 നിെ൏ടിൂൃചൄൊേേ൚ൃേടാ൉൒ന൓്നാ്ന്േൃൃൃ്േൃേേച്ൃ്്ൃേൃൂ്നേൃൃൃേൃൃൃൌാേുെ൙�服്്ൎ്ൃേ൮൦്േൃേ൏ീ൉� క్కోక్వియారక్యోత్ట్ర్ఇపైపెయర్టోక్గారిక్కిభ్లవ్మేమే. They are to educate young people on regional issues that affect them. They are to advocate on the rights of young people, be that advocacy, be that advocating chief for the things that pertain to young people. As well, they strive to integrate young people in regional or sub-regional development and also they promote regional integration. So these young people, the character of ambassadors are really important in terms of education, in terms of advocacy, integration and also promotion. And their target group, their target group is young people and so with the programs and activities they would initiate, it would seek to ensure that regional integration is promoted and that the rights of young people are always advocated for on that level. My name is Yakob Nesta. I'm 26 years old. I'm from the community of Rezina Garababuno. I got involved in youth work at the N triple secondary school which is my alma mater. I was a part of mostly all clubs and groups at that school because I felt like I wanted to contribute to school life and I was a troubled teen to be honest. So I really wanted to change my appearance in the eyes of my teachers and my peers. My name is Rezian Montuta. I'm from the community of Grusley. Right now I'm the president of the Grusley North Youth and Sports Council as well as the secretary to the Grusley Football League and Grusley Benders Association. My term in youth development actually started pretty young. I was about 14 when I first joined the Grusley Community Action Group and from then on having different experiences and involvement with the ministry of youth and then getting engaged in the Youth and Sports Council. I then got on to the Grusley Development Council and then went on to the National Youth Council and now Grusley Youth and Sports Council. At the school level I've always been the school representative for various activities. You know school usually selects a student to go out to represent them. Also I like to partake in anything that would further provide self-development for myself. Not only that I'm someone who is naturally curious and I love to learn. So really and truly it was really making myself marketable and putting myself out there to gain the opportunities that I deemed beneficial to my group and to helping those around me because sometimes you tend to realise that the young people around you need that upliftment and sometimes they need that pillar to really look up to. First group I joined was when I was about 14 and it was just one day my sister told me hey I know of this group and you'll be interested, go. And that's just it. I just went. It was a voluntary group. We were doing things like clean up campaigns and hamper donations and from there I just fell in love with the whole process of volunteering and being selfless and giving of yourself to your community and then from there it just went on and on and on. My auntie Kledi Tervil, my mum in goodness on my dad Peter Jebaptis will my main pillars especially my grand mum but for me it really all started when I joined Cassius Rentschel Youth and Sports Council which I currently am the second vice president and I'm also on the Babonu Youth Development Committee as well. The other thing as well is that I've been very vocal in youth marginalisation which really focuses on youth who tend to feel that they're not represented at forums so you have people with disabilities, LGBTQI persons, grassroots persons those basic things and really and truly coming from that background you really need to have an understanding as well and when being a youth worker I try my best to not judge because that is basically the key principle for me is really understanding everyone's mindset and concept and really what have you in this sort of position in life. It was the satisfaction of seeing the service that you can do for your community as well as I got different opportunities for example I remember my first community debate and as nervous as I was as you could literally have heard the nervousness in my voice but I was so proud of myself that was my first public speaking opportunity so I was a benefactor of the development and it was a voluntary debate persons who volunteered their time to come in and judge organised the debate and having your community support you in that venture also was something that just stuck my interest into the whole youth development community activism At school because of my I would not say issues or anything but being young you didn't want to really join the school council or anything of that sort I was more in pair helpers juicers these types of groups At a very early age I took a lot on myself to do debating so when it comes to speaking that was my key focus because I really wanted to enunciate my words properly and as a young male especially you find that amongst males we find that literacy is not something that is really common so you really want to stand out in the crowd especially for opportunities I have gotten the support from my community persons always would stop me and tell me you know keep up the great work that you do they see the efforts and also getting support from the ministry of youth development and sports here is like home for me I know if I ever need anything I could come here persons I have worked with our youth and sports officer Sarah Lee Williams who has been a major support from the get go for me in terms of youth development has always been like a mentor has always been there for any questions I have and to see she will always pick you up she has that tough love kind of mechanism so if she sees that you're probably going the wrong way for initiative or project will send her to sense in to guide you with that also Miguel Trim who was the STO when I was just getting into the field of youth development he has a wealth of knowledge a great resource persons so you know having these people around you having that community support has really been helpful in the whole process of youth development and I would say becoming of myself because I just don't consider it a thing that I do I see it as me I was the youth parliamentarian for Babodo and that was a really nice experience but one of my goals that I have always set for myself in life was to be the Karakor Muth Ambassador and I always believed that to be the change that you need to see you need to be that change in the world and that was a saying from Mahatma Gandhi so for me in myself I felt like that was the key post for me to really further the gender of youth and to really understand what's affecting youth not only within my country but within the Karakor Muth Framework because I've represented Saint Lucia on many boards, forums and these types of things I feel most excellent and delighted to be honest I first heard of the program while I was under grossly youth development council the first time I applied before and I didn't get through I think this was the third time or second time I'm applying actually so when finally I saw the applications again so I figured you know what let's just give it a chance so it was an application process I applied and then there was an interview as well I did the interview I felt very good about myself after the interview and then then finally getting the call well it was a call to come to collect the letter and finally seeing that you are actually the Karakor Muth Ambassador it felt like a big achievement for me it's been something I've always looked at as being as how would I put it you know just this great achievement like seeing okay all the youth work you've been doing this is one way of you being awarded for it and again a way of you furthering that youth work on a regional level during the interview you could tell on people's faces basically how well you're doing during the interview process and I felt very confident about living that room but the thing was when I got the call for the letter and reading that letter I honestly cried because it was a really huge accomplishment for a young person to be selected as a Karakor Muth Ambassador and for me I was just praying that the female Karakor Muth Ambassador was someone I could really cope with because when it comes to such a position you really want to you don't want to have a push and pull effect you really want everything to flow effectively and get in region was really the idealistic person for me but most of all really it's about really representation not only for yourself but for me being the Karakor Muth Ambassador it's about being selfless it's really about giving your all to the community on a whole the Karakor Muth Ambassador is there to educate young people on the policies and initiatives of Karakor Muth especially once that benefit them so that persons can gain a more how should I say a greater understanding and awareness of what it is to be a Karakor Muth Ambassador citizen and how this initiative called Karakor Muth Ambassador benefits them as a citizen in essence that is what it is promoting the Karakor Muth Ambassador especially towards young people right now me and my colleague have started a blood supply drive our first drive was in Barbono about two Sundays ago which turn out we had a very good community turn out so we are very thankful for the residents and also the Barbono Youth and Sports Council who collaborated with us on that activity we plan to continue it although COVID-19 is throwing off the plans a little bit but we want to continue it until we hit all the major communities in Senusha to sensitize persons on the need to donate blood as we are where our blood bank are always in critically low measures in terms of the amount of blood capacity that they have and also to promote health and which is one of the pillars of Karakor Muth for this year in addition to that we have also started our Karakor Muth Webinars so we did our first Webinar with the Grusley North Grusley South, Kashi Central and Barbono Youth and Sports Council and we are now going to do our second one with the rest of the Youth and Sports Council as well as the Executive of the National Youth Council which again basically to highlight informed persons of what Karakor Muth is highlight the different initiatives and also the different ways they can benefit just as a result of Senusha being signed onto the Treaty of Shangramas which is the Karakor Muth initiative my advice would be every opportunity that knocks at your door you don't necessarily need to take it but grab what you think is best for you because at the end of the day it's going to benefit you in the long run the other thing as well would be networking that was something I practiced from a very young age and when you network with people it's basically a reflection of who you are as a person the people you constantly keep around you and you constantly keep in touch with because when opportunities then arise then you're someone who comes to mind based on what you have produced thus far Youth Development Community Work Volunteerism is a selfless act you do it because of the passion you do it because you love it it can very much benefit you in terms of your professional development a lot of the skills that I have now and even for my current because I don't work full time in volunteerism youth development work but I work in IT at the quarter of appeal and I could remember clearly some of the things that I was able to put on my CV that I still have on my CV started I developed those skills in youth development work so PR, marketing secretarial work administrative work event planning project management leadership communication organization all of these skills were skills that I developed as a result of being part of the youth movement so there is that indirect feel that just being part and parcel of any initiative can bring to you as a young person and secondly I would just say that you may not see the benefits directly so it's not like you come into it and you get paid or you come into it and you will get a direct benefit but there are long term things you get to network with persons and your network is your net worth so a lot of the people a lot of the opportunities that I have received in life I could trace it back to that one day deciding to volunteer at that initiative so I would send these words to young persons the curriculum reform process program is a program of carry come where we actually select a million female ambassador to represent their country and young people within their country where they are going to advocate for those young persons within their country towards our to our leaders and curriculum as a whole so that program actually help out those two young ambassadors we normally select represent to like I said to advocate for young people in St Lucia so in what they normally would do is actually represent young persons at forums in the Caribbean and also it helps them to actually meet other leaders within the region so it actually benefit those young persons because they now develop leadership skills they develop advocacy skills they also develop program management skills as well because they actually get a chance to implement program within the country as the curriculum reform ambassador the other important thing for those curriculum ambassadors as well is that they get a chance to actually network that's one of the key skills that is needed networking skills so those kind of skills and actually ideas they actually get to to benefit them as young ambassadors