Right, welcome back. It's time now to continue with our segment. Thanks so very much Barry Mossers and Dr. Osora for that engaging conversation. Well, we get to learn here at Y254 and of course educate you, inform you and give you relevant stories and of course the life-transforming things that are happening in and around you by them. We unfold everything and demystify everything that you need to know. Right now, let's talk about talent and business. I'm joined by a team of young people. I can call them young people. You are young as you are. Aging gracefully. Yes. Alright, let me introduce right from me. It's not other than Jeremy. Is it Nyanga or Nyaga? Nyanga. Alright, you're the CEO. Yes, I'm not the CEO, but I'm just a leader in the company. Yes, that is how I would call it. What if you said the founder? If you said the founder, so many people found it. So there's stakeholders in this. Right next to her is Valentine, not Valeria. It's Valentine Ogada. Alright, it's nice to have you people. And of course you have someone that is amazing. We'll be talking about that. So you can keep on interacting with us while on our Facebook page Y254 and of course our Twitter handle it at Y254 channel. Our SMS line is 20154 starting with Y254. Well, we had a question on Facebook which is still there. Well, keep answering us. We'll be asking of course even our guests later on at the end of this segment. But now let's venture into this. Who is now, let's talk about Jeremy Nyaga. Okay, I don't know very much about the name. You can as well call me Jeremy. Jeremy? Still the message will be out there. And you can hold on the mic a bit Juki Dogo. Okay, thank you. Jeremy is a talent mentor and a creative personality having worked in creative industry for the last 18 years. Started creative way back in high school and of course after high school got into acting and got into modeling and got into poetry and got into singing. I would just say I was interested in creative arts. So from there I developed and of course got to get a space for myself within the creative economy sector in the country and have managed to grow as an actor, as a model and then of course as a choreographer and as an event organizer. You have done all these? Yes, I've done all these in span of 18 years. 18 years is not just two days. It's quite a long. Alright. So with that of course managed also to get into the leadership space and gotten for of course some political positions just as a way of initiating a leadership process in my life and I said I got not to be led but I got to lead. What do I mean by that? In me I always believe that everyone that is behind me is a leader. So we are a group of leaders everywhere. I'm not into the space any longer of getting decisions from somewhere to follow but be part of the decision making process. Wow. You mentioned about high school. Yes. What were you doing in high school? Quite impressing. Yes, because I think now it's due to reverse the question. Yeah, in high school I was a prolific footballer and of course I played football even for the Kenyan team. That is way 2005 and some of the people we played with of course managed to go overseas like the likes of Deniso Liege. Okay. But after high school I came. So Deniso Liege was your classmate? No, not really my classmate but the time he was in school I was also in school. Our schoolmate? Not really same school. I'm trying to get your point. I know you're calculating the age. No, but of course during the same season he was in high school. He was two years ahead but he played during the same seasons. So they are after coming out of high school played for local teams and of course in the year 2006 as many footballers will know Kenya was banned twice with FIFA and of course that demoralized me and when my family approached me to say like there's no life in football go and be what we call askari, policy, I couldn't take it and so from there I channeled my energy into the creative arts. You know I'm prompted I wish I reverse the question what haven't you done in this life? You have been a politician. You have been a leader in many aspects you have been a footballer. You have done art. Yes, it has something to do with my upbringing. Yes, how I was brought up and of course now had to put myself into the space of also beating the odds of life that you cannot make it until and not unless you have a godfather. So I never believed, I only believed in one God who's the father and so he opened every way for me and everywhere that I went to knock the door he was always ahead of me opening the door for me and he still opens doors for me and he will still open doors for me that is God. That gives a new way to talk now to Valentine because Valentine is like whoa, you know Valentine what she is Valentine who is Valentine? Valentine is multi-talented I can say. I started from high school that's modeling. I sing, I dance partially teach dance and also music I work professionally so practically I use my talent slightly as a business and my job as my profession. Alright, a special statement to Fadili you say that I cannot dance now I have a trainer from now henceforth I'm venturing into it anyway Valentine apparently I happen to notice that you're not practising your career what made you not to stick to your career? Is it a talent or something that you opted to grow fast? Yes, I did because mainly what I realised that every time I get an opportunity to get a job there is something that breaks through and that in terms of music or in terms of dance mainly I can say in terms of modeling because I've practically done it for a couple of years right now and what I can say in the industry it's not that you have to know people to get there but for me I decided to make a leeway for myself so having a job and using my talent at the same time is a win-win someone was asking how did you make this leeway? How did I make this leeway? Let's just say practically I have three elder sisters so I learnt from them and I learnt from my mum so what I like the previous guest said I learnt and I do I don't wait for someone to say Valentine you need to then I just take the step myself I don't have to wait for someone to tell me to do something All right and when you talk about that there's something she has said about I don't have to wait for anyone Do you think there's a system that we have of waiting on someone instead of growing our talents? Most definitely it's a bad culture I would say whereby as I said earlier on you're trying to wait into godfatherhood that is something that's really not good for growth in terms of the current generation we are in but as the sohelia would say jitu me if you're the kind who believe in what you got in you and you believe that what you have in you it's a powerful thing then you go to send yourself out there to get it because the space when you interact with people you try to learn that the space everyone has a struggle in their life and everyone has a struggle in their life that those who use their struggles in a positive way to intimidate the space around them and so we would think probably for them it will be a way of somebody opened up a door for them but actually they use their inability to create an ability in them so that is what I say jitu me get yourself out there it doesn't have to be somebody hold your hand but of course that will not stop me to mention the aspect of mentorship being a key thing in each and everyone of us life alright which our previous guest has mentioned and I want us to look at it and now talk about the talent and entrepreneurship you being the leader of talenta and talenta prenew talent prenew these both come in much ok as a good book sale and I would always refer to it the good book being the bible definitely there are places we've been taught in the bible how various people were given talent and asked to go and put them in use actually they are not told what to go and use but they were just given and there are those who decided to put in use there are those who decided to store it why would I say talenta prenew why talenta prenew these are two words brought together two nouns brought together and one stands for business and one stands for gifting natural aptitude yes each and everyone of us has an idea inside of them the difference is how you bring them out how you put them into life so I looked at this thing that goes in the world like I'm looking for a job I want this to be done for me I went through education system and I looked at it whole something but then again when I look on the social aspect some of the most influential people in this world are not academic academically up there they are just somewhere at least they know how to read their names but now when it comes to decision making they make decisions because they got the power in their hand and they skillfully use their talents be it a football talent be it a creative art talent they used it and in any space that you see currently even in the media houses entertainment control everything so that is what pushed me to try and curve these talenta prenew and see how do I help individual who really are not good academically but still they have something in them that they can use as their talent you have mentioned something about talent and school considering the CBC now but it's coming in how is the talent and school not relating because you have said that even if you fail you still got your talent the CBC and think that is a very good thing for the government really to work hard and make sure that is implemented in totality what do I really mean by that when I was in school there is this activity that you are doing called PE that was during the morning primary education and then there was in the evenings when we were doing the games and for me those are the most exciting moments in my life in school exati moli mwesa bwa kwa nengia wakatupi kusama was lakini nengia sasa na in term skiza tukamani menuna but I will even make sure that for 5 minutes I'm in the field for 5 minutes I'm in the field so that would enable me of course to just live a happy life there is something about co-curricular activity it gets you off because you see it said when your head locks when your brain locks it locks and co-curricular activity opens your brain and that's what you'll find even in the IT sector the IT gurus where they work are not really formal places they work under trees they work under and they don't wear official they are just as simple as that they give their mind that opportunity to think widely without limitation that is what talent gives you I don't know whether valentine lefanya PE, Sistu kwa kwa kwa So, what manjia, where is that now that she is a dancer probably didn't something mess up somewhere let's talk about you are the you're the one who holds the docket of talented pranu of media and public relations well let's talk about the media and it's impact towards the talents of young people Okay, what I can say about media nowadays we have everything we have Facebook, we have Twitter, we have Instagram we have YouTube that's the guys also open YouTube channels for now You don't need someone to help you discover yourself. Record what you have. If you're singing, record it, post it on YouTube, post it on Facebook. What you have is what you give the people. If they see, they like, they like your comments, they'll comment. As in personally I can say the media, you can use the media for yourself. You don't need someone to manage your account, you don't need someone to tell you that you need to sing with this tune guess you need to sound like this. Just use the media as a platform to market yourself.  And I am like what? Probably she needs to add on that… Everything that you do, even if you are not really, really good in terms of your vocals. But add a little bit of skill in it. Put a skill on it. If you're singing ofki, sing ofki skillfully. How do you sing ofki skillfully? You make it like you're making some comedy. And actually you want it to sing. And somebody will think you're doing some comedy. And of course you see. So you do it skillfully. Then you'll make the difference. No one will notice. But anyway, how many of us after the curriculum was changed, some of us when we were in lower primary, I did music as a subject. Currently I'm told it's no longer much a consideration to be done. Of course now the new CBC coming in, they're trying to reintroduce it. And the likes of art and craft. So at least some of us know what a crochet is. But I'm sure there are some of us behind here who have no idea what a crochet looks like. And what it stands for as far as singing and music is concerned. But again, talent is not about singing alone. There is poetry. Just speaking. Speak skillfully. There is acting. Expression. Express skillfully. Which you guys are doing right now in talent for new. Yes. So what we're doing currently is purely doing an informative activity that will enable someone to do the sets of inbuilt talents skillfully.  We train you in that thing that you got and then you go and present it to the general public and of course to panel of judges to help you further and show you how to do it. Probably someone is watching and they're like we have had talent for new. We have heard about what you do. What is this all about? Well talent for new is about using your skills to enable yourself better your life because with the current economy you can say so many people have jobs. Yes. But you get to a point where people are being retrenched. When you're retrenched what do you have left? Stay home. Start working on getting a new job and it's a hassle. We've been through it. But why can't you use your talent as your business? That's why we have the hashtag Talantayako ni business. Right. So practically I can say use your talent for your business. Don't sit at home and say oh I don't have a job. I don't know how to make money. You can make money with your business. In town there's a guy who sings at Mamangina street. He just has a guitar, his microphone and he sings and the kids who dance on the streets and they use it as a business and someone will spot you and see that. That's why when he's talking about the talent in your workshop will work with you even if you don't get to the finals will still hold your hand and guide you through. So you don't have to just go through the procedure and if you don't get to the finals you're like next time, no next time will teach you through. Even when you're done and you don't get here this is what you can do to keep going. Right. Let me now come to you Jeremy. She mentioned something about retrenchment and now you come and jendit with now talent prenuship. We are talking about people being rich. How best can they use their talents for entrepreneurship? First of all, what is retrenchment? That is a big question. And without putting a specific definition a real say retrenchment is where somebody has control over your abilities and somebody having control over your ability dictates your next cause of action and dictating your next cause of action means they'll tell you what to do. So when you're retrenched you're told you're not going to have some power in your pocket. Right. And when you don't have power in your pocket all of us know what that means. So when you're retrenched it means somebody has control your life and if you're not well prepared for such set of activities somebody or people usually end up into these mental issues like depressions because now at some point you are liquid. At some point your liquid is cut. What people say tapimefungwa. So when the tap is closed in terms of we need money to do so many things. We need money to support our family. We need money to support our friends. We need money to support ourselves. So when this retrenchment happens in your life and you're not careful to get to know that you yourself have ability in you that you can reuse and put in action then definitely you'll find yourself not being a worthy person in the society but all of us are worthy in the society. So I would say retrenchment and talentpreneur.  You've seen in so many occasions how entertainers use the moment they are on the platform to control entertainers are the only people who can even tell a president to stand and do something and a president will do. We've seen the scenario in Kenya and I can mention there's a time Rafton was at the Kasarani stadium and he was singing and Rafton made all 12 presidents who were in the stadium stand and he danced to his tune. There's another time we also saw this little man the young man Bahati stood the president in his seat in certain president's seat. Who does that if you don't have power in your hands? Bahati had power because he is multi-talented. I'm not watching for Bahati but I'll tell you what talent can do for you. Yes. Alright, guys if you by any chance happen to be retrenched from your company so much that you can get to venture into well entrepreneurship Tuesday is the day that you gonna listen to this and far much more Valentino wanna come back to you while you have been in this or that the company has been in function for over three years now? Yes. What are the things that if young people in terms of talent they need to venture into a nature? What young people need to venture in a nature? Let me say you don't need to venture into something you don't need to nurture yourself you're born with it. You can't say I'll learn how to sing okay some people actually do learn how to sing I'll learn how to dance it's just perfecting your skill. That's what I can say. So what young people need to do is just be be broad learn who to talk to learn who to go to but don't sit back and wait. That's why we have talent frenure. Talent frenure is there to nurture you talent frenure is there to teach you talent frenure is there to work with you. So you deal with kids? Primary school, high school primary school, high school, university, livers, all trends that's between the age of 10 to 26. These are some of the things that we have from your side. What is this? What is this leki or something? Oh that is leki that is the mother company that gave birth to talent frenure that was 2016 when you were launching out? This was 2016 when you were doing in preparation for the competition that happened in 2016 at Michael Joseph Center Safaricum House and at this at this one we were training we were preparing the kids for the competition this was a theory class I know this gentleman here inquired a number of kids in the picture So this was exactly what you were doing back in 2016? This is what we did one of the activities we did in 2016 How many activities did you do when you were launching out in 2016? How many activities did you do in 2016? In 2016 we measured purely on pagentry and we measured on kids pagentry from age 8 up to preteen yes from age 8 to preteen and we were measuring on modeling but acting poetry, dancing were supportive acts those were supportive acts that supported as a model example she's called Kate the previous one she was a very good poet yes Dan and she did a very good monologue that she went to present in Greece This is Little Miss Kenya Yes it's called Little Miss Kenya that's why I'm saying we use pagentry aspekt of that particular year and that was a theme This was in here? This now was here 2017 Right, what year after you launched out? Yeah the other one we launched in 2015 then we did the first activity in 2016 and then 2017 and 2018 and the one that we saw them in red that was again Greece in 2018 Alright What's the you guys are doing so much with the kids I've not seen so much people venture with kids anything related to young people or rather the kids we have seen at the age of 18 and about people who know what they ought to be doing Why venture to these in terms of kids? When you look at the space and I would say the lady at the extreme and she's called Tina currently as we're speaking yesterday they did one of the activities she's in Spain for the same Little Miss with the contestants that we had for 2018 we venturing with kids because we want to prepare them from an early age when some of us were growing up mentioning that you wanted to be a model could automatically give you a ticket for a hooping that will not even dare to have for yourself Our parents believe that you can only make it in life as a teacher as a doctor as a pilot those kind of things but saying you wanted to use your talent was a no-go zone area so for talent renewal we said not like we want the 18 and above to remain unmentad but they're also being mentad but we said let's start with these ones and then we use 18 and above as what I call ambassadors to tell these ones while I was growing up I did not get the mentorship that you're getting and these are the loopholes that made me probably delay experiencing or exploiting my talent within the space that I needed to so you got in it early use it when you can Valentine there's so much about the kids is it a passion or something Yes I can say it's a passion because kids bring out the beauty in everything when I was growing up I loved dancing and singing and partly acting but the more I grew up the more it faded because when you get to primary and high school your parents are just like wachana naizo soma because they know education is the key to success but it's not necessarily education that is the key to success example what did I study what am I doing so when you bring a kid up knowing that I can also use my talent for my business that's when they become versatile so I can use music I will teach music that is a talent that I have but I'm teaching it and using it as a business I'm noticing something from you Valentine and Jeremy you guys are two people who believe that you can venture into anything at any given particular time your joke of all trades which apparently ends up to most people saying like failure at one point may emerge I think I need to allow you to talk about that what do you think it does tend to happen it does emerge at some point but the thing is plan what you're doing always have a focus and a future don't have 10,000 things lined up and you don't know what you're driving yourself into always have a purpose because personally I can say Jeremy has taught me a lot he's walked with me for the past few months and he's taught me that once you focus your mind on something you get to achieve it but if you have like five things at the same time and you don't have a plan write it down have a checklist I have done this so what next and that's what we usually talk about entrepreneurship you got an idea you got to plan you could have a strategy then you got to do your research right then venture into it exercise and execute the plan let's talk about your workshop you guys have something trainings and all this kind of stuff what is happening about the plan one of the key things that drivers mentioned earlier on we're coming to this long holiday we start in two weeks time and we look at it how activities have been happening in our space out of school as a previous year we looked into what are some of the activities that we can do to keep our young one proactive during the long holidays and in this case when we talk about the young ones we repeat is from age eight to age 26 and of course there is also probably 30 some people are 30 who are able also to work with us but generally as long as you are youth and you are youthful at heart we good to go with you youthful at heart youthful at heart some at 50 they are still youthful at heart and of course that space so we are not limiting but of course there are procedures that need to be followed during the next couple of months will be very busy months for Thailand premier and of course we've done preparations we've set venues for trainings and we've set activities and we've set facilitators to help our kids to help our brothers to help our sisters to be in an environment that is not toxic to their mind so that by the time they go back to school they will have to struggle to get back their morals in order to concentrate on their academics so we'll run set of activities across five regions and these regions are the lake region with the center of lake region being Kisumu where the competition will happen and the lake region has counties like Migori, Homa Bay, Siaya, Bungoma, Kamega just the lake basin region then we have the rift region whereby we have Nakuru as the center of the competition but build up activities will happen in those other regions like Baringo, Narok, Eldoret and the counties surrounding Nakuru then now we have the central region with the main center being in Meru and in Meru of course we have the likes of Nyeri Muranga, all those having build up workshop training and then the competition happening in Meru we have Nairobi region Nairobi region comprise of sub regions like Kiambu, Kajiado, Machako Nairobi being the main center of the competition and then we have the final one which is the coastal region having the six counties around coastal region with Mombasa being the center all these and their dates have already been locked and of course when you look at our website and you look at our social media handles on social media you will find us on Facebook at talentpreneur ke on Twitter you will find us at talent underscorepreneur kenya and on Instagram you will find us on talent hyphenpreneur ke because of time we will have to call it a day for now but let's just give you 30 seconds for parting shirt just what I will tell everyone your talent is a worthy business venture and for talentpreneur we will make sure that we have drive and we have really assisted you to use your talent for socio-economical growth and with all other partners that we are working closely with we shall experience a good year whereby talentpreneur shall help so many kids to grow in their talent shall help so many youth growing their talent and shall help so many parents so many kids with their kids during the long vacation and I can say that we are here for you talentpreneur is going to be your new home your new family your leadership will work with you will guide you will lead you to what you need to do and where you need to be and always remember your hashtag is talentayako biznayako awesome many thanks for making it we much appreciate we will be coming back to you and well so much has been learnt I hope so for me I have learnt so much of course talentayako biznayako well Barry coming up next don't go anywhere entrepreneurship continues in just a few


Welcome to 30 Days of Kindness. We're going to share a new kindness prompt. Every day! These will be little acts of kindness we'll be challenging you to do. We might try these too. Yeah! We look forward to hearing how you got on. Leave a comment or a like. Today's Day 9. If you've used a great teaching resource recently, say thank you. Send a tweet or an email or write a note. We hope you liked today's prompt. We can't wait to hear how you get on. Leave a comment or a like. Comments make us smile. Good luck and see you tomorrow. Bye!


Hi, NSD students! I'm so happy to be sharing with you the basics of drug education. I am Professor Francis Grace H. Dukapande from the UP College of Education, Health Education Area, and I'm also serving as a Director of the Ashan Training Center for Preventive Drug Education. For today, I'm going to share with you the basics or the essentials of drug education. But before we do that, I would like to do a feelings check. So as you can see from this slide, I have animal moods. So A stands for sadness. Okay, B is for happiness and C is for being grumpy. And I know that many of you can relate to it, this emotions. And well, the point of this slide is to make you realize that whatever you are feeling right now, we are in the midst of a pandemic, whatever you are feeling is exactly normal and valid. So I guess we're now ready to start. So we are going to cover four sub topics for this presentation. We're going to start with drug related terms and concepts. Next, we're going to move on to the effects of drug use, then the legal aspect of drug use. And lastly, which is the most important part of the presentation is the skills for a drug free lifestyle. So the objectives of this presentation include to discuss basic terms and concepts related to drug use. The second is to describe the general effects of drug use and its legal implications. And the third is to recommend ways to develop life skills for a healthy and drug free life. So first, we're going to review some important concepts. Let us differentiate drug from medicine. So a drug is any chemical agent that alters the biochemical or physiological processes of tissues of organisms. So it means that when you ingest drugs, it alters the function or the structure of any part of your body. If it's a psychoactive substance, it alters the function and structure of your brain. While medicine is actually a kind of drug with curative properties. So you need to remember that medicines are drugs, but not all drugs are medicines. So I hope you understand that clearly. So now let's proceed to the difference between medicine misuse and abuse. So when we say misuse, this is the use of a medicine for a purpose that is not consistent with medical guidelines. So you don't follow the doctor's prescription. So for instance, when you take too much of a medicine, when you take it for reasons other than the reason they were prescribed for, or when you stop a medication, or you accept a prescription medication from a friend, those are examples of medicine misuse. While for medicine abuse, you are using a particular medicine to feel high or because you'd like to experience the euphoric feeling. So you take those medicines because there is a compulsion for you to use it despite negative consequences. So when you do that, you're experiencing medical or medicine abuse. Now I'm going to introduce to you a general term and it's called substance use. It's actually the use of psychoactive substances that includes tobacco, alcohol, of course the illegal drugs of abuse like marijuana and shabu, inhalants, and other non-medical use of prescription medications. So you need to remember that in the global context now, substance use is the term being used to describe the use of tobacco, alcohol, illegal drugs of abuse, inhalants, and other non-medical use of prescription medications. What does substance use this order?  So now instead of using the term drug abuse or substance abuse, we use the term substance use this order. Well, we will now proceed to an activity called knowledge check. So I'm going to ask you to get a piece of paper and then write your answers to this statement, they are true or false. So you just need to write T for true and F for false. So number one is all drugs are bad. Is this a true or a false statement? Second, legal drugs are generally safe. Third, drug users are not morally weak. And lastly, majority of people are non-users. Okay, so I'm going to give you 10 seconds to write your answers. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Time is up. Okay, so now let's check your answers. Is the first statement a true or a false statement? All drugs are bad. This is actually a false statement. You are correct because we said that medicines are actually drugs with curative properties. So this is a false statement. The second one, legal drugs are generally safe. This is another false statement because we all know that tobacco and alcohol are legal drugs, but they have dangerous effects on the body. So they are unsafe for use. Number three, drug users are not morally weak. Is this a true or a false statement? This is a true statement. They are not morally weak. We need to remember that behavior is a very complex thing. And explaining drug use is actually complicated because it is multifactorial. So we are going to talk about that later on. And then the last one, majority of people are non-users. This is definitely a true statement. So congratulations if you were able to get all four items correctly. So again, one and two are both false statements, the end for our true statement. So give yourself a pat on the back if you were able to get four out of four. Now I'm going to share with you a model and it's called the risk and protective factors for substance use or drug use. And this is going to be quite surprising for many of you because when I've learned about this, I was surprised myself. The first one is that by the way, before I start with this factors, I would like to make you realize that risk factors are factors that increase your susceptibility or vulnerability to drug use. So the first one is genetic predisposition. So it's really a surprise that about 40 to 60 percent of substance, vulnerability to substance uses actually genetic, genetically predetermined. So there is a genetic predisposition. The second one is that there are certain personality traits that increase our vulnerability. So this includes risk-taking, sensation-sicking, and impulsive behavior. And the last one is that when you have overall health conditions. So if you have coexisting health issues, like if you have mental health issues, then that predisposes you to risk to substance use and other unhealthy behaviors. So in general, these are the risk factors. But if we're going to look at risk factors in the school setting, it includes school failures. So if you are academically having problems, okay, if you have low commitment to school, so you have very low motivation, especially now that we're going to do remote learning. So if you have difficulty committing to school work, then that is actually a risk factor. So for those who are social isolates or those who are being there's rejection by peers, there's association with deviant and substance using peers. In general, these are risk factors in the school setting. Now let's move on to the protecting factors. These are the factors that decrease your susceptibility or vulnerability to substance use. So the first one is very important. If you have self-control, if you have this behavior, behavior regulation, and you're academically competent. So I guess because you're in UP, you have this protective factors of congratulations. And then if you have school-based drug education in UP, it's we have actually courses that deals with drug education. So for instance, in the College of Education, you have EDH130, okay, for undergraduate students, it's consumer health education and drug education. We also have that in the graduate level. It's called EDH209, drug education. So and I'm so happy that the NSDP is integrating this and the curriculum, okay, because it's really very important for us to know the skills, the competencies that we need so that we'll be able to live a healthy and a drug-free lifestyle. Another protective factor is strong neighborhood attachments. And of course, parental influence, okay. If your parents are loving, you have a very supportive home environment, that's a very good protective factor. And then if you have in rich environments and at home and school, there is enforcement of limits and discipline, okay, with you, they monitor, okay, the adults monitor your activities. That is an important protective factor. Let's look at the global context of substance use or drug use. So currently, this is actually the latest data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. This is the World Drug Report 2020, okay. They just released this last June 26. And it says that in 2018, there were actually 269 million drug users. And this is 5.3% of the global population. I'd like you to remember that 5.3%. Why? Because I'd like to emphasize that majority of people are non-users. Majority of young people like you are non-users. Why is this important? Because there is a notion that among young people that they tend to smoke or drink alcohol or worse use illegal drugs, because they have this misconception that most or majority are using substances, when in fact it's not true. Okay, so remember that majority are non-users. So according to the DSM-5, this is the Diagnostic and is the Tessical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th Edition. Okay, this was actually published by the American Psychiatric Association. We no longer use the term drug addiction or dependence, but rather it refers to problematic use of drugs as substance use disorder or as a substance induce disorder. So again, that will remind you that we are no longer using the term drug addiction. So please do not refer to a person who is using drugs or substances as a drug addict because that is actually demoralizing. Okay, it's stigmatizing. So instead we refer to a person with a problematic use of drugs as a person with substance use disorder. So how do we know? Okay, you also need to remember that the term being used is substance use and not substance abuse. So substance use is a neutral term because we need to look at substance use as a continuum. So from mild to severe. And so according to the DSM-5, there are 11 criteria that we need to watch out for so that we will be able to assess whether the person has mild, moderate, or severe case. So how do we know? So let's look at the 11 criteria for substance use disorder. Number one is hazardous use. The second is social or interpersonal problems related to you. Some meaning you have problems dealing with maybe your friends, your family members, and you are now neglecting your major roles. So you can no longer study if you're working. You tend to actually do things other than working. So you actually experience withdrawal. So withdrawal are the unpleasant symptoms that you feel whenever you stop using the drug or the psychoactive substance. You also experience tolerance. Tolerance is the need to increase the dosage of the drug so that you will be able to experience the same effect. Okay. Number six is use larger amounts for a longer duration. Seven. Repeated attempts to quit or control use and then there's much time spent using. The person experiences physical or psychological problems related to use and there are activities being given up to use the substance. And lastly, there is craving. So based on this 11 criteria, if the person exhibits two to three, then the person is considered a person with mild substance use disorder. If you have four to five criteria, then you are a moderate case. Six or more than you are a severe case that necessitates treatment and rehabilitation. So now let's proceed to the general health consequences of substance use. So well, this can be categorizing to two. So we have the short term and the long term. So in general, when you take substance as especially illegal drugs, then it depends actually if it's a stimulant, a depressant, or a psychedelic. But generally in the short term, you will experience changes in appetite, wakefulness, or drowsiness. There is also a change in respiratory and heart rate. So if you took a stimulant, for example, then it will increase your respiration and your heart rate. There would be change in mood. So if you, for instance, took a stimulant, then you will be energetic, you will be happy. Okay. And then if it's a depressant, there will be a slow reaction time or reflexes, there would be nausea and vomiting. And for psychedelics, people may experience hallucination. Okay. Or, and then for depressants, they will experience decreased motor coagulation. So in the long term, many of these psychoactive substances can produce adverse effects. Okay. So negative consequences on our health. So this includes having heart or lung disease, cancer, different kinds of cancer, mental issues, HIV and AIDS, especially for those who inject psychoactive substances, hepatitis. Okay. And then there could be a physical or psychological dependence, memory loss or brain damage and malnutrition. So generally in the long term, the use of psychoactive substances can lead to substances disease. So it depends on a lot of factors, but you need to remember that factors can include the type of substance being used, the duration and the frequency of use. Again, in general, let's look at the cost of substance use. So for the person using the psychoactive substance, he or she can be predisposed to accidents, different diseases, then mental issues, depression, and the worst is death. For interpersonal, for the interpersonal aspect, so relationships can be damaged or can be volatile conflict for couples, for married people. There can be disruption in friendships and possible child abuse. So if the parents are using substances, there is a high probability that there would be violent behavior. Okay. For social functioning, this includes dangerous behavior. Okay. Especially for those who are actually using psychoactive substances and then they can commit crimes. Okay. There might be financial problem, employment difficulty, and legal problems. So now at this point, I'd like you to do an alertness check. So very easy. You just need to follow the instruction as shown in the slide. Just need to grab your left ear with your right hand. Okay. Left ear with your right hand. And now grab your nose with your left hand. Then you reverse. Okay. So now it's time to grab your right ear with your left hand and now grab your nose with your right hand. So you can do this alternately. I just would like to be sure that you are still with me. So very quickly, let us just review why are adult assets like you more vulnerable to risky behavior? Why are you have higher susceptibility to risky behavior, such as drug use?  So you need to remember that the brain development starts from the back, always the front. And the back part, this is actually in charge of emotional regulation. Okay. And the prefrontal cortex is in charge of reasoning, organizing, prioritizing information, control of impulses, the session making and judgment. And this is not fully mature until age 25. That's the reason why usually you make the sessions because of your emotions. Okay. So the main responsibility of adults like us is to guide you in making right choices in life. So what are the hands-risk periods among young people like you? So you need to remember that during major transitions, you are particularly vulnerable. So this includes the transition from elementary to high school, junior to senior high school. And of course, from senior high school to college or work. So this particular transition in your life make you particularly vulnerable to risk-taking behaviors. So better watch out when you are transitioning. Now we will proceed to the legal implications of drug use. So we have a law. Okay. This is the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, this Republic Act 9165. When you watch the news and there is news about a drug-related incident, you always hear this lobbying inside that. So RA9165. So basically, we're just going to look at a very important profession in that law. And that is Section 15, the use of dangerous drugs. So according to the law, first offence, the penalty is minimum six-month rehabilitation in a government center. Okay. So and then if it's a second offence, there would be six years and one day to 12 year imprisonment and a fine of 50,000 to 200,000 times. So you need to remember the legal implication of using dangerous drugs. So dangerous drugs pertain to illegal drugs such as the use of marijuana and chaveau. Lastly, we are now going to proceed to the most important part of this presentation. This is the skills for a substance-free life. So how are we going to safeguard our health and well-being and ensure that we are living a drug-free life? There are three very important skills that we need to enhance, especially among young people like you. So the first one is assertiveness. The second is the session-making skill. Remember your prefrontal cortex is still developing. So we need to really enhance your decision-making skills. And the last very important life skill is spawned with substance or refusal skills. So how to say no, how to refuse an offer of a psychoactive substance. So let's start off with the assertiveness skill. So I have here the OFNR script. So this is an acronym that stands for observation, feelings, need, and request. So as you can see from this slide, there are several steps to assertive action. The first one is to state your observation. So the script here is that of course you need to describe the situation. So for instance, you can tell a friend when you offer, when you offered me a stick of cigarette, tell the person how it made you feel without feeling it. I was actually disappointed because I thought that you go with my friend. And then after that, you express your need. So in that situation, I need to know that you value my health. And lastly, you need to state your request. So please offer a healthy alternative. So that's it. And this is very much applicable to different areas of life. So whenever you are faced with a situation that compromises your health, you can make use of the OFNR script. So this is the steps to assertive action and the script that you can use to be assertive. Because actually many of us, many Filipinas have difficulty being assertive. So it's very easy for us to be passive. We just don't do anything. Or the opposite is that we become aggressive. So the middle ground is free to be assertive. When you are assertive, you respect the right of the other person. And at the same time, you respect yourself. And now let's proceed to the decision making skill. And I'm going to make use of the decide model. Again, just like the OFNR acronym, we have an acronym. Now it's the decide model. So the acronym here is the side. So it's very easy to remember. So the decide here stands for D is to determine the problem or the issue. So what is the issue at hand? Is it am I going to drink alcohol? And then you explore the alternatives. There you have two options, right? And then letter C is to consider the consequences. If you drink alcohol, what's going to happen? If you don't drink, what's going to happen? And then I used to identify your values. What is the most important thing for you? Is it to satisfy your need for belongingness for your friends? Is it your value about health and wellness? You value your parents' advice? What is it that is most important to you? And then after weighing all of these things and identifying your values, now it's time to decide. And don't forget the last step. This is very important. You need to evaluate your decision. Were you able to come up with the right decision? If not, then there is a great lesson learned. So the basic rule really is to stay away from situations where you can be tempted. So stay away from situations. So for instance, if it's very hard for you to say no, don't go to parties. Don't go to social activities or you know that there will be alcohol. So stay away from situations where you can be tempted. This is the general rule for the refusal or the resistance kids. There are also other strategies that you can use to say no. These are strategies that you can try. So maybe you can try this out with a partner.  You can choose any of the strategies to use. So imagine that one of you is offering a bottle of alcohol to another and the other person, your partner needs to say no. So which of the following are you going to use? The first one is very simple. You just need to maintain eye contact and say no fearfully. So eye contact to say no. The second one is you can match your verbal with nonverbal signals in refusing the offer. So when you say no, you do this. You don't do this. So your verbal and nonverbal signal should be consistent. Remember that action speaks louder than words. So better if it should be consistent. And then you can use the broken record technique. So this one is you say no as many times as needed. So when the other person keeps on offering, okay, this is just one state. No. Okay, don't worry. This is going to be free. No. Oh, I'm not going to tell your parents. No. So you say no as many times as needed. That's the broken record technique. And then you can also use the cold shoulder approach. Or you can give reasons or excuses. I don't like to smoke because I have a long problem. So make up excuses and then give helpful alternatives. So instead of drinking alcohol, why not drink water? Water is still the healthiest drink, right? So this is the last part. So helpful alternatives. Many young people say that they smoke, they drink alcohol, or worse, they use illegal drugs because for them it's a lifestyle. And so we need to offer helpful alternatives to drug use. So what can you do? There are actually a lot of things that you can do instead of engaging in substance use. So I have here several recommendations. These are just examples. You can do spiritual activities. You can do something that will nourish your minds. You can do volunteer work. You can join organizations. Maybe they're available online, okay? Because now we are in a new normal. So volunteer work. And then I have here Barcada Contra Droga. This is actually a peer-based approach to substance use prevention. This is a program of the dangerous drug sport and the Department of Education to encourage young people to form clubs and develop their lives close together so that they will be able to live a healthy and drug-free lives. By the way, the UP College of Education through the health education area made this infographic last April. So we came up with an alphabet guide. So these are the many things that you can do to stay sane while we are in the midst of the pandemic. So feel free to have a copy of this. You can get this from the UP College of Education website. The Asha Training Center for Preventive Drug Education based in the College of Education also produced this infographic healthy lifestyle for the new normal. And it says be healthy, be drug free. So again, we have here an acronym that stands for the different activities that you can do in order to have a healthy lifestyle for the new normal. So let me end by saying there are so many things that we can engage. Please be active. Remember that exercise is the best until the present. It's free. It's very practical. Give because it makes you happy. You connect to people. So not social distancing, but physical distancing. Be connected to the people you love, to the people who matter to you. Connect virtually and then keep learning and take notice. So be observant. So stay drug free amid COVID-19 crisis. This is the last activity that I'd like you to do. This is the Commitment Act and I'd like you to stand with the left hand outstretched, bum up. So left hand outstretched, bum up. And then you're going to swing your right arm in a circle. And then you are going to put it on your outreach hand and say, I commit to living a healthy and substance free life. And you're going to repeat for three times. So I'm assuming that you are doing it right now. So stand with the left hand outstretched, bum up, swing your right arm in a circle. And then put it here and then say, I commit to living a healthy and substance free life. Can we do this together? We're going to repeat this for three times. One, two, three, go. I commit to living a healthy and substance free life. I commit to living a healthy and substance free life. I commit to living a healthy and substance free life. Thank you so much for your Commitment Act. I have here a homework for you. And this is made an abstinence box. So what is an abstinence box? So this is simply a box that contains five items that you most value. And that would help you stay drug free. So let me give you an example. I have here my abstinence box. And let me share with you the contents of my abstinence box. So these are the items. I have here a picture of my students. They inspire me to be my best. I have here a rosary because I'm a Catholic. And then I have here an item from Kenya because I'd like to, I love to travel and I hope to travel after this pandemic. You learn a lot from traveling. And then of course I have here a pen because I love to write and have your reputation. It is never too late to be what you might have been by George. So these are the five items in the abstinence box.  Back scoot the five items that would help you stay healthy and drug free. So thank you so much, everyone. At this point, I'd like you to share your insights by writing it down so you can answer these questions. I made use of the model what, so what, now what. So what is your most important learning from this webinar or this e-lecture? So what did this webinar or e-lecture made you realize? Now what do you plan to do to be healthy and substance free? Remember Confucius said knowledge is nothing without application. So thank you so much, everyone. Let me end by saying teaching knowledge as my mind strengthens my heart and nurtures my spirit. I don't do it for a living this my life. Thank you. Thank you.


Hundreds of St. Lucians are to benefit from a major component of government's socio-economic program for the nation. The Department of Housing and Local Government on Wednesday 6 October 2021 launched the National Housing Assistance Program which will provide proper housing for the vulnerable and indigent. The National Housing Assistance Program aims to ensure that lower income earners and the most vulnerable amongst the population have access to adequate housing. Permanent Secretary in the Department of Housing and Local Government Dr. Cadillia Ambrose indicated that the department has been inundated with requests for housing assistance from the very low to the low income population. It is for this reason she explained that the ministry felt it imperative that the intervention be made. The activities under the NHAP are structured for implementation as follows. The identification and creation of an inventory of households with the most urgent housing needs, assessments and ranking of this in priority of urgency, designing of assistance packages most suited to the housing needs of identified households, disbursement of assistance packages in the form of technical assistance, building materials and all labour grants, monitoring and evaluating of the program. Thus, it is envisaged that through the NHAP initiative, some measure of relief, poverty reduction, empowerment and overall enhancement to the socio-economic well-being of many across St. Lucia will be achieved. Ministering the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for housing and local government, Hon. Richard Frederick clarified the criteria under which individuals would be eligible for assistance. Those seeking assistance would have to satisfy a list of criteria. Individuals who live in inhumane conditions, low income generating households, person affected by natural and man-made disasters, the elderly, the elderly, those who fall within the poverty group, the homeless and those who are disabled with such disability preventing them from entering the workforce. I need to pause here a second to disclose this caveat. Persons who are in illegal occupation of land would not have access to this program unless the owner of the land gives permission to effect repairs on that house. I want to repeat this. Persons who are in illegal occupation of land will not be able to access this assistance unless the owners of the land give permission. We don't want a situation where just having refurbished a house, the owner of the land says, boom, we don't want that kind of situation. So we have the establishment of a project team to oversee the implementation of the program. Households will be identified using various tools, including the priority means test and where it is absolutely necessary, absolutely necessary houses will be reconstructed. The program is being funded via a loan from the import-export bank of the Republic of China-Taiwan to the tune of $10 million. $4 million of the loan will be spent on the National Housing Assistance Program. Ambassador of Taiwan to St. Lucia, his Excellency Peter Shen, reaffirmed Taiwan's commitment to assisting in the development of St. Lucia. As a staunch development partner of St. Lucia, Taiwan has over the years participated in the national development of Fair Helen by sharing expertise and providing assistance in the fields of agriculture, education, healthcare, digital access, ICT, community development and so on. By providing a soft commercial loan facilities to finance the housing assistance program, the Expo and Import Bank in Taiwan will help bring many disadvantaged families in St. Lucia one step closer to having a safe haven where they can love and to be loved. Together, we can achieve more. Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Economic Development and Youth Economy, the Honourable Philip J. Pierre, explained that the loan was repurposed to address the more urgent needs of the vulnerable. We are launching that program $10 million and I can tell you is that the initial thinking of that program was not to see about housing for indigent and poor people. That is a fact. It was meant to do other things. Other things that are important, but it was not meant for that program. It took the Cabinet, through the Minister, to convince the Taiwanese and the other officials that a more immediate need was to repair the houses of people in this country. So whereas what we wanted to do, what the money was initially aimed at doing was to improve the infrastructure in a certain area. Needed, needed, because I said before it's a matter of inclusion, needed. But we sought immediate needs for the poor and the underprivileged and the indigent. Minister for Equity, Social Justice and Empowerment Honourable Joakim Henry, pledging his support to the program, indicated that it was very timely and will go a long way in assisting those in dire need. It is my belief that in promoting and securing social justice and acknowledging the fundamentals of human rights of our people, poverty and vulnerability reduction programs must consider the provision of safe and secure place to reside. Therefore, as WHO Commission on Social Determinance of Health has stated, access to quality housing is necessary for implementing insecure social justice and health equity. And that access to quality housing and shelter and clean water and sanitation are human rights and basic needs for a healthy living. And as I believe, healthy living at the individual or household levels will translate into healthy communities and ultimately a healthy nation. The National Housing Assistance Program was officially launched on the 6th of October 2021.


Meanwhile, the last may not have been heard about the just-concluded Labour Party's substitution primary election in Lagos, as one of their parents, Masjid Salvador, has rejected the outcome of the exercise and called for a cancellation. Blasphemy news correspondent Lavi Kukui and local reports that the aggrieved contestant may be heading to court. The exercise starts here at about past 5pm with delegates' accreditation. A formal address was given by the deputy national chairman of Labour Party, Bashiru Apapa, assuring everyone of a level playing ground. This was followed by a formal manifesto presentation by the two aspirants, Masjid Salvador and Guadibor-Rosvivo. Then, the voting commenced. Each of the aspirants had 100 delegates, but the fate of who finally becomes a party flagged bureau hangs in the balance as 17 members of the party executive also cast their votes. Voting done, counting begins. A former Senatorial candidate of the People's Democratic Party, Guadibor-Rosvivo, finally grabs the ticket. Rosvivo pulled 111 votes to beat Honourable Masjid Adeguki Salvador, who scored 102 votes in an exercise that featured 216 delegates. Reacting to his victory, Rosvivo expressed joy over the outcome, which he described as a fierce and fairest exercise. In his reaction, Salvador rejected the result alleging over-voting by members of the state executive. He warned the electoral committee not to spoil the name of the party's presidential candidate, Peter Obi. Salvador had on Monday called for the cancellation of the primary, saying he had lost confidence in the electoral committee. The primary for the replacement of candidate was witnessed by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from Lagos, live Ikuku Uyeduku, plus TV News.