Gela from 'Gela N The City wrote about a pressing problem, poverty and the disaster that drug addiction can create. She writes:

As a rule I don't give money to anyone on the street. I keep thinking that I don't want to encourage a bad habit, they're young and strong, they're going to use money to buy drugs.

This sounds very familiar to me, as in Aruba we have the same problem. And what everybody except our leaders have realized is that this issue will not go away. Gela continues to write:

I've been wondering these past weeks though, been turning it around in my head, what's the solution? How do we deal with all these sellers-cum-beggars-cum-windshield wipers?

How indeed. Are free drug clinics the answer? Revalidation skills? A key problem is that Aruba is a small island, and a bad reputation will cling to somebody like glue. That's a tough situation to overcome.

Gela proposes this:

I'm thinking that we need some unskilled work for them because of course they have no training or education. On the surface our construction industry (one obvious source of unskilled work) seem to be booming. You can't drive two minutes without seeing some new apartment building, office building going up. The problem is we don't hear people within the construction industry complaining of a dearth of unskilled labour.

Maybe we should set up some skills training centres so that they can learn a skill (plumbing, tailoring, etc) and create their own employment. The private sector should fund these as its in everyone's interest to have less unemployed young men with too much time on their hands.

All are good ideas. I don't know if Jamaica's and Aruba's leaders have the fortitude to really commit to a solution.

Gela asks:

Did I single-handedly solve one of Jamaica's problems? I doubt it.

I do wonder though if any serious thought is given by the power-brokers to how to solve that problem.

I hope for our islands' sake that they will, Gela.