My concern coupled with my hope for our Seychellois youth who are going adrift… |04 January 2023

In an article published in Seychelles NATION on November 17, 2022, on the occasion of the United Nations Universal Children’s Day , President Wavel Ramkalawan interacted with school students from institutions across Seychelles in a live televised presidential dialogue. During the meeting he emphasised and said:

“The question of rehabilitation saddened me as you are confirming that more and more children are getting into trouble due to bad behaviour. Social media helps in aggravating the situation. We will have a Rehabilitation Centre on Praslin to separate the youth from the adults and this is a concern for me and for the government and we are working to remedy this situation.”

The Minister for Finance, National Planning and Trade, Naadir Hassan, in his Budget address to the National Assembly, on November 4, 2022, said:

“R9 million to begin the ‘Youth Hope Residential Centre’ on Praslin, which is used for assisting children with attitude problems.

“Mr. Speaker, the investment we are making in order to give our youths who have fallen to the wayside, a second chance to rebuild their lives, is very important because without this, the consequences will be catastrophic for all of us in future. When our youths are dependent on drugs, are jobless, do not contribute, and are engaged in illegal activities, we all feel the impact as a society. This is why our government is investing in these projects that will support and give direct assistance to our population.” (Nation November 7, 2022).

After our six months’ mission on the Hope Programme with the Ministry of Family Affairs in 2018, I addressed a report to His Excellency Danny FAURE, the former President. The following is an extract:

“To conclude, if we want to help a part of our Seychellois youth who seem to be drifting and who find it hard to make their place within the Seychellois community, we must do everything to enable the team of the Department of Family Affairs to continue the implementation of the Residential Hope Programme….

If nothing is done today, tomorrow will be too late because this youth who is caught in a spiral of delinquency and trafficking of all kinds needs a framework and support in a well-defined lawful field. They need to find, in front of them, adults who consider them and are ready to take the risk of the relationship. They need to be considered, to be able to LIVE and to feel that they count for someone...

It would really be regrettable that this investment, both human and financial, is not perpetuated to give a new chance and a new start to our youth...!

We think it is possible because this project is beyond political divisions...!”

And here is an extract of the reply from his deputy Cabinet Secretary:

“We take note of the recommendations of your report of which we shall undertake further analysis and reflections in order for necessary actions to be undertaken…”

This reply filled me with joy and hope and telling myself that at last the project for a rehabilitation centre for a part of our youngsters will at last be implemented…! Then came the elections followed by the Covid pandemic…!

I met President Ramkalawan during his last visit in France. I took the occasion to share my fear concerning the situation of a certain part of our Seychellois youth.

It’s a fact that our country had to cope with the Covid pandemic. I understand that our economic situation due to this scourge was really not very bright…!

The government was able to restore the situation with the help of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the effort and the capacity of resilience of our people.

Our country has now been able to find its cruising speed and this gives me a real sense of pride…!

The words of President Ramkalawan during his meeting with our youngsters, the speech of our Minister for Finance, National Planning and Trade, in our National Assembly, instilled in me a hope that finally this project could see the light of the day in a very near future…!

We know that these youngsters are marked by psychological wounds caused by a denial of recognition. Their “sickness” is rather the harm done to them by their vision of tomorrow which is denied. Whether this is due to a professional horizon which is absent, the state of the planet with climatic changes, their time is declined in the present and the very idea of a collective or personal destiny seems out of date. Victor Hugo’s phrase “Youth is the smile of the future before an unknown who is himself…” has been relegated to a forgotten past...!

Withdrawal, reclusion, and renunciation, avoidance: all these words have been spelled out to depict these elusive youngsters.

But couldn’t we reverse the situation? Is it not the social who finds itself in a renunciation, in avoidance, in a withdrawal in front of these youngsters…?

How can a youngster today tie together past, present and future? How can he “Begin to continue?”

As Myriam Revault Allones, a French philosopher, writes so well: “How can he begin to continue…to begin is to begin to continue…But to continue is to continue to begin…”?

The ways of living are replaced by automatism and addictions. The intergenerational transgenerational relationship is no longer a reality and at the same time there is no longer any transmission of knowledge, nor protentions of desires which could make the transgenerational experience fruitful…!

Our country is a small country, but it has a real capacity of resilience. We need to rely on the experience of our social workers who find themselves daily confronted with these youngsters in need of benchmarks. They often have only their words to try to reach them and convince them to find their place in the society. They often have to invent solutions…

Our six months’ experience with the social workers makes us say that we must quickly implement a solution for them. We are convinced that they are experiencing a real suffering and loneliness…!

If the construction project is slow to be implemented for various reasons, it may be time for us to find temporary solutions that will allow these youngsters to have a secure place and surrounding and thus be reassured… Solutions exist and we just have to be imaginative…! Our social workers are engaged under the leadership of the Ministry of Employment and Social Affairs and other relevant ministries …Why not use their expertise to imagine a real future for these youngsters…?

Our youngsters need to understand that people involved in their lives are present, that they really care about them…!

Philippe Gaberan, who is a social worker and professor in Science of Education, wrote in his book “Oser le verbe aimer en education spécialiséé” (ERES, 2016) said:

“Chance alone cannot decide on a possible meeting between a child and an adult in such a way that the second can help the first to access his humanity. The child did not ask to be born and he cannot be delivered to the uncertainties of its environment…”

I take this opportunity to wish all the Social Workers who accompanied us during our mission in 2018, a very Happy New Year 2023 with a lot of satisfaction in their commitment to our youngsters who are struggling to live and find their place in our society…!

Frank Underwood

franck.underwood@wanadoo.fr