Jobless, worthless and humanless
A few years ago, during a time of austerity, the city of Orihuela spent well over €130,000 on events for the young people living in the city over several months. The May Gala de la Juventud splashed out the staggering sum of €52,998 on hiring the reasonably well know singer David Bustamante to close this cultural event. The young people of Orihuela city are consistently being treated to hundreds of cultural events throughout the year in a programme of entertainment that must be the envy of the young residents living on Orihuela Costa.
The large concert that featured David Bustamante would have been surely been a great attraction to Costa teenagers who enjoy Spanish pop music. However, as usual, there was no transport provided to enable coastal young people to travel to Orihuela and no attempt was made to ensure that all members of the municipality could enjoy this free extravaganza.
The young people of Orihuela Costa at the time not only had to put up with substandard schools (which they still are today), but many students had to spend their entire school years being educated in porta cabins and schools without the full range of facilities. One would normally expect this in modern society. There was and still is a total lack of any provision of youth services. This is in stark contrast to the range of facilities offered to the youth of Orihuela city where the youngsters can visit the Concejalía de Juventud and receive a full range of services.
If just a small proportion of the extravagant fee paid to David Bustamante for one night of free music had been diverted to the coast it could have paid for at least two full-time youth workers with change left over. However, as most Orihuela Costa residents are aware there is no youth centre or even one proposed for this area.
A purpose-built cultural centre with youth facilities on the coast is a priority. The excuse that the centre needs council employees to open would be invalid if the youth workers were employed by the council.
There could be workshops for the youth, drama, music, and mechanics, are a few examples. Also, invite businesses to talk about graduateship, universities about degrees, everything is geared up to benefit the youth of Orihuela and discriminate against the youth of Orihuela Costa. Even applying for a job one needs to go to Orihuela when in fact we should have an office here.
Most small towns and villages making up the Orihuela municipality have youth clubs and services for their young people. But the coast with a population of exceeding 33,000 has again been neglected by these nefarious people living so many kilometres away in Orihuela City.
Until Orihuela Costa has a sufficient number of elected representatives from this area the needs of all sections of the coastal community will continue to be ignored by politicians based 34 kilometres away. All residents of Orihuela Costa need to ensure that they are registered to vote in local elections and ensure that they cast their votes at election time. The residents of the Costa can make a difference in local politics and ensure that this fantastic region which is continually being overlooked gains the services that are enjoyed by residents living in Orihuela.