By Binta Jaiteh
Tujereng Youth Development Association held a two-day Mental Health Awareness and Career Development Weekend workshop with a vow to fight against “Kush” through awareness raising and other drugs impacting young people in The Gambia.
Tujereng Youth Development Association is a youth organization fostering a green economy while addressing social challenges and climate change in The Gambia.
The two-day Mental Health Awareness and Career Development Weekend” workshop was held under the theme “Overcome KUSH in Tujereng,” aiming to empower youth and children as change makers.
Speaking during the opening of the workshop, the Chairman of the association, Lamin Sonko said the association was established in 2017 to empower youth.
Recently, he said, kush has caused a lot of damages to the youth of Tujereng and The Gambia at large. Even though the community didn’t record any death cases with regards to kushbut we feel that it is important to have an association which will help to sensitize the youth, he noted.
“We have been looking for sponsorship all along but our VDC came and subvent the Association”, he disclosed.
“As an association we have invited stakeholders from different institutions to sensitize the youth about the dangers and health consequences of the drug. This drug causing death and it need to be controlled as soon as possible”, he emphasised.
The Village Development Committee chairman, Cherno Njie, said the event was very crucial to the community of Tujerengand the Gambia at large. He said having such an initiative in the community to educate children about the dangers of this drug is a step in the right direction.
However, this project was initiated by the youth of Tujereng, and as a VDC he said they deemed it necessary to empower them to fight against such a deadly drug.
The Chairman urged the youth of Tujereng and the country at large to desist from this harmful drug.
Secretary General of Tujereng VDC, Kisima Bittaye, said the importance of this association cannot be overemphasized. A lot of youth get distracted due to the use of this drug.
“We should give them proper guidance so that they can be meaningful in society”, he counseled.
According to him, drugs are a factor that increases the crime rate in a country. Recently a lot of attacks and burglaries have become rampant in the country this is due to the abuse of drugs like Kush and others.
Psychologist and Nursing Officer at Tanka Tanka, Lamin Barrow. also made a remarkable speech at the workshop saying “They lost contemplation of becoming future leaders of tomorrow because of a substance named kush. It has mental complications to the human system which can affect them badly.”
