What can I do, I’m only a kid?

 

“What can I do, I’m only a kid.,” is a common saying that is often used to express the hopelessness of a young one in a situation, preventing them from constructively contributing. However, in light of current situations, children and youth are getting exposed sooner and sooner to harsh realities, ones that they would have initially been sheltered from. Due to this exposure, many of the youths are influenced in the wrong places when they truly do not understand the consequences of the same. In this setting, I think Salinas Valley is a good example of how they have been able to employ preventive proactive measures instead of solely reactive measures to prevent teenagers and the broader youth population from being influenced in the wrong way. This inevitably helps keep them safe.

Children, teenagers, the growing youth, since they are still mentally developing, they need to feel safe and secure to foster a positive growth environment. This environment can be created through acts of love, belonging, kindness and other such similar acts. All these factors, though seemingly miniscule individually, play a huge role in the shaping up of a child’s personality and hence his/her resulting actions and behavior. When children and growing youth do not find these acts in their homes or even schools, they tend to employ violent behavior as a means of gaining any kind of attention, or they look for these comforting acts elsewhere. In the case of Salinas, more often than not, it is the gangs that then provide a sense of belonging, building loyalty in their newly recruited younglings.

Focusing on these root issues of youth involvement in violence, the respective organizations in Salinas were able to put forth various initiatives to counteract these occurrences. For example, the anti-bullying initiative focuses on fostering a sense of safety and belonging in school, so children do not feel isolated. Along with that, these organizations have made increasing efforts in expanding recreational activities to occupy the youths time, preventing them from engaging in violent activities or even getting influenced to do the same.

Another aspect that Salinas Valley employs considerable efforts in, is youth leadership trainings. Instead of encouraging youth to blindly follow in our footsteps, we should be molding them to lead and guiding them to  question and challenge authority. Why do we need to start encouraging the youth for leadership? Because, they have seen and grown up in the reality constructed by the elders and hence, they are the best living sources of whether the system really works or not. Tapping into this mentality, Salinas has been focusing on youth leadership trainings.

Piggybacking off of this notion, I cannot fail to emphasis the importance in education of children. We need to direct them in the right direction and invest heavily in a good education. The example of what a good education can do is illustrated in voluminous examples one of them being the case of Gulali Ismael. She and her sister though in the midst of jihadism were able to mobilize a substantial number of youth to help better their situation in their country. Gulali emphasized on how the good education her parents invested in her and her sister, played a major role in this movement. The power of youth should never be underestimated. If misused will prove catastrophic, if used well and constructively, will prove bountiful in progress in every dimension.