Sometimes good news arrives very simply.
No major scandal. No quarrel. No investigation. No institution on the verge of collapse.
Just an excavator on a sports field.
At Stichting Buurtwerk Latour (Stibula, Latour Neighbourhood Work Foundation), work has begun to provide the community centre with a new artificial turf field.
According to Stibula, this concerns a commitment by the government made during the December 2025 visit by President Jennifer Simons and Minister of Youth Development and Sports Lalinie Gopal, together with the Dutch royal couple.
During that visit, on December 2, it was not only football that was looked at.
The delegation was shown everything that takes place at Stibula: homework support, reading, activities focused on self-reliance, sports and dance. Stibula has played an important role within the Latour community for nearly sixty years.
Work is now under way on the new field.
Small investment, great significance
And that may seem small when we look at all the problems Suriname faces. But it is precisely these kinds of investments that we should not underestimate.
After all, we talk a great deal about young people when things go wrong.
When a young person is detained. When violence is used. When children leave school. When young people loiter without prospects. When drugs, weapons or crime come into the picture.
Then we are all concerned.
But what do we do before it gets that far?
Young people need more than school and home
A child needs more than a school and a home in which to grow up.
Children and young people need places where they can be active, meet friends, learn to cooperate and develop their talents.
A football field can be part of that.
Not because football solves all problems. Of course it does not.
Nor am I saying that every young person who plays sports automatically stays out of trouble.
But sport can certainly contribute to positive development.
The World Health Organization points out that physical activity among children and young people is not only important for their physical health. Exercise also contributes to the development of motor and cognitive skills and benefits mental health.
A sports field is more than just a field
But there is another benefit.
A sports field in the middle of a neighbourhood is also a meeting place.
There, a coach can notice a boy who is at risk of dropping out.
There, a volunteer can discover that a girl is good at something.
There, children learn that you cannot always win. That you must arrive on time. That there are rules. That you are part of a team.
These may not be spectacular matters, but it is precisely such small things that shape children.
That is why I hope the new artificial turf field at Stibula will not only be seen as the fulfilment of a commitment.
Let it also be an example.
Look beyond Latour
Look at our neighbourhoods. At Latour, Flora, Pontbuiten, Ramgoelam, Sophia’s Lust, the districts and the interior.
Where can children go after school? Where can they play football, basketball, swim, make music or simply gather safely? And what condition are the existing sports and community facilities in?
A society that says young people are its future must also act accordingly.
That does not always have to involve enormous projects and multimillion investments.
Sometimes it starts with a field.
With a ball.
With a coach who stays when others have gone home.
With a volunteer who tells a child: come back again tomorrow.
Investing begins before things go wrong
We can certainly be happy when a commitment to a neighbourhood is actually fulfilled.
But then let us immediately look beyond that one place.
Because investing in young people does not begin when a young person goes off the rails and we ask ourselves how it could have come to that.
Investing in young people begins much earlier.
And sometimes it really does simply begin on a sports field.
