Stamp of Approval

overnment’s Build Your Own Door pilot initiative is already getting the approval of its seven participants, with some describing the educational journey as a critical and necessary step to help them reach their goals.

And the facilitators have lauded the group’s diligence, thirst for knowledge, and selflessness in bringing along each other, ensuring that no one is left behind on this journey.

Ann-Marie Brathwaite, the lone female in the group, who sings ballads, R&B, and pop music, said she has already learned so much over the past month, and the project has helped her to increase her passion for music. This is the first time she is being trained in these different components, and she is already practising what she has been learning.

“I’ve learned far more than I ever thought possible [about singing] .…. I am getting a peek into the background as to how it is done, and I am enjoying it,” she said. “It really is a vibe being the only female among these guys, and doing something totally different to them is a bit of a challenge, but it’s giving me what I really need – that push.”

The National Peace Programme’s (NPP) Build Your Own Door initiative is an eight-week project which started on February 12 and concludes on April 5. Participants attend training sessions three evenings a week. They are being exposed to several areas, including performance skills, performance ethics, self-imaging and fashion, music theory, personal and professional development, social media presence, and music production.

Brathwaite has been singing all her life and competes in the Richard Stoute Teen Talent Over-21 Competition. She said that immediately after hearing about Build Your Own Door, she “snapped it up” and since she started it there “was no looking back”.

She continued: “This programme is very important, and I would like to see it in schools, on the blocks, …all over, because this would help young minds, old minds, and people who do not see a way. This will give them that way. You just want that small sliver to get in, and from the time you have that spark, trust me, the fire grows. I have learnt a lot and I’m investing a lot because … after this project, I plan to keep going.”

Eighteen-year-old Taevian Alleyne-Herbert, a student of Combermere School, is also undergoing the training and enjoying it.

“I love music and I would love to make it my life career…. This programme will help me. When I come out of this programme, I will be a better artiste overall, but, more importantly, a better person. I plan to be an all-rounder in music, so I want to be able to do a little bit of everything – singing, writing, producing, engineering, and even deejaying,” he explained.

The teen said his schedule is hectic as he has to balance school, homework, and the programme.

“Sometimes I am tired, but [the way] I look at it [is] that this is my life on the line, so I just pushing through because nobody is going to do it for me, so I have to do it myself…. I have dreams of going on tour, releasing albums, and doing well, so that gives me motivation to keep pushing as well,” Alleyne-Herbert said.

He urged his peers not to give up on their dreams even if they have not yet become a reality. He encouraged them to keep going after their goals and pray regularly about them.

Lead facilitator with the pilot project, Ishiaka McNeil, said it had surpassed his expectations. He noted that the facilitators had been getting “some really good feedback” from the participants, and vice versa.

“It has been a very interesting journey thus far for the participants and for those persons who are a part of the programme…. I strongly believe that the Build Your Own Door initiative should be continued. There are so many other young people within our communities across Barbados who want to be a part of a programme like this, who want to be exposed to channelling their skills so people can see what they have to offer.

“Everybody is not academic. Persons have skill sets that we can use, and they can showcase, and I think it’s time that people look at it as a way of expanding an educational process,” McNeil said.

He noted that at the end of the project, the participants would be given an opportunity to showcase their talents.

Producer and facilitator of the initiative, Peter Coppin, praised the participants, saying they were “very sharp and keen”, as he pointed out that they were even ahead of the curve based on their rate of learning.

“They help each other, they are keen to learn, they ask questions, and they have been sharing knowledge and teaching each other as well. For example, if somebody doesn’t get a point, they then tune in and say, hey this is what I understand….

“So, the programme is brilliant. I think what the government has done here is something that can go into [the schools’] curricula. They are learning some areas here that are second to none…,” Coppin said.

He applauded the government for introducing the project, saying students from secondary schools and The University of the West Indies had already expressed an interest in it. Coppin expressed confidence that Build Your Own Door would be an asset to the country.

(BGIS)