PHOTO: Jefferson Knight
By Augustine Octavius, augustineoctavius@gmail.com
The Executive Director of the New Life Recovery Center has called on the Liberian government to allot funds to assist institutions and organizations involved in rehabilitating and training disadvantaged youths in the country.
Mr. Jefferson Knight said some of the huge money spent on the legislative engagements for lawmakers could be redirected to rehabilitate the thousands of disadvantaged youths exposed to drugs and crimes.
Mr. Knight made the call recently at the graduation of six disadvantaged youths after undergoing one year of rehabilitation and training at the New Life Recovery Center located in Sundaygar Town on Marshall Road in Margibi County.
According to him, the New Life Recovery Center is only rehabilitating boys at present and the management of the institution is currently constructing an eight-room annex in order to bring girls from the streets to benefit from the program.
He noted that the center will like to increase the number of disadvantaged youths for rehabilitation but cannot do so due to the inadequate resources.
The New Life Recovery Center Executive Director explained that about 80 disadvantaged youths have passed through the walls of the New Life Recovery Center and 500 others have befitted from the program since it started some years ago.
“There is a need to introduce strong drug laws that will deal severely with people importing these dangerous substances in order to curb the proliferation of drugs and criminal activities in the country,” said Knight.
Delivering the keynote speech at the program, a youth advocate, Pauline Gartor stressed the need for parents and the leaders to do all they can in rehabilitating disadvantaged youths in the country.
Pauline Gartor
Speaking on theme: “Transforming The Future Through the Prevention of Drug Abuse,” Miss Gartor said the present generation of leaders will be held responsible if the thousands of disadvantaged youths are not rehabilitated.
She called on the legislative, the judiciary and the executive branches of the government and international nongovernmental organizations to buttress the efforts by the New Life Recovery Center in the rehabilitation of disadvantaged youths in the country
According to her, thousands of young people are falling to drug abuse on a daily basis and 31 percent of school dropouts are projected to fall prey if robust action is not taken as quickly as possible.
Also speaking during the program, a member of the Board of Director of the New Life Recovery Center, Mrs. Esther Grant, who graced the occasion as a part of birthday celebration, cautioned the youths against returning to ghettos because it has the propensity of damaging their future.
Mrs. Grant encouraged parents and guidance to support the youths in order so that they will not return to those bad friends who exposed them to criminal activities and drugs
Giving their testimonies, some of the youths narrated how they used to arm rob, hijack and raid business people under the cover of darkness.
They promised never to return to the ghetto because they have been taught religious education and baptized by the pastor of the church they have been attending during their stay at the center.
Many of the parents, guardians and relatives who graced the occasion thanked Jefferson Knight for helping to transform their love ones.