Some young residents of Sea Lots through their association with the Police Youth Club decided to change the way people view their community.
“We have such positive, outgoing and special behaviours and talents and a lot of people out there don’t get to see it,” one Youth Club member said.
In collaboration with The Roots Foundation, 12 youths created the Sea Lots Daily, a one-paged newspaper highlighting good news within the community.
Founder of the Roots Foundation Mtima Solwazi said through his NGO he has been able to work academically with youths in East Port-of-Spain.
He told Guardian Media one resounding complaint among his students was the representation of their communities in the media.
“We will have events and invite the media and they won’t come but if there is a murder they are most present,” Solwazi said.
So, when a colleague of his came up with the idea to have young residents tell their stories from their community, immediately he knew where to start.
“I told her the best place to start that project is Sea Lots,” Solwazi said.
“If East Port-of-Spain is neglected, Sea Lots is the bastard child,” he continued.
The members of the Youth Club were trained for six weeks in photography and photo editing. They were divided into groups of two and told to find positive topics in their community to highlight. But according to Solwazi getting them to take the pictures was somewhat challenging.
“In the earlies, I think the young persons were a bit hesitant to actually capture Sea Lots,” Solwazi said, “They were a bit reluctant.”
Solwazi said his team planned a field trip to Sea Lots and that was when the youths got their photographs for the project.
“Out of the six weeks and we had a field trip to Cedros eh, but I think that trip to Sea Lots was the best”, he said.
The youths took a total of 29 images, nine front pages and 20 photos highlighting the scenery, talent economic activity and history of the community.
Libya Dopwell, 18, was one of the youths who worked on the Sea Lots Daily. She said the experience was one she would not forget and was happy that her community got positive representation.
“We have a lot of talented individuals in Sea Lots,” she said
“I feel very proud that we can create something so big and interesting for people to want to see,” she said.
The photographs are on display at the National Library in Port-of-Spain until January 31 in the Media Room. But before it was made to the general public Sea Lots residents were given the opportunity to see the work done by the Youth Club.
“It feels good to know that we did this and did it well, “Dopwell said.
She said when she saw the outcome of their work she grew emotional.
The members of the Youth Club plan to continue this positive news drive as they are determined to change the way people view and regard the Sea Lots community