Street dwellers find employment after Easter on the Park Program

Over 50 street youths were registered during the Easter on the Park Program, with two youths gaining casual employment post-event, seven youths under the age of 25 years will attend a carpentry course at Centre for Appropriate Technology Development in Nadave through the sponsorship of Viti Roofing & Construction Pte Ltd while five are awaiting employment with Viti Roofing & Construction Pte Ltd.

While making his Ministerial statement in Parliament, Minister for Youth and Sports Jese Saukuru said 49 youths were enrolled in the Ministry's Skills for Life training.

He says the training included seeds of success, sexual and reproductive health rights, skills training, youth camp, inclusive and diverse strategic planning programmes and a safe house rehabilitation.

Saukuru says 16 youths have been reintegrated back into their families, nine youths are coming from their homes, and 24 youths are currently in a safe home in Tau village.

He adds the rest of the youths will be going through a mini job fair to link them to the employers.

The Minister also took shots at Opposition MP Rinesh Sharma, saying that the MP is a strong advocate of youths but has never been seen in any of the youth events.

Responding to Saukuru’s Ministerial statement, Opposition MP Jone Usamate told the Minister that he thinks his comments against Sharma are belittling as they don’t attend events for publicity.

Usamate congratulated the Ministry for holding such an initiative to help youths, and he is glad that the Ministry is going into case management.

He also highlighted the need for the initiative to look at the root causes of homelessness, such as family breakdown, poverty, lack of access to education, and many more.

Usamate says a holistic approach is needed, one that not only provides immediate relief but also tackles these underlying issues head-on.

He further says he hopes the Minister for Finance is going to allocate resources to these sorts of programs as they have a moral obligation to protect and uplift the most vulnerable members of society.

The Opposition MP says it is not enough to celebrate partial successes while so many are left behind.

Usamate is calling on the government to take immediate action to address the issues of street dwellers.