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CCNTV6
  • 6 months ago
The Trainline community in St Augustine received a visit from their Member of Parliament, Khadijah Ameen, on Friday, as part of a joint outreach effort targeting vulnerable families and at-risk youth.

Ameen says the initiative, in partnership with the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service and the Hand in Hand Foundation, is part of a broader strategy to rebuild communities through direct engagement and social support.
Transcript
00:00The outreach brought food, school supplies and personal attention to the train line area,
00:06a community that has seen its fair share of hardships over recent years.
00:11MP Khadija Amin, along with the TTPS and the NGO Hand in Hand Foundation,
00:17visited the area to meet with families and distribute much needed items to children.
00:23In the train line area, we would have experienced a number of murders,
00:27there are a number of school dropouts, there is quite a bit of poverty,
00:32and we have started this outreach to reach out to families in need of food, stuff, clothing, medical attention.
00:41Children in the community received snacks, stationery, coloring books and other gifts
00:46while families were provided with basic supplies.
00:49But Amin says the gesture is not just about donations.
00:53It's about presence and connection.
00:55They have been struggling for many years, who could barely put food on their table.
01:00And because parents are working two and three jobs, their children are at home without attention,
01:06and some of them have fallen through the cracks.
01:08Amin described the area as facing multiple social challenges,
01:12including poverty, gun violence and high dropout rates.
01:17She says some parents have expressed despair over their inability to provide properly for their children.
01:24We want to rebuild our community, we want to have police youth club,
01:29we want to have our community activities surrounding our children,
01:33so they will not fall victim to gang violence and other forms of nefarious activities.
01:40This was Amin's first visit to the train line community since being appointed to government,
01:45although she said the outreach program itself has been active for at least two years.
01:50She added that similar efforts will be rolled out across other parts of the St. Augustine constituency.
01:57This is considered a vulnerable area, an at-risk area,
02:01and there are a few other at-risk areas in the constituency of St. Augustine,
02:05such as Monte Grant, Duki Singh, McCoyer Settlement,
02:08and other areas as well where we will be tailoring outreach specifically for that constituency.
02:15With a growing number of families struggling to cope with rising costs and limited resources,
02:20Amin says continued outreach and community partnerships will be key in preventing young people
02:26from becoming casualties of their new environment.
02:30Alexander Broussoul, TV6 News.
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