has, says an American youth psychologist, filled him with inspiration and hope for the young people of his country.

"I'd rate it as one of the most significant things I have done in my life,'' Dr. Lewis Dodley said of the Team Leadership Symposium he conducted last weekend.

"The kids gave me hope. They were so positive and hungry to do something with their lives and help others -- I saw it happen.'' Dr. Dodley told how he was walking near the Hamilton Bus Terminal after the symposium when three girls who had attended ran up and hugged him, saying they wanted to start a peer leadership programme at their schools.

Dr. Dodley has been helping "higher-risk'' teenagers, and speaking on violence prevention, drugs, parenting and peer pressure for 10 years.

Sponsored by US youth agencies, he often goes into low-rent neighbourhoods to speak directly with teenagers.

He was brought to Bermuda by NADA to speak at the Youth to Youth symposium, held at the Grotto Bay Hotel last Friday through Sunday.

Some 80 students, chosen from high schools for their leadership potential, learned how to become leaders and help their peers.

They also learned the importance of knowing their roots and why different cultures and races had different features.

For instance, Dr. Dodley said, many teenagers did not know what made a person black. "They thought that was just the way God made them,'' he said, "when in fact it's melanin.'' The fear of getting pregnant and sexual discrimination most worried Bermuda's teenage girls.

And boys complained about not being able to show emotion without being teased.

They were also concerned about friends and family members involved with drugs.

Dr. Dodley said girls were asked what was the one thing they wanted men to know about them as women. Nearly all replied they wanted men to realise they wanted to be treated equally and with respect, he said.

"Many felt they were only good for doing dishes,'' Dr. Dodley said. "They felt that at home they were given more housework tasks than their brothers and were always called upon to babysit.'' Men, he said, were concerned about always having to prove what they were and not being allowed to show their feelings.

Dr. Dodley also noted during the symposium that many Bermudian youngsters did not know their roots.

"They knew where their mom and dad came from, but that was all,'' he said. He said if youngsters knew their ancestry, they would be prouder and better prepared to defend themselves against racial or cultural attacks.

Bermuda's teenagers had a stronger sense of community spirit than American youngsters, he noted.

But he warned that cultural and racial prejudice, already widespread in America, was starting to impact on Bermuda mostly through the US media.

DR. LEWIS DODLEY ... left the Island yesterday filled with a sense of satisfaction at having "really reached'' Bermuda's young people.