Letter to the Editor - Thursday October 4, 2012

Where's the spark?

I often find myself wondering where this town will be in 10 years. The drafting of the council's 10-year plan is all well and good but there are the little things that make this community buzz that seem to be dwindling in relation to the next generations stepping up to the plate.

Kaitaia is a great place to live but really doesn't cater for the youth. There is an element that youth must take advantage of the community's facilities but where are the facilities?

Boycie Tawhara is the perfect role model to show what we can do to bring a little spark back into the youth.

It sometimes seems like there is not much to be happy about, or look forward to, and then we ask ourselves, "Why are our children/ brothers/ sisters/ friends doing drugs on a daily basis?"

Maybe it's the community spirit failing us, or maybe it's just the social networking revolution has stripped us of communicating properly with each other, and therefore stripped us of sentiment.

There may be activities for youth I don't know about but there is a communication barrier.

There should be more events happening that showcase other hidden talents from the teenage youth and to keep us looking forward to the day ahead.

It is something that takes hard work from both parties to pull off, but as we have seen from The Voice competition, there is much to show and much to be proud of when the youth work together with someone willing to help them.

ELISSA THOMAS

Awanui