Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Kirk Humphrey delivered an educational and interactive message on climate change, care of the youth and the elderly and the importance of health on Friday to a large gathering of students from schools across Barbados.
Speaking during the closing ceremony for the Ashley Lashley Foundation Eco Fit Youth Programme at Wildey House, Wildey, St Michael, he told the children it was important to take care of their health, exercise and develop healthy eating habits.
“It’s going to be important as we go forward, as we care about these other matters, we have first and foremost to take care of the children so that they can take care of themselves and take care of this country that we love so much,” he said.
Humphrey said Barbados was dealing with “a higher than acceptable level of non-communicable diseases” and a number of the elderly were suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure.
“A lot of these things happen because we did not exercise properly and we did not eat properly,” he said.
He acknowledged that Barbados had two major problems – a shrinking population and an ageing population.
“What is going to happen is that you’re going to have [fewer] younger people in a position to take care of the increasing number of old people. That is going to be very problematic for the country as we go forward. We need the older persons to be healthy so they can live longer, and we need the younger people to be healthy. Exercise, eat healthy, follow the nutritional policy,” he advised.
He again referred to the plan to build residences for older people at Sterling, St Philip, so they could age in place. He said that work would start soon.
“We have to take care of them. So my plan is to build out now. We’ve done the legislation, we’ve done the policy. Now it’s about implementing and to be able to say that we’ve put the facilities
in place that regrettably do not currently exist,” Humphrey said.
Contribute to protecting the environment
The place was buzzing with activity as students anticipated a day of fun and learning. There were jumping tents, toys and interactive booths from organisations like the Department of Emergency Management, Pediasure, the Heart & Stroke Foundation and the Barbados Meteorological Services. The energy was turned up when Brucelee Almightee took to the stage and delivered a phenomenal performance, followed by a power-packed exercise session featuring ECO the monkey.
Meanwhile, executive director of the Ashley Lashley Foundation, Ashley Lashley, spoke to the students about climate change and the importance of their contributions in protecting the environment.
“Each of you can contribute to protecting the environment by making small changes in your daily lifestyle. Reduce, reuse and recycle your base and share your knowledge with others and together we can create a cleaner, healthier world for everyone.”
She said one of the major challenges faced in Barbados was the decline in young people and children interested in volunteering.
“I think that volunteering is one of the most effective ways to make a difference in your community, and we need more young people to really get involved in the spirit of helping different not-for-profit organisations.” (AJ)
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