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Kumera with Gassette Miles and a teacher from St. Andrew's Secondary School in Spanish Town.

Kumera Genet, an assistant site coordinator at the Latin American Youth Center, recently traveled to Jamaica to attend the launch of OBRA, a new initiative in the Caribbean and Latin America that will improve the education and employment prospects of underserved youth. Here is his account of his experience.

I recently had the honor of attending the OBRA Launch event and conference in Kingston, Jamaica. OBRA is a new initiative from the International Youth Foundation and USAID which looks to ensure that youth in the Americas are properly educated and prepared to lead healthy, safe and productive lives. The goal is to create a program that would increase the employability and skills of 1,000 youth. The program will be piloted over the next two years in Jamaica, Peru, and Guatemala.

The participants of the conference were selected from several organizations in Central America, South America and the Caribbean. I am especially grateful to the Jamaican people for the respect and hospitality they showed to our delegation. It was great to meet colleagues from around the hemisphere, and learn about their work, challenges, and successes. 

Sharing a word with the teacher at St. Andrew's Secondary School in Spanish Town.

While at the conference, I had the opportunity to speak as a part of the Youth Discussion Panel.  I presented about the particular challenges facing youth in North America.  As a relatively new youth developer it was motivational to share my own stories and experiences both as a youth who grew up in an urban area, and as an adult who works to improve the lives of my students.

My favorite part of the trip actually occurred after the conference ended. I had the opportunity to conduct a site visit in Spanish Town (a suburb of Kingston).  Accompanied by my fellow youth panelist and Spanish Town resident Gassette Miles, I visited Children's First Youth Ministry and two secondary schools.  After such an intense conference, it was great to actually meet and interact with the young people of Jamaica.

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