分类： society

On a recent Wednesday visit to the annual Boys 2 Men Easter Camp hosted at St James’ Western Light Church of the Nazarene, Barbados President Jeffrey Bostic delivered a stirring, interactive address centered on building resilience, claiming purpose and nurturing unshakable self-belief among the nation’s young men. Speaking directly to the teen campers, Bostic framed life’s unavoidable hurdles not as permanent barriers, but as natural stepping stones along the journey to personal and professional success, using a simple wooden chair to illustrate his point. If an obstacle blocks your path, he explained, you do not turn around and abandon your goals — you find another way forward. “Challenges will always be in your life, but you do not allow the challenge to stop you from realising your dreams. Find a way. Face the challenge… no retreat, no surrender,” Bostic told the gathered youth. “If you fall, you pick yourself back up, dust yourself off, and start all over again.”

The president turned next to one of the most pressing shared challenges facing many of the camp’s participants: growing up in fatherless households. Acknowledging that this gap can create significant hardships, he emphasized that communities, faith groups, schools, and targeted mentorship initiatives like Boys 2 Men can step in to provide the guidance and support young men need to thrive. Drawing from his own experience growing up in Barbados, Bostic shared that many people from his generation also grew up without fathers in the home, but benefited from positive father figures in community spaces, local sports teams, churches, and school campuses who helped steer them toward healthy, productive lives.

To further drive home his message of possibility, Bostic pointed to two of Barbados’ most iconic national heroes — legendary cricketer Sir Garfield Sobers and global music icon Rihanna — as examples of how humble origins do not limit extraordinary achievement. He also called on the teens to embrace the core philosophy of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., encouraging them to pursue excellence in every path they choose, stressing that success is not measured by being first, but by giving one’s full effort in every endeavor.

After the prepared address, Bostic opened the floor for questions from campers and counsellors, who quizzed him on his own path to the presidency, his personal life, and updates on the upcoming Chapman Challenge youth initiative. Bostic revealed that the programme, which targets young people ranging from third-grade primary school students to 24-year-old young adults, is in its final stages of development and will launch imminently. Designed to build the mental and psychological preparedness young people need to access existing opportunities, the initiative aims to close the persistent gap between youth and the resources available to help them succeed, he explained. “We have to prepare them to make use of the opportunities… and if we start early, we will see a difference,” Bostic said.

Maria Ambrose, who co-directs the camp with her husband Ambrose Carter, echoed the president’s praise for targeted youth empowerment work, noting that the majority of the camp’s participants come from single-parent households headed by women. Over the course of the one-week programme, facilitators work to instill core life skills and positive habits, from personal conduct to safe online behavior, she explained.

The Boys 2 Men camp is run by the Charity Ammar Empowerment Network, and 2024 marks its third cohort of participants. The daily programme runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day for a full week, serving 20 young men between the ages of 13 and 19. A parallel programme for young women, called Preparing Princesses, follows the same core structure. In addition to mentorship and character building, the camp exposes participants to practical, income-generating trades including hat-making, handmade soap production, sewing, baking, and pottery. These hands-on skills are designed to give young people tools to build financial independence and pursue entrepreneurship if they choose. At the close of the president’s visit, campers and co-director Maria Carter presented Bostic with two handcrafted gifts as a token of gratitude for his time, insight, and ongoing support for youth empowerment efforts across the country.

Two deadly shootings that unfolded over Barbados’ Easter weekend have amplified already growing fears over the nation’s accelerating gun violence crisis, prompting senior lawmaker and attorney Karina Goodridge to push for sweeping policy changes: a nationwide zero-tolerance mandate for homicide and the immediate launch of a proactive early warning system to stop attacks before they occur. In a firm, clear statement released to the public Wednesday, Goodridge — who also serves as president of the civic organization Friends of Democracy — argued that the small island nation can no longer afford to downplay the threat or treat it as an abstract concern, as brutal killings increasingly take place in crowded public spaces, carried out by perpetrators acting in open defiance of the law.

Goodridge emphasized that Barbados is confronting a shifted, dangerous landscape that demands urgent action: as of the Easter weekend, the country had already logged at least 18 homicides for the year, a sharp upward trajectory that she called alarming. Many of these killings have happened in broad daylight, in areas packed with bystanders, and in contexts that offer no logical explanation for the violence. “Each life lost is a tragedy… [and] a stark reminder that complacency is no longer an option,” she said.

Her call to action follows three separate shooting incidents that took place on Easter Monday alone, which left two men dead and multiple other people injured, pushing community anxiety over the growing violence to new heights. Goodridge pushed back against the common framing of these killings as isolated, disconnected events, arguing that what Barbados needs instead is a unified, preventive national strategy that addresses violence at its roots.

“The time has come to adopt a zero-tolerance approach to homicide. Violence, especially gun violence, has ripple effects that permeate society,” she explained, noting that the damage of a single attack extends far beyond the immediate victims and their families, tearing at the fabric of entire communities. Drawing on lessons from neighboring Caribbean nations, Goodridge pointed to successful interventions in Trinidad and Tobago, where law enforcement has leveraged data-driven policing and rapid response frameworks to anticipate criminal plots and break them up before violence can occur. She argued that Barbados can adapt these proven models to fit its own context, building systems that can detect, prevent, and disrupt violent acts before they lead to tragedy.

At the center of Goodridge’s proposal is the creation of a holistic early warning system that integrates three key pillars: active community engagement, intelligence-led policing, and targeted enforcement. Key measures she outlined include boosting sustained police presence in areas identified as high-risk for violence, using data-driven crime mapping to spot emerging patterns of criminal activity, and running coordinated, multi-agency operations to remove illegal firearms from communities across the country.

The senator stressed that enforcement measures alone cannot reverse the trend of rising violence. She called for complementary social programs that address the root causes that drive violent crime, including unaddressed mental health challenges, widespread substance abuse, and a lack of positive mentorship for at-risk young people. Highlighting one of the most recent Easter weekend attacks — the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Raul Clarke in Oistins — Goodridge said the tragedy serves as a stark warning of the immediate danger that unregulated illegal firearms pose to public safety, adding that “Barbados cannot wait for tragedy to strike again.”

“Removing illegal guns, combined with community vigilance and social interventions, is a proven formula for reducing violent crime and safeguarding lives. Every confiscated weapon is a potential life saved,” she argued. Digging into the deeper drivers of the current violence epidemic, Goodridge noted that core social and familial breakdowns — including inadequate parenting support, unaddressed mental illness, and rampant substance misuse — are at the root of the crisis. To tackle these issues, she called for closer collaboration between families, schools, and local community organizations to instill core values of respect and personal accountability in children from a young age.

Goodridge also emphasized that supporting frontline law enforcement officers is a non-negotiable part of any effective strategy, noting that officers need timely compensation, ongoing specialized training, and dedicated mental health resources to carry out their work effectively. “Supporting our police with timely payments, adequate training, and mental health resources is not optional – it is essential for effective enforcement and deterrence,” she said. In addition to supporting law enforcement, she urged national and local authorities to prioritize transparency and ongoing public engagement, proposing regular town hall meetings and deeper formal partnerships between police and community groups as core components of a national crime prevention strategy.

Goodridge concluded that Barbados must build a national culture where violence of any kind is never accepted, and where citizens feel both safe from harm and empowered to report potential threats to authorities before violence occurs. Warning that continued inaction will only allow the crisis to escalate further, she noted that the country has the resources and capacity to address the problem decisively — but collective political, social, and community will is required to make meaningful change. “What is required now is resolve: political, social, and communal,” she said.

Facing persistent global economic turbulence driven by volatile energy markets and stubbornly high inflation, the government of Barbados is rolling out a targeted Cost of Living Cash Credit program, a core policy included in the latest national budget, designed to ease financial strain on the country’s most vulnerable residents. First disbursements are scheduled to begin April 20, with senior pensioners and recipients of special needs grants prioritized in the program’s opening phase.

During a formal press briefing hosted at the National Insurance and Social Security (NISS) headquarters on Culloden Road, Finance Minister Ryan Straughn and NISS Chief Executive Officer Kim Tudor walked reporters through the administrative structure of the relief package, clarifying eligibility rules and disbursement processes for the public. Straughn framed the initiative as a proactive, forward-thinking intervention to provide much-needed financial certainty for households amid ongoing global market uncertainty.

Straughn noted that while global oil prices have experienced temporary dips in recent months, the underlying volatility of energy markets remains an outsized risk for small island developing states like Barbados, which rely heavily on energy imports. “Given all the uncertainty that’s taking place within the energy space, we wanted to make sure that we give Barbadians the opportunity to be able to plan their budgets over the course of the next 12 months,” he explained. He added that the cash credit complements broader government actions, including a completed fuel price hedge that has stabilized domestic fuel costs for consumers, to insulate the country from international market swings.

One key clarification the minister emphasized during the briefing is that the cash credit is a one-off targeted relief measure, not a permanent increase to standard national insurance pensions. He addressed widespread confusion among residents, many of whom had expected an adjustment to their regular April pension checks: “The cash grant is separate and distinct from the pensions that are paid by the National Insurance. The reason that they did not see an increase on the pension check is because the cash credit is not tied to your pension. Eligibility follows the framework laid out in the national Budget.”

NISS, which has been tapped to administer the bulk of payments, will draw on lessons and logistics infrastructure developed during previous large-scale government relief disbursements to streamline the process. Tudor confirmed that for the vast majority of pre-registered eligible beneficiaries, no additional action is required to receive funds. Payments will be issued on the 20th of each month, or the immediately preceding business day if the 20th falls on a weekend or public holiday.

“For existing NIS and public sector pensioners, as well as current special needs grant recipients, we already have your contact information and payment details on file. If you are accustomed to receiving a cheque, you will receive a cheque. If you receive your pension via direct bank lodgement, it will come via lodgement. You don’t have to do anything,” Tudor advised. That said, two specific groups of potential beneficiaries are required to complete an in-person registration process to access the benefit: people over the age of 65 who are unemployed and do not receive any local or international pension, and new welfare recipients who did not participate in 2023’s Solidarity Allowance program.

Registration opened this week at the Steel Shed in Queen’s Park, and will remain open for the next two weeks. Applicants must bring valid government-issued photo identification, and those requesting direct bank deposit must also bring recent bank statements to confirm account details. Tudor also reminded the public of a strict eligibility cap: any pensioner with an annual income exceeding BBD $50,000 does not qualify for the credit, which is reserved exclusively for Barbadian residents facing tangible cost-of-living hardships.

Beyond the core cost-of-living credit for low-income vulnerable groups, the government is also activating a new multiple births support benefit. Families with multiple children under the age of five born from a single pregnancy are invited to submit birth certificates and banking details to the newly formed Social Empowerment Agency, an amalgamation of the former Child Care Board, Welfare Department, and National Assistance Board.

Straughn framed the rollout of these two programs as a key step in the government’s broader mission to modernize public service delivery and streamline inter-agency data sharing. He pointed to the upcoming June launch of the BiMPay digital payment platform as a transformative milestone that will revolutionize how the government disburses funds to citizens. “As we seek to harmonise our systems, it is going to be important that persons are confident that once they share the information with a specific agency, we can process that information very quickly,” he said. “It is really my desire that the government and the country will be able to move to a different stage of being able to deliver all types of government payments in a much more seamless way.”

While monthly disbursement is the default option to support ongoing household budget planning, the government has added flexible payment scheduling to accommodate different needs. Beneficiaries who prefer to receive their credit on a quarterly or annual basis can opt into these alternative schedules during the April-to-June opt-in window, with the new payment frequency taking effect in the third quarter starting September. With the first payments set to reach accounts on April 20, government officials project that approximately 60,000 Barbadians will benefit from the program over the coming 12 months, and express confidence that the targeted, focused strategy will provide meaningful relief amid ongoing global economic uncertainty.