In Jamaica, Project for the Deaf Will Take Adventist Student To UN Youth Conference

Mandeville, Manchester, Jamaica | Jayda Lunan / NCU and IAD News Staff |

Letesha Whyte, a student of Northern Caribbean University (NCU) and president of the National Police Youth Club Movement (NPYCM) in Jamaica, was chosen to represent her country at two United Nations Youth conferences. UN youth conferences assemble young leaders from around the world to discuss their opinions and solutions to global issues.

At 20 years old, Whyte is the first female from her parish to be elected president of the NPYCM, Jamaica’s oldest and largest youth organization. The NPYCM is made up of 154 active police youth clubs across the island and has over 1,000 members.

“It’s a dream come true representing Jamaica,” said Whyte. “You can actually learn from other countries and see how best you can use their strategies in changing the negative situation in your country.”

Letesha Whyte studies at Northern Caribbean University in Mandeville, Jamaica, will go to a UN Youth Conference Istanbul, Turkey, to represent Jamaica. She launched a project for the deaf community through police stations in her hometown. [Photo: Northern Caribbean University]

Being selected under the category of “Security,” she wants to return from the conference with at least one crime mitigation strategy to propose to Jamaica’s Commissioner of Police and Prime Minister.

After conversations with experts from the Jamaica Association for the Deaf, the youth president realized that police stations were not equipped to handle the sensitive nature of the deaf community. She also found out that accurate, Caribbean-based information on the deaf is not readily available.

Whyte is committed to using her position to change lives. She was moved to help this vulnerable yet overlooked group, and the Police Youth Club was awarded a grant of $10,000 USD to execute the “Safe and Sound JA” initiative.

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