PUBLIC SPEAKING, quality customer service, report writing, business protocol, web site design. Sounds like the elements of a demanding university course, doesn't it?
Actually, they're all part of a dress rehearsal for leadership offered by the St. Andrew Junior Chamber, an affiliate of the Jamaica and West Indies Junior Chambers, and Junior Chamber International (JCI).
This voluntary organisation, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, helps young people aged between 18 and 40 to develop their leadership skills and social responsibility through a creative mix of hands-on training in project management with a range of social activities.
"And it's not just about self-development either," explained Dolrez Crosdale, the group's Project Chairman. The St. Andrew Junior Chamber makes sure its members keep in touch with their communities. That is why, over the years, they have engaged in a variety of community development projects. Among the most successful initiatives have been projects at Best Care Children's Home in Kingston and Rock Hall Basic School, St. Andrew, as well as the Faces of Children Art Expo.
The latest in their never-ending series of outreach projects was to be their annual health fair, held at Olympic Gardens, Kingston, last Saturday. Health awareness was stimulated among young and old alike as several persons turned up to take advantage of free immunisations, dental and medical check-ups, ECGs, pap smears, breast exams, and blood pressure and cholesterol checks.
The health fair, which is each year sponsored by Texaco Caribbean, has benefited an impressive list of inner-city communities in the 12 years it has been staged: Queensbo-rough, Majestic Gardens, Riverton City, Fletcher's Land, Cassava Piece, Rae Town, Grants Pen, Waltham Park, and Trench Town.
As these young people strive to live the words of their creed, which states in part "that earth's great treasure lies in human personality, and that service to humanity is the best work of life", one cannot help but be optimistic that leadership for the future is in safe hands.
