ATTORNEY-AT-LAW and newly installed president of the Rotary Club of Trafalgar New Heights, Tamara Riley-Dunn is convinced that structured mentorship can assist to drive achievement in Jamaica, especially among men and boys.

Riley-Dunn made the comment as she announced her St Andrew-based club’s intention to implement a structured programme targeting boys during her installation as the club’s 13th president on Saturday.

“How much more could our marginalised boys soar with the right mentor?” she questioned as she reflected on some of the greatest men of modern Jamaica, including Bob Marley, Usain Bolt and Jimmy Cliff, who she noted all had mentors to support and guide their paths to greatness.

“Michael Lee-Chin, one of the richest men in the world, is quoted as saying that if he had a mentor at the beginning of his career he knew he could have soared even higher,” added Riley-Dunn as she noted that a significant number of criminal offenders in Jamaica are 15 to 24 years old.

“We are losing our boys — and we cannot have a generation of lost boys,” the mother of three boys posited, pointing to the statistics.

She explained that the mentorship programme to be launched will provide select boys with key life skills and equip them to manage conflicts, among other things.

“The world needs more Michael Lee-Chins, Usain Bolts and Jimmy Cliffs. Jamaica needs them now,” she declared.

In the meantimeguest speaker at the installation ceremony, Alando Terrelonge, minister of state in the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, challenged the negative norms which characterise the socialisation of many men, such as aggression, as he announced his support for the mentorship programme.

Pointing to the higher number of men who die by suicide in comparison to women, he said men are often not equipped to manage their emotions, which affects society negatively in various ways including high levels of domestic violence, and violence directed toward children.

Terrelonge noted that 25 per cent of women in Jamaica experience violence by a man and that 80 per cent of children have experienced some form of violence.

“We do not equip our young men with the sort of mental fortitude to understand that to be a man is to also be human. It is OK to respect yourself; it is OK to respect the women around you,” underscored Terrelonge.

“And I find that within families that that sort of education, that kind of social engineering to help our young men along the journey, it has been lacking — and in most cases it has been missing,” added Terrelonge as he noted that between 2010 and 2015 more than 500,000 young men died as a result of violence in the Caribbean and Latin America.

“We are literally looking at figures that exceed figures in war zones — and what’s so startling about this is that the majority of perpetrators are young men,” added Terrelonge.

He called the soon-to-be-launched mentorship programme by the club timely, and said it would be beneficial to the nation.

“As the state minister with responsibility for gender you can be rest assured that you have my full support for the training seminars that you’ll be having,” Terrelonge declared.