7 News Belize

“The Good, The Bad, The Nobody Road” – A Southside Story
posted (June 17, 2013)
Since August of 2012, the Department of Youth Services has been operating a pilot program called the Southside Youth Success and Drop-in Center. The idea behind it is that GOB is providing another second-chance initiative which ensures that at-risk young men between the ages of 14-17, who are living on the Southside of Belize, are provided an opportunity to become productive citizens instead of turning to crime.

Well in the 10 months that the facilitators have been working with the young men, they've learned a lot about their lives, and the challenges which they face daily. As a result, it is inspired them to publish those stories, most resembling a biography, in a collection called "The Good, The Bad, The Nobody Road".

Sounds kind of like a southside spaghetti western but it is a compelling collage of stories of social fracture. That book was officially launched at the Port Loyola Library today, and 7News attended. Here's an excerpt of the tales these young men have decided to share.

Hon. Patrick Faber - Minister of Education, Youth and Sports
"It always amazes me how by day when you move around and I don't know how many of you get to interact with the young men in Belize City on a daily basis and I am pleased to have such an opportunity but you talk to them and you hear them and you listen, they share their concerns with you and then it almost seems that they are different persons - compared to the persons that you hear about on the news. I remember one day in fact, speaking to a young man on Albert Street and he was talking to me about wanting employment and then by evening I'm hearing about him in the evening news, having gone to do some kind of robbery at the Fort George Hotel, a young man who was from my constituency. So when you talk to them in the day time and even the night time because crime knows no hours in Belize City - now it would seem, but when you talk to them you can't help but understand that they do have a heart and they do need some kind of encouragement, support and help."

Myrna Manzanares - Writer, The Good, The Bad, The Nobody Road
"For me this was a very important project because I usually do older people, I work with older people so I collect their stories and I collect the stuff about the culture and about values from way back then. But we seldom actually do our young people so this was an opportunity particularly the young men, because it was an opportunity for me to work with them and I am so thankful that I did."

The interviews with the participants were conducted on the terms of confidentiality.

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