San Fernando Mayor Robert Parris says fathers must play their roles in order to curb rising violence in T&T.
This was shared while delivering the feature address at Glasswing International achievement ceremony for Servol students at the Life Centre, La Romain, on Tuesday.
Parris said the recent murder of Keon Andrews, 33, an employee of the San Fernando City Corporation, affected him badly. He said he had known Andrews since he was a child.
He added that Andrews lost his father at the age of six to gun violence and came to live in his community at the age of eight.
Parris said, “By 10 years old he was a part of my life. I was the only father that Keon Andrews knew. The hardest time for Keon and I was during his teenage years. God has a way to guide your path. I stuck it out with Keon. I discovered at age 13 he could not read or write, and that contributed even more to his anger. The community and people who knew better gave up on this child, but I think I knew better. I was with Keon every step of the day, good, bad and indifferent.”
Parris said Andrews begged him to intervene in his life and he eventually changed.
Parris said Andrews made a conscious decision to change his life in the past four years to head down the right path.
“There are so many stories of young fatherless children, male and female, in my community and I get it. You want to know why? Because the single most important figure in my life is my father. Had my father not been around, I could have been just like Keon. So when we talk about violence and people losing their lives, I want you young people to think about Keon Andrews.”
Parris advised young people to get qualified and become skilled.
He said young people should not settle for mediocre jobs. He also promised not to employ any young person as a daily paid worker at the San Fernando City Corporation “because most of the people who are employed as daily paid workers in the SFC come out of jail, they come to work with weapons, drugs, the corporation is not an easy place to work, its not.”
He told them to get qualified to apply for a permanent monthly paid job at the corporation and not 10 days.
Nigel Forgenie, the country co-ordinator for Glasswing, said 88 young people completed the Glasswing digital inclusion programme.
Forgenie praised Servol for its approach to education.
