Bored and aimless, the hoodies have a message

Three young men in hoodies lurked around Valletta at night, looking like stereotypical troublemakers, but speaking to them revealed they were just bored and disillusioned, according to UK youth mentor Roy Maguire.

What is your life like in Valletta? The words were: boring, lack of jobs, lack of opportunity...

“I approached three young people in the square and asked them: What is your life like in Valletta? The words were: boring, lack of jobs, lack of opportunity ... That, to me, is a baseline of where services need to look at,” he said.

Mr Maguire approached the young men because they reminded him of the “intimidating youths” in his village – wearing baseball hats and hoodies. Their reply highlighted the need for better services for young people.

Young people from troubled backgrounds need community centres that would provide a healthy environment where to socialise and interact with positive role models, he said.

Mr Maguire will be one of the speakers addressing a conference today, entitled The Disadvantaged Child: Problems and Solutions.

The aim of the conference, organised by YMCA Homeless and Celebrities for Kids, is to put the plight of children on the national agenda, explained YMCA Malta chairman Jean Paul Mifsud.

He said the conference would help shed light on lack of services and the need for a change in mentality. “We need to start thinking and acting on the individual needs of these kids,” he said.

A walk through Valletta on Sunday evening made Mr Maguire notice that several young people from different backgrounds congregated at McDonalds.

“I can see the value of family life ... but there are those who are on the fringes, who are in long-term unemployment and have lost hope. And that naturally infects the young people living in the house,” he said.

“But if you actually have community hubs where teenagers and children can play and have a sense of enjoying childhood, as opposed to battling it, then surely that really is a step forward in creating a healthy environment for children.”

Mr Maguire, who just turned 50, related to these youngsters because he was once one of them.

His mother was 21 when she had him and he grew up running away from “the rent man”, moving from one community home to another and sleeping in people’s houses.

As he entered his teens he could have easily fallen into the cycle of drugs and gangs that surrounded him. But he chose a spiritual route that saved him.

“I did not want to be in the same place ... I suppose that’s were my passion comes from ... I have a story which can help young people and children,” he said.

He entered the working world that eventually led him to become the national adviser for young people and justice issues for YMCA England. He regularly attended meetings of the government’s youth justice board to advise on homelessness in England and Wales.

“My first experience of YMCA was two young people throwing an oak table at me. You make a life-defining decision ... You run or meet that battle ... Helping these youths is about long-term relationships ... it’s about a consistent, appropriate, adult relationship,” he said.