MALABAR-BASED My Youth Organisation will, on Saturday, November 2, host a medical day, free of charge to the general public, which will take place from 09:00 to 13:00 at the Malabar Community Centre.
The medical day, now in its third year, will serve the community at large, boasting a range of medical professionals, including an optometrist, podiatrist and dentist, who will be tending to the health and well-being needs of the Malabar community and outlying areas. The medical day will offer a number of free medical tests and check-ups for sugar, blood, cholesterol and vision.
Over and above the health day, My Youth Organisation has for five years been involved in broad-based youth outreach programmes in the community. Some of their initiatives include, most notably, their biannual wellness programme in association with Al Fidaa Foundation; which takes place once in winter and in summer, which sees them donate food hampers and blankets to the less fortunate in Malabar’s outlying areas.
“It is also vital to get the youth involved in the handing out of these hampers as it often gives them an opportunity to see the poor conditions in which others live, and thus be more appreciative of the lives they live,” said My Youth Organisation founding member, Ahmed Ahmed.
According to Ahmed, the handover of parcels by teens involved in the programme contributes to a sense of cultural enlightenment in them, deepening their understanding of life on the opposite end of the socio-economic spectrum.
In the five years since its establishment, the organisation had also become increasingly concerned about the rise in substance abuse in the Bay’s northern areas, prompting them to expand their initiatives to also include guidance counselling on drug and alcohol abuse.
The brainchild of six community elders who sought to restore common human values to local youths, Ahmed said that the organisation had placed particular value in engagement with local youth through sport and recreation, having previously hosted local cricketers, Zaid Abrahams and Basheeru-Deen Walters, for cricket coaching sessions with youth who participate in the programme.
Moreover, Ahmed believes in the promotion of positive social cohesion, as a means of preventing youth from turning to the streets and this is an important tenet to what drives the group in all the initiatives they undertake.
This year, My Youth Organisation’s medical day has also been endorsed by the Department of Health, whose healthcare professionals will also provide medical services, and seek to provide healthcare services of which the surrounding public are often deprived on account of financial or socioeconomic constraints.
My Youth Organisation is a non–profit organisation for the upliftment of youth in the Malabar area and relies solely on public donations and sponsorships to execute their charitable operations.
For more info on the medical day, and to find out more about My Youth Organisation, contact 072 269 4905 or 073 964 7072.
