THE HONOURABLE ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR YOUTH AND SPORTS
ILIESA DELANA
• Respected officials and officers
• Participants
• Ladies and Gentlemen
Bula vinaka, and a good afternoon to you all!
It is indeed a great pleasure for me to be here today and be with you as you are the budding leaders for leadership roles both today and in the future of this nation.
We are aware that our young people are vulnerable in the society and often they are the ones who are mostly exposed to all sorts of information, peer pressure, different forms of entertainments, the social media, internet and the list goes on.
It is our collective solemn duty to ensure that our young people are empowered and guided through all available avenues and mediums to become good citizens and value what is important in life.
They are to be given the right information and opportunities to participate in activities that will foster and guarantee social cohesion and nation building.
Remember: “The highest reward for man’s toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it”. You are the master of your future. What you do and how you do it will determine what you will become.
The values you uphold, the decisions and choices you make will become your reward in future.
The many stakeholders who had presented to you during the week and with the Ministry’s holistic character development training programme; I am sure that you are now more than confident about yourselves in seeking what you want in life and have a fair idea what you will have to do to get there, and should you meet hurdles you are empowered as to where you can seek assistance from.
Energy and Creativity are two gifts – our young people are blessed with. Today I am encouraging you to maximise these 2 gifts of to enhance your potentials for your betterment.
For I strongly believe that when you are guided to tactfully apply your energies and creativity positively - doing the right things at the right time and not shying away from trying new things and ideas, the end result will be productive and you will become responsible leaders of the nation.
Youth Age (15-28 as defined by commonwealth or 15–35 UN definition) is a phase in life, which finishes as you turn 36 years. This is a very short, interesting and exciting phase in life where you are full of energy, vibrant and very creative.
Do make the most of your abilities while you are in this age, for as you turn 36+ years you have to hand over the reins to other young people in your communities to take up these leadership roles and dreams that you had started.
However you must also make personal goals for your life on where you want to be, who you want to be with and how will you get there. There will be obstacles in life but you must be ready with a plan B or C. Be the best in what you do today as this will impact on who you become in the future.
Dear Trainees, as we conclude the training today, I hope that you have been able to sharpen your individual skill sets. You will now look beyond the horizon at the goals you will set for yourselves; goals that you can and will achieve.
With your newly-acquired skills from this training, I hope that you will demonstrate attributes of quality leadership in your youth clubs and communities.
I strong belief that you will lead with dedication and vision while also training and empowering your friends and colleagues to become excellent leaders.
I challenge you to show the rest of the nation and leave you with this quote “Striving for Success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted”. With these words I wish you all the success in life.
Thank you and Vinaka Vakalevu.