A MULTIFACETED YOUNG MAN
Niger Timothy Houston is a nineteen-year-old young man from the village of Conference which is in the parish of St. Andrew, Grenada. From an early age, Timothy and his siblings cultivated a keen interest for agriculture due to the family business owned and managed by their parents. At age 19, Timothy was studying in the local Community College, managing the honey aspect of the family business, and obtaining a CVQ certification from Adult Teen Challenge Grenada (ATCG) – all at the same time!
GROWING IN APICULTURE
While pursuing an associate degree in Natural Science at the Community College, a member of the church Timothy attends who is also a ATCG apiculture instructor, told him about the CVQ apiculture course at ATCG. Despite already having a good knowledge of bees from his family business, Timothy was elated at the opportunity to further enhance his skills in beekeeping. When asked how the course has helped him to improve, Timothy said, “The soft skills helped me develop and learn to be emotionally intelligent towards others; it also helped me to grow and develop as an individual”. Timothy noted that the students in the class were from different backgrounds and engaging them helped him to further understand different people.
Timothy with students at ATCG apiary
Although he was advanced in his knowledge of bees, Timothy said there were several aspects that became clearer to him during the course. For instance, he now understands the importance of drones in the hives and the extent to which they are responsible for determining the genetics of the hive. Additionally, the course exposed him to new opportunities and interactions with other key players in the beekeeping sector in Grenada.
Timothy’s family is extremely happy that he received the opportunity to undertake the course; not only for learning something new, but they were able to see the fruits of the class. “The honey production in the family business improved drastically as a result of the knowledge I obtained during the course” reported a proud and delighted Timothy.
ADVANCING LEARING
At the end of August 2021, Timothy successfully completed the apiculture course at ATCG. He was fortunate to obtain a scholarship and is now p
ursuing studies in Agricultural Engineering at EARTH university in Costa Rica. Timothy continues to sing the praises of the UKaid funded course and believes it has given him fundamental knowledge. The life skills component has helped him to be more organized and prepared him to interact at the university with people from different countries. Additionally, the budgeting class taken during the course is assisting him to manage his scholarship stipend.
Upon completion of his studies, Timothy’s desire is to return to Grenada to contribute to the agricultural sector by sharing his knowledge and skills and to even be a trainer one day at ATCG. Timothy encourages other youths to seek out learning opportunities and advises them to treat all occasions as moments to learn – “Whatever the course, learn wholeheartedly as it can change your life” he says.
FACTS
Skills for Youth Employment (SkYE) is a four-year, UKaid funded programme to provide certified skills training for 6,000 disadvantaged young people, including those challenged by disability, in four Eastern Caribbean countries: Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia and St Vincent & the Grenadines. The Programme will develop a more productive and inclusive workforce in sectors with good economic growth potential.
SkYE is supporting national training authorities and training providers to make systemic improvements to the development, delivery and quality assurance of technical, vocational education and training (TVET) in the four focus islands through targeted capacity building.
