BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, June 24, 2019 (Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister)– The sod was turned today, Monday, June 24, to signal the start of construction for the brand new home base for the Ministry of National Security’s expanding social intervention programme, the Explorers Youth Club initiative.
The ground-breaking ceremony was held at Mol-Phil Extension in Phillip’s Village for the construction of the new Explorers Campsite building. Once completed, the structure will serve as the home base for the Mol-Phil Explorers Club, the official Campsite for the entire Explorers Youth Clubs initiative and will, in time, serve as the base for the Community Policing Team.
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The Explorers Clubs were first launched in 2017 as part of the Community Policing Initiative involving children from ages 4 -17 years old with an aim to provide a safe haven for children in the communities in which they are formed.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security, Mr. Osmond Petty, spoke of the need for a permanent home for the clubs. He noted that since the inception two year ago, staging of meetings and other planned activities were regularly interrupted by unpredictable weather conditions.
“That has been the experience of this club for two years. The children, they come every Saturday afternoon for two or three hours they meet, they have functions here but when the rain would come they have to run,” Mr. Petty stated, as he thanked the participating children and their families for sticking with the programme in spite of this challenge.
Prime Minister and Minister of National Security, Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris, has been an avid and vocal supporter of the Explorers Youth Club initiative since its inception.
Speaking at Monday’s ground-breaking ceremony, Prime Minister Harris said the role of this programme which is to positively transform the lives of the nation’s young people can never be understated.
“We want to transform and attract young people to make them more ready and better prepared to contribute to national life, and more particularly to build our nation. So the transformation and the value of it must be that we transform the nation for the better and the Explorers Group and the TAPS [Teen and Police Service] group and all the other entities which we form, including those in the church, are intended to help the country produce a better quality of person that can contribute to national life,” the Prime Minister said.
Upon the completion, the new Explorers Campsite building will feature separate sleeping rooms for boys and girls with a capacity to house up to 250 children, a separate sleeping area for staff, a recreational room, a dining room and kitchen and an office. The building will be also be wheelchair accessible to accommodate the differently-abled.
The ground-breaking ceremony for the new Campsite came less than 24 hours after the launch of the Old Road Explorers Club – the seventh club to be launched as part of the Explorers Youth Club initiative.
