Give our young people opportunities and they will make us proud |05 May 2022

One of the main responsibilities of parenthood is to create and provide a progressive pathway for our children to achieve their ambitions in life. The rest depends on our children themselves whether they seize the opportunities created for them and become somebody or they squander their youth and achieve nothing.

During my childhood in Seychelles, educational facilities were scarce and minimal especially for a poor family who could just about put food on the table. Today however, educational opportunities in Seychelles abound. I am proud to be one of the founders of the University of Seychelles (UniSey) along with Martin Kennedy, Jean Paul Adam, Rolph Payet, Dr Shamlaye and Audrey Nanon. It took us two years of relentless hard work to create the University of Seychelles in 2009 and I am delighted that UniSey is turning out first class young graduates to take up their well-earned positions in our government and private sector. I watch UniSey graduation ceremonies on SBC with great happiness and satisfaction that we have our own university to create our own professionals.

Parents who scrimp and scrape and strive to give their children a good education and a good start in life are to be congratulated and indeed our society is grateful to such parents who make sure that our future professionals are indeed Seychellois and our gratitude go out to them for going beyond parenting responsibilities to ensure their children are given every opportunity to succeed in life. The time to change our mind-set about our young generation has arrived as our country continues to develop and we leave our old ways behind us. The world is changing and we must continue to “develop” our own professionals so we become less reliant on foreign workers, especially in the health sector. We must stop under-estimating the abilities and capabilities of our young people.

We should start by teaching our young generation more English and less Creole for the simple reason that English is the number one global language. China and India go out of their way to teach their children English because both countries have come to realise that the future for their children is not with their local language.  We must stop this pretence that we teach our children Creole in order to maintain our culture. This is the biggest misnomer in our society today and we do so with blinkers over our eyes to the detriment of our future generation. By all means let us preserve our culture as indeed every nation in the world does but please do not do it to the detriment of our children’s chances to compete on a level playing field in the world. Furthermore, the second global language is slowly but surely becoming Putonghua which is most times referred to as Standard Mandarin. Why has this happened? Well because China is fast becoming one of the leading nations of the world and the next generation will find themselves at an advantage if they can speak Putonghua. Think about it the world is changing in front of our very eyes and we cannot continue to live in the past. My granny, my mother and my father could not read or write but they made sure I received the best education in England and today I am happy and proud of my qualifications and I am extremely grateful and will forever treasure the gifts of education my parents gave me, which I am passing on to students in my Academy of High performance, a tertiary college licensed by the Ministry of Education in Seychelles. Knowledge is beautiful when it is shared and enjoyed by many.

Notwithstanding the aforementioned, this article is about a 16-year-old young lady who has surpassed all expectations and has made all of us very proud and in many ways she has taught us a lesson not to underestimate the new young generation. Our sincere congratulations go to Gienny Simon of Roche Caïman who attained a ‘D’ grade meaning she achieved a Distinction Grade, the highest grade possible in our Treachery College alongside Vanessa Camille and Samantha Dufrene publicised recently in this publication. Gienny’s success has encouraged us to encourage more young people to become holistic therapists. Our congratulations for sure go to Gienny’s mother Christelle Boniface and Gienny’s grandmother Marguerite Denis both of whom have made it possible for Gienny to take this course and graduate as the youngest holistic therapist in Seychelles and the pride and joy can be seen during graduation in the accompanying photograph. The course is not easy, it is intense but we use hypno learning to reach the subconscious mind where learning takes place quickly and a young mind can assimilate information easily. 

This course curriculum includes customer care, reading body aura, Swedish massage using blended aromatherapy essential oils, anatomy and physiology of all body systems, clinical hypnotherapy and how to use clinical hypnotherapy to treat ailments and disorders, how to deepen the hypnotherapy trance to engage in past life regression for those who are interested.

Clinical hypnotherapy is used mainly to address mind related disorders like excess smoking, drinking, chronic anxiety and depression, sexual dysfunctions and may more. It is important to appreciate this is not a spa treatment course where you can be taught to deliver massage in a short period of time; this course takes the student much further into providing holistic solutions to everyday ailments and disorders, hence the reason why this course is called a holistic therapist course. The course integrates aromatherapy massage with clinical hypnotherapy to address the mind and the body and we do not interfere with the spirit, that’s up to your religious belief.

The 11th cohort of this course is scheduled to start on Thursday May 12 to July 1, 2022. For more information call Barry Laine on 2515616.

Contributed by:

Barry Laine FCIM, FInst SMM, MCMI, MBSCH

Principal

Academy of High Performance Ltd

The Wishing Well

Anse Des Genets, Mahe, Seychelles                                      

Email:  barrylaine@hpcgroup.sc

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of the Seychelles NATION newspaper.