“Telefon pa Hubentud”, 131, has three projects this season. By carrying out these projects, they continue to work closely with young people in the preventive aspect.
Shurman Milliard, a social worker at the youth telephone service, explained that they work every day for the well-being of Aruba’s youth. By maintaining contact with young people, they can continue preventive work. Telefon pa Hubentud addresses problems before they escalate.
For this reason, they collaborate with various partners. During carnival season, they started, and things have been going well. Milliard indicated that there were many concerns about peer pressure, and group pressure, like “I need to behave in our community during a different season.” That was a common theme in the calls they received.
Additionally, they have started three different projects. One of these projects started two years ago and is being repeated, called ‘Best Dad Ever.’ This project involves fathers who want to participate and desire more knowledge about their children, how to inform them, need information for themselves, especially within their families, and how to turn this into a positive experience.
This project is international. Telefon pa Hubentud provides information to Statia, Saba, Bonaire, and St. Maarten before they received it. According to Milliard, they will continue to do this.
The second project is “Uit stopt het,” which involves collaboration with HIAS. HIAS is a foundation for people who need extra assistance because they are new to Aruba or are temporary residents here. Many times, people from different countries need assistance with care. Telephone for Youth worked with HIAS on the project against violence, including all forms such as domestic violence, and verbal violence, among others.
They have already visited elementary schools four times. They visit classes from fourth to sixth grade, according to Milliard. Here, they inform young people about violence, all its forms, and how they can reduce it.
The last project they have for this season is ‘My Story.’ This is a new project, and this year is the first time they are doing it. This project is against discrimination against foreign people. It’s for those who have visited Aruba and see discrimination every day.
Telefon pa Hubentud has sixteen teens who will visit the lives of others. According to Milliard, they are divided into eight teams of two, and each team visits another at home. This way, the local youth can see a day in the life of someone from abroad. All interactions taking place at home, between parents, all come back into their respective stories.
In addition to this, they work with art to show what they learned during the visits. Also, Telefon pa Hubentud will make a short film for the community to see what it’s like to visit another person, from a different nationality, religion, etc.
