The youth of today, a generation often described as 'lost', is not, says Dr Herbert Gayle, social anthropologist, while speaking at the forum, Generation Lost: I want to grow up, at the Institute of Jamaica on Wednesday.

"Research does not show that this generation has been lost but has been made to be lost by (the older) generation," he said. What is lacking he said are persons with leadership skills to guide the youth.

He urged young people to take control of their future by beginning to make serious yet reasonable demands of their parents and the society.

"You need to begin to demand of your country, young people in decision making positions," he said. "There is a serious drought of leadership in this country."

stimulating discussions

This forum forms part of the re-instituted series, 'the Downtown Forum', which ran for several years during the 1990s, stimulating discussions about far-reaching social issues impacting the communities in the downtown area.

Pastor Percival Palmer, general secretary, Students Christian Fellowship and Scripture Union Jamaica, encouraged the youths to find their purpose of being. This, he said, would help them understand that each person could change what was happening to the nation's youth.

Like Palmer, Dr Gayle said young people needed to be focused.

"Every single child who makes a contribution will make a dent in the problems of violence and poverty in this country," he said. He added, "The time has come for the younger generation to make the change and where they begin to make this change is with (them) selves."

With May being celebrated as Child month, this forum sought to discuss issues related to violence against children and violence committed by children and, more importantly, the way forward to address the all-pervasive social issue.