Senior military officer boosts youth
Freetown, June 21 (SLENA): A local non-governmental organization, Youth Dream Centre (YDC), founded by Captain Joseph F.S Kaitibie of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF), has certified twenty volunteer teachers who have completed three-day training in psychosocial counseling.
The aim of the seminar was to train volunteer teachers to acquire the skills required to conduct counseling of traumatized youth and other people in their various communities across Freetown.
Addressing participants at the ceremony, held at the Community Action for Psychosocial Services (caps) hall at Lumley in Freetown, Captain JFS Kaitibie encouraged beneficiaries to utilize the training by helping to heal the traumatized in society, noting that Sierra Leone is a post-war country where many youths have dropped out of school or were being marginalized and live with traumatic stress that needed counseling.
Captain Kaitibie maintained that it was essential for the newly trained volunteer teachers to quickly go into communities and demonstrate their skills and experiences gained from the training.
He said as a military officer, he is coming from an institution that is very versatile as they operate both in peace time and during war time, adding that during war, the consequences affect both the people and the community, especially the youth.
The officer said since the war ended, the Forces had always encountered problems with the youth especially those who have been involved in drugs and alcohol, noting that it was very timely for him to apply what he had learnt from the University in Peace, Conflict and Advocacy in order to change the bad behaviour of youth, more so those with psychological problems so that they could become normal in society.
He concluded by appealing to other stakeholders in the community to complement government’s efforts by providing services that would transform youths to become useful in society.
Other speakers included a facilitator, Mr. Frederick Sam-Kubaka and a participant, Jonathan Allieu Farboi.
The training was held under the purview of a project titled: ”The Dream Town Project” which started since 2011 and sponsored by Voluntary Innovative Aid (VIAID), a Danish institution that receives funding from the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).
SB/SLENA
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