Youth Association Formed on the Orihuela Coast

AN ASSOCIATION has been formed in Orihuela Costa to look after the interests of young people from the area. The association held its first official press conference earlier this week and RTN went along to meet the people behind the group and find out why they felt the need to form the association.

Roberto Carlos González Alvarez is the President of the Asociacion de Jovenes de Orihuela Costa (AJOC) which literally translates to the ‘Association of Orihuela Costa’s Young People’. Alongside Roberto is Secretary Laura Pasamar Sacilotto and Aldo Lovati Champagne, the association’s Treasurer.

Roberto told RTN: “The main reason that we have created this association has been motivated by what we feel is the great abandonment of young people on the coast.” He continued: “There are more than 2,000 young people living on the coast and they have very little to do with regards to sports and leisure activities. This abandonment has been ignored by the Mayor, Monica Lorente and the PP ruling Town Hall of Orihuela, which is more than 30 kilometres away from the coast.”

AGGRIEVED

According to Roberto, every day the young people of the area are forced to abandon the municipality in which they live in order to find activities; sports and cultural events elsewhere. He said: “Many young people have to cross the municipality border into Torrevieja, which is several kilometres from most of the urbanisations, as there is little to do here in Orihuela Costa.”

Roberto feels that Ms Lorente and the Councillors of the Town Hall have nothing but apathy toward the young people living on the coast and they say that they feel aggrieved that the coast seems to have been ignored completely in recent times. Roberto said: “The Town Hall sees fit to spend a budget of €120,000 on the City’s Three Kings parade and yet there is nothing for young people to do here on the coast.”

COMMUNICATION

Roberto continued: “It is because of reasons like this that we feel that we need to act and to vindicate our rights; the same rights that are enjoyed by our counterparts in the city.”

He added: “The AJOC wants to establish a channel of communication between ourselves and the different departments of the Orihuela Town Hall, so that we can express our needs and tell them what the majority of young people on the coast want.

We know that it is not going to be easy but we are well equipped to do whatever it takes. Our immediate priority is to request a building in which to open a youth centre and a library in which to study.”

Roberto concluded: “We want to start a survey of all the young people on the coast to determine their wishes and opinions and that way we can decide on our other priorities. We not only want to raise our voices by highlighting our needs, we will also be working with other groups in the municipality, supporting common projects. We want AJOC to become a group which young people will be proud to be part of.” 
 

Reported in the RTN by Louise Clarke

 25 February 2010