The NHT uses cricket to change lives in St. Catherine
Teaching Cricket as a life skill, is a strategy being used by the National Housing Trust (NHT) to transform the lives of youths from a number of Inner City communities in St. Catherine. This summer, the NHT’s Social Development Department organized a Summer Cricket Camp which was held at the Prison Oval, St. Catherine. The non-residential camp which took place August 9-13, saw some 60 youngsters ages 12-15 years old participating and they came from the communities of Big Lane, Little Lane, Shelter Rock, Tawes Pen, Knollis, as well as from NHT schemes located in other Inner City communities.
Social challenges
Among the challenges faced by the citizens of St. Catherine is the growing crime rate, furthermore this parish recently experienced the State of Emergency implemented by the Government as a crime fighting solution. Against this background , the NHT’s Social Development Unit was moved to organize a project that would help to address social ills affecting many youth today, such as unemployment among others. The NHT officers felt that if these young persons learnt an employable skill, this would help make them ready for the job market. They also felt that the camp would improve discipline, improve social skills, help them to develop positive competitive attitudes, while building harmonious relationships.
The camp gave added value as apart from learning cricket skills the youth learnt about sexual and reproductive health issues.
According to the camp’s organizers, they are hopeful that this exposure to this knowledge at camp, will encourage the youngsters to be positive role models. Additionally, the Social Development Unit hopes that the youth will have a greater appreciation for life, display more sexual responsibility and of course, show greater interest in Cricket as a professional sport. “Overall we expect them to display more positive behavior,” explained the Unit’s Manager, Wendy –Jo Williams.
Camp Partnership
The NHT partnered with various individuals and entities to implement the camp and these included The St. Catherine Cricket Association, and a number of communities through the NHT’s St. Catherine Leadership Council. Workshops were also conducted by the following:
|
Social skills |
Agency/Service provider |
|
Sexual and Reproductive Health |
Children’s First |
|
Community Safety |
St. Catherine North Police, Jamaica Constabulary force |
|
Values and attitudes |
Rev. Courtney Morgan, Counsellor |
For more information about the NHT’s Social Development Projects, visit our website at: www.nht.gov.jm
