Dear Editor,
A couple of weeks ago I saw an article in the newspaper which caught my attention because it's the same situation I'm dealing with in regard to the government of St. Maarten.
As a young entrepreneur, my first goal was to gather young men just like me to work and give back to the community. After the devastation of Hurricane Irma that goal went into full effect.
Eager to give back, we started working for the government of Sint Maarten during the Irma clean-up, like many others. The end date was set for April 2018. Sadly, the last months of the clean-up program we did not receive payment since February 2018.
We continued the clean-up despite not being paid because we had an agreement which we wanted to fulfil. We were told at the end we will receive the payment in full. Fast-forward 6 months later after many phone calls and visits we are still waiting for payment.
Hoping that the government of St. Maarten would keep in mind that for some young men it’s hard to find jobs. Therefore, doing outdoor activities and constantly moving is ideal for some, but when you can't pay them for their hard work it has negative consequences.
As a result of not being able to pay the young men for their work, sadly, one of them was arrested for robbery as a result of finding a way just to get by. Not because they are young men means they have their parents to fall back on. Some of them are who their parents depend on. I, however, believe if payment was made to him accordingly he might not have chosen that path.
The government of St. Maarten needs to be aware of the negative effect neglecting young men in our community can lead to and in order to better the community of St. Maarten, they must first better themselves.
A young entrepreneur
Name withheld at author's request.
