Hitz FM joins Youth Department in march and rally in support of children

A local radio announcer has decided to ‘walk the talk’, in support of Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention month.{{more}}

HITZ FM radio personality Joel ‘Fugitive’ Bibby has announced that a special march, which was scheduled to take place last week, will now proceed around Kingstown, this Friday, April 15.

The event, which is in collaboration with the Youth Affairs Department, is not a part of the official calendar of the Child Awareness and Prevention month, which runs from April 1 to April 30.

According to Bibby, the march is his station’s contribution to heightening awareness, and would be done in solidarity with the Family Affairs Division, which is responsible for the month of activities.

“Sometimes, we only as radio announcers on radio stations only highlight the issues, but I find that we don’t do enough… this is just the next step than just talking about it.”

“We had planned to do it last Friday (April 8th), but school was out, so we decided to do it this Friday, to get more students, parents and community members involved,” said Bibby.

The idea to hold the march and rally came from the announcer’s Thursday morning show ‘As the youth see it’, a joint programme with the Youth Affairs Department, which seeks to inform young people on national issues. It is co-hosted by Youth Affairs Coordinator Philcol Jeffers.

Jeffers stated that one of aims of the march is to highlight the Child Abuse Reporting Protocol and Guidelines Bill.

“We also want to highlight recent travesties to children here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and let community members know the process of reporting child abuse to the police, Family Affairs and the Family Court. This is where we want communities to join in and play their part.

“We would love to have an outpouring of Vincentians who have the interest of children and young people at heart to come and make a contribution to Friday’s effort,” Jeffers added.

The recent spate of physical abuse against young children, including rape, beatings and murder, has stirred much discussion on various radio stations over the past weeks.

Friday’s march will begin at 10 a.m., starting at the Peace Memorial Hall, going down on Bay Street, before turning up at the Kingstown Anglican School, on to Back Street and ending at Heritage Square on South River Road.