not with us full time but he's our current um agriculture instructor and he has been doing a great job with our boys so these are some of the persons that you are going to meet today. Thank you Mr. Son Son and thank you so much for your service. Wash your hands wash them right. This message brought to you courtesy the Bureau of Health Education of the Ministry of Health and Wellness. Thank you so much Mr. Son Son for starting the feature on the center. Primarily the boys training center is engaged in the process of rehabilitative and reintegration of children between the ages of 10 and 18 years old who have been placed at the institution either in the category of children in conflict of the law or children in need of care and protection whilst at the institution all children are exposed to a range of structured programs and activities that enhance their overall psychological development such programs which whether they're spiritual and character development and strategically get towards helping them modify their behaviors while also furthering their academic and vocational growth and such children are guided to become productive and functional citizens who will return to their community and contribute to the development and security of the society. In this next segment we meet the hardworking personnel at the center the boys go through a daily program similar to school seeing the counselor classes or engage in the welding and farming programs available so let's meet the people behind the scenes. Jan McFarlane is the counselor at the boys training center and I'm going to have a quick interview for and she's going to let us know what it's like a normal day what's a typical day here at the center as a counselor. Okay good morning and thank you. I am one of the counselors not the counselor at the boys training center. We have three counselors a social worker and a guidance counselor who does our aftercare program which is her main focus so as a counselor at the boys training center what we do is basically we manage the different cases so every boy who comes to the center is assigned to one of the counselors at the center and the counselor takes over case management and what that means is that we develop a holistic plan which does not only entail psychological services but educational services building social skills making the linkages collaborations physical health and all of that so all of that would be part of the boys treatment plan which would be then implemented along with all the team members at the center. So when the boys come into their assigned to you you basically get to know them and you develop a rehabilitative plan for them. That is correct so when they come with us we do receive some basic information from the organization either observations or human services through which they would have come to us and from that along with information from the boy himself as well as family members school administration if he wasn't enrolled in the school community members our social worker would conduct a home visit to find out what the the family situation is and all of that information would be put into the treatment plan in the development of that plan for the boy. And then you just you do that based on the time that you have and right so for the duration of his stay with us if he's with us for three months six months a year that plan would continue until nice what are some of the things that pop up common issues that you get with the boys who enter the center common I think problems whether they'd be in the household or personal issues what are on the top of your head some of the things that are very common with the boys who come to the center. Okay so I would say one of the most common is there's a lot of family dysfunction so a lot of our boys come from vulnerable communities marginalized families and so that is that is one of our biggest issues to contend with and a challenge with that is that because it's almost like we work with him in a vacuum at the boys shooting center it's difficult to make those linkages and those kind of interventions that you would need within the family so that when he goes back there's a better chance of success so that is a big one for us a lot of them will come also there is a lot of behavioral issues so in terms of substance use gang initiation anxiety a lot of anger and of course I think a lot of anger comes from the situations that they're coming from right yes at home in the community even in the school and I'm not knowing how to deal with that a lot of them have poor social skills and poor conflict resolution skills so those are some of the things that we work with them to develop. What is it that you would like to tell the community or St. Lucia at large about the vulnerability of boys and the role we all play in upliftment and you know supporting them and being there for them because you know these days we don't see communities raising children like before and as you mentioned a lot of dysfunction so what is it that would you what would you like to see or sing to sing Lucia on a whole knowing everything that you know as a counselor here. I think just from the boys training center's perspective that in as much as we're an institution we cannot do it alone and we rely heavily on the family members playing their part as well as wider civil society the different private sector organizations the schools right because a lot of them the boys would come and they're already in school they're enrolled but once they become a ward of the boys training center it's almost like the school right that you're a ward of the boys training center but he was a student of your school before he came to the boys training center right and so you need to continue treating him as a student of the school another ward of the boys training center so I think just that discrimination yeah it's just that basic understanding with everybody that yes these are the boys training center but it is not for the boys training center alone to do all of us need to play our part and partner in order for us to see the success that we want. Nice and my final question for you is you probably see a lot of sadness and a lot of heartache you know with the boys who come in on their stories what would you say for you personally is the light at the end of the tunnel what keeps you coming back to work every day what is it that you look forward to being a counselor here. Well my passion has always been to work with you and just the interactions with the boys and knowing that it can be better and if all of us play our part if we treat them just as as a child as a child as any ordinary want to be treated right that that at the end of the day we can see a difference so just the boys motivate me and nothing else um so no matter what mode I leave home when I get here it's about the work here and that's that. Well Miss Malfallen thank you very much and thank you for your service. Right now I have the agriculturist man right here first and I'm going to allow him to introduce himself. Yeah good day Mr Edward from the boys training center I'm the acting agricultural instructor currently I've been here for a period of eight months. What exactly is the rule that you play here what is it that you do what is a daily run for you. So basically what I do is I instruct the boys in the field of agriculture and also support the the center's farm all right out here we have a wide range of agricultural activities that the boys are engaged in and we're making a push towards trying to certify a few of them in the CVQ all right we do crops we do livestock and we've also slant into high-tech modern agriculture for example practices such as hydroponics aquaponics that sort of thing. Okay so you said livestock what livestock do you have. Okay currently we have rabbits we have a rabbit tree that we just initiated a few months back we also have a poultry pen which we house layers currently we don't have layers but we house layers and we sell eggs to the community to members of the ministry etc. Nice and what crops do you have I see I guess this is an example of hydroponics. Right yes so currently in our hydroponic system all right this is a vertical hydroponic system we grow crops vertically in it we have a wide range of crops we have lettuce celery spring onions which is some chives we have Chinese cabbage and on the ground you'll see we also have pumpkin all of that is being grown hydroponically. So let's talk about your experience of the boys how is it do you have any issues teaching them your engagement of them on its life. Okay the boys they are teenagers of course they are from backgrounds where they may be troubled and so and so they need encouragement we try as much as possible it's not just academics but you also have to do a lot of life skill training on the job right but so far I can see my experience with them has been a good one. My final question for you is how important is this agricultural program and what benefit does it have for the world to go through it. Okay the agricultural program is very important especially now that we're going through a pandemic people are realizing more and more the importance of food and food security okay and of course alternative employment. I would not say agriculture is alternative employment I would say it is one of the basic things that human being should be engaged in so it's very important especially to these boys that they have grounding in agriculture or background in it so that when they go out there it can be one of the skills that can help them survive out there economically all right yeah socially etc. I was the name of the cvq you mentioned well it's cvq in agriculture basically it's a Caribbean vocational qualifications it's recognized throughout the Caribbean and the world okay well Mr Edward thank you very much and thank you for your service so we are now in the welding room at the boys training center and I'm going to allow the instructor to introduce himself and let us know a little bit more about what he does on a daily basis. Okay my name is Vincent Samuel and I'm the welding and the fabrication instructor here basically we have two boys assigned to this workshop they actually enrolled in the program and we do basic fabrication as you'd have noticed if you look around you see this basic welding and fabrication you see iron you see welding rods and you see machines power tools as well as hand tools and of course some of the boys that are here with us when they first came here they didn't know anything about welding they didn't know what's a chopping saw they didn't know what's a welding rod they didn't know what's an oxy-acetylene plant but ever since they came here we have introduced this to them and we try to make it exciting now we do face our own challenges with them as well the numeracy and the literacy challenge so you have to use what you call see better training block training as it relates to reaching them to help them understand if you look across to the board we are dealing with a subject following health and safety in the work environment and one of the ways you can help them understand that is by basically allowing them to demonstrate how they use the the gadgets to protect themselves you see them this morning welding they have the mask on they have the goggles they have the overalls they have the protective shoes and so yes the protection shoes and so on okay so what are some of the i'm guessing you said that is a cvq program yes a cvq program so you're hoping what are some of the skills that they'll be able to transfer besides just welding what is it that you teach and instill in there when i teach auto mechanics as well okay um we've had three guys who left already they only did three units in the level one auto mechanics program we have limitations in terms of vehicles and engines we have a few engines across there but they are um i should say antique basically we need more modernized engines to teach them and because of this we have been concentrating more on the welding now to date we have three boys that have done exceptionally well with the cvq it's a Caribbean vocational skills qualification which is recognized all through the region and St Lucia as well so we have three guys one of them he obtained the level one and the level two he's now employed in a fabrication shop and we have two others here who just completed level one and now we head into level two and i think the fact that they have gotten the certificate it makes it exciting for them that hey i have achieved something and no matter what the challenges are we're going to go for it so this gives me the drive and the motivation to move on with them all right and to help them acquire level two nice and my final question for you is um i heard that you actually have a unique success story a guy who came through your hands and now employed fully as a well yes actually he was there was it day before yesterday he was supposed to be here he was there with his boss and his dad in support unfortunately he couldn't make it this morning but i have um what i plan to do as i spoke to the manager probably we could arrange some other time and you myself we could go up to his workplace and probably speak with him and speak with his boss and his boss can tell you how well he's doing because i think it would be nice to hear what he has to say as he walks through the walls of btc and now he's out there exemplifying what he has learned here but thank you very much for the interview and keep your keep up your service oh sure certainly thank you so i got the opportunity to speak to one of the guys engaged in the welding class and he's going to let us know what it's like how has it been for you on a daily basis um being a part of this welding class well being a part of this welding class showed me different things different things meaning like patients how to deal with different situations not as different btc or wherever you may from or even your background people might describe your next way but it's not so btc had showed me like a matter of school as love i'd like going to school mm-hmm ask a btc i'd want to ask my counselor mr sam and mr son son okay what have you learned so far tell me something that you've done completed in the welding class the gate the spiral step the next step and different other forms of bogla bars the grill as you can see okay what my last question for you what do you enjoy about coming to welding well to me welding is everything for me now because mr sam always pull me on the side tell me Travis what you're doing i cannot be doing nothing you'll tell me to do something try something are you happy that you tried something yeah what's this like your teacher what's your teacher like yeah that's my teacher you like him he's a good teacher all right thank you very much to conclude our feature on the boys training center for this week's installment of stepping up we talked to the house mother and i'll allow her to introduce herself and just let us know a little bit more about what she does on a daily basis okay my name is Janice Eugene house mother acting um basically i am responsible for the overall welfare of the boys at the boys training center so when a boy comes to the center or is sent into our care after all the necessary assessments and protocols i have the child the child has gone through all the necessary protocols as it relates to admission this child is then referred to me and at that point i ensure that his human needs are cared for clothing shelter medical um educational psychological um oral i ensure that all his needs are cared for um working together with the other care and support staff at the btc i can imagine that you have a very close relationship with all the boys and you probably know that intimately and their stories yes indeed um i i take a lot of time to get to know the boys and interact with them um actually i call them my boys because they spend a lot of time with me we speak um normally i'm here every other saturday and at that time there are not many admin staff around and they profit that opportunity to come into my office and speak with me and we chat and we talk about little things that affect affect them and bother them and you know we reason as to the best ways a better way of doing things what's your highlight of coming to work every day and you say that you've only been here four years what's the highlight why isn't that you enjoy doing the most as the house mother here well i have always asked the lord to place me in a position where i work with people and not machines and um for me i always look forward to coming to the boys because there's always something new um my understanding of of them and what is expected um gives me that additional motivation to come every day and to give my best um i know we know that they are trouble boys but like i have always said and i always say to them they are not bad boys they are normal boys like any boy unfortunately circumstances situations in life have brought them here with us and what we focus on and i focus on and i try to instill in them is that it's not lost you are the bridge we can cross it safely nice well miss i was going to say well house mother mother of the boys one statement that you'd have to say to say lucha because you know that the boys training center has a lot of misconceptions and people say a lot of things about the center so as house mother and mother of your boys why is it that you want to tell them on behalf um i think more than anyone else i am better place to tell anybody about the about btc the boys training center right now initially um prior to coming to the boys training center it actually took two years to get me here because i resisted i worked at the transit home and my director then and the persons at the ministry of equity tried their best and i refused and it was because of the stigma associated with the boys training center but i must say from day one i stepped my feet in i realized it's not what people really say it is it's just a perception you have to be in it to understand it we are not perfect there are real challenges but we know we are working towards making a difference one of the biggest challenges for us is for us to understand that we are moving away from punitive to rehabilitative to developmental and that is fundamental that is a big challenge for us because of some of the behaviors that are displayed sometimes perhaps some of us are not well equipped and so do not understand where it's coming from and cannot associate and be able to play with it but i must say that my experience coming to the boys training center i would tell anybody is totally not what you hear out there well i definitely hear the passion seeping out through your your response there it is definitely not what you hear out there change is a process it takes time and certainly no boy walks through this door and leave here the same and that's the most important thing the most important thing well thank you very much for interviewing well being part of this interview thank you for your service and thank you for your contribution it looks like we are the end of the show for this week remember we're always looking to feature people and organizations doing some amazing things so feel free to shoot me an email at stepping up758andgmail.com if you or you know someone who would like to be featured on the show so thank you so much for joining us my name is Daniel Dubois see you next time keep safe and until then don't forget to keep stepping up