Minister Zialor describes visit to inner islands as an ‘eye-opener’ |24 December 2020

Minister meets Avis Lesperance

The Minister for Family, Youth and Sports, Marie-Celine Zialor, continued her series of familiarisation visits to La Digue and Praslin.

She was accompanied by the principal secretary in the family department, Marie-Josée Bonne; principal secretary for youth and sports, Fabian Palmyre; the chief executive of the National Sports Council (NSC), Jean Larue and chief executive of the Seychelles National Youth Council (SNYC), Penny Belmont. The members of the National Assembly for Praslin and La Digue – Hon. Churchill Gill and Hon. Doyace Poris (Baie Ste Anne), Hon. Wavel Woodcock (Grand Anse), and Hon. Rocky Uranie (La Digue), also joined the delegation for the visits.

The first visit was held at various facilities on La Digue starting with the Baby Gym. The delegation received a guided tour of the facility by the sports assistant Sheryl Ernesta. The minister familiarised herself with the services being offered as well as the concerns shared by staff citing maintenance, staff training and practical use of thefacility’s outdoor, moving forward. Officially launched in July 2018, the Baby Gym is popular among Diguois parents. It caters for a total of 100 participants aged 5 and under.

This was followed by the SNYC offices at the Pension Fund building. The delegation met with inner islands coordinator France Ernesta, youth worker Staniella Rose and also toured the Youth Service Bureau managed by Natifa Jean-Baptiste. Pertinent discussions were promoting youth involvement in maintaining the Diguois culture and the opportunities set for the tourism industry, and also, to revive the spirit of volunteerism by conducting ongoing research on the demands to keep the youth positively engaged in the development of the island.

In the same building, the delegation also met with SNYC Entrepreneurship programme beneficiary Rochiano Jeanne, owner of Rochiano’s barbershop where he discussed the adversities he faces as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The next stop was the l’Union Sports Complex, opened in 1996, led by the Regional Sports Manager Elsie Ernesta. The eye-opening tour stressed the much-needed responsiveness to meet the demands of sportsmen and sportswomen as well as to develop the island’s rising athletes. “La Digue has produced several significant athletes from football teams to Inter-School Athletics champions, we need to provide and maintain standard facilities so these athletes can fully flourish,” Ms. Ernesta said. Aside from visiting the playing fields, the delegation had a tour of the dormitory and grandstand which equally needs to be revamped.

Minister Zialor also familiarized herself with both Homes for the Elderly on the inner islands run by the National Council for the Elderly. La Digue Administrator Fleurange Morel and Grand Anse Praslin Administrator Sindy Jean had the opportunity to present certain concerns and the daily operations of their respective Homes.

On Praslin, the delegation visited the different Grand Anse sports facilities and also met with their respective staff from the Amitie Stadium, the Grand Anse water sports center, and sports complex. Leading the visit CEO NSC Jean Larue reiterated the plan to restore both football fields as well as review the organisation structure and management of the facilities as part of the ministry’s ongoing restructuring plan. The delegation also toured the impressive Valley Fitness Gym based at the Amitie Stadium by owner Georgie Monnaie and also met with Windsurfing Pro Bertrand Lablache for his take on the advancement of water sports on Praslin.

This was followed, by a visit to the SNYC office at Horizon building and the Youth and Sports Department for inner islands at the Central Building,Baie Ste Anne, and ended with a tour of the Baie Ste Anne sports complex andEve Island Swimming pool where the delegation met with Regional Sports Manager and Swimming pool Manager Gordon Boodna. The latter had the opportunity to sit down with the delegation and discussed the projected construction of the new sports complex, the discussions focused on the ideal location for the complex and the different playing fields significant to this complex.

The members of the National Assembly each identified a family living with a person with a disability to share their concerns and ideas to help the ministry’s restructuring plan of the National Council for Disabled. Brothers Michael and Joliff Ladouce (La Digue); Avis Lesperance and Sedrick Leon (Baie Ste Anne) and Mary Payet (Grand Anse Praslin) together with their families shared their struggles as disabled persons on inner islands as more challenging when it comes to medical support, inclusivity in workplaces and education as well as slim to none respite for carers.

At the end of the visit, Minister Zialor shared with us her impression:

“The ongoing visits are to familiarise myself to the entities under my portfolio that are Family, Youth, and Sports. It is also an insightful visit that will help my executives and myself go about our restructuring plan and way forward. To be honest, these visits have also validated some key decisions that we intend to take especially when it comes to youth and family through visiting people living with disabilities.

“As for Sports, I will say that the facilities I’ve visited are in a ‘deplorable’ state and my team will work to ensure the facilities are of standard. My next visit to Praslin and La Digue should be action-based where a plan of action will be shared with relevant stakeholders,” Minister Zialor said.

The accompanying photos show some highlights of Minister Zialor’s visit to La Digue and Praslin.

Contributed by the Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports