YEAC Launch St. David Team
A new team of Youth Emergency Action Committee volunteers was recently installed in St David.
The community, disaster response arm of Caritas which started in 2011 with YEAC Grand Anse is now established in all parishes of the tri-island state.
Project manager Roseann Redhead reiterates the relevance of the skills training which YEAC offers.
According to her, YEAC is an amazing journey. It provides a different learning experience for our youth. They are learning intense skills, some of them being lifesaving skills. Our youth are tasked to learn lifesaving skills – skills that we can reduce lose of life and promote health and recovery. The target age group is 16 to 26 years. Redhead is confident that the youth are able to undertake the training quite responsibly. She says, “this past month, we had three team members who were invited to do the one-week training; that’s a PAHO (Pan American Health Organisation) level, with the Ministry of Health. The mass casualty management teaches you on a scene, if there are multiple casualties, if the local area is overwhelmed by the multiple casualties; how do you manage that incident.”
Diocesan Cordinator of Caritas Francis Darius expressed his elation that finally YEAC has a team in every parish. He said that it is “no accident that St. David happened to be the final one, because in the inception, YEAC was identified as an urban youth programme/project.” Since St. David does not have a town, here was no YEAC presence there, but given the importance and the growth, they were able to get their donors to agree to move away from the strict definition of the urban youth to all the communities.
Darius encouraged the team as well as potential members saying: “that is an opportunity to serve your country, to serve your community, to serve your family. It is in a fun-filled environment, creative. The youth are always referred to as having creativity, So, we expect and we hope that you’ll make it. Enjoy the journey, because it is indeed a journey; it’s a transforming journey and we hope that as many of you and your friends become members of YEAC.”
