Young people in Bermuda are not getting the appreciation they deserve, a Minister has claimed.

Youth Minister Dale Butler told a public PLP meeting in Warwick that Bermudians found it difficult to give praise and that that needed to change.

?We find it very difficult to say to people we appreciate you, we want you and need you,? he said.

Mr. Butler was explaining how he had visited a group of ten students from the Island on a Raleigh International expedition in Borneo last year.

He said the youths had told him they felt ?wanted, needed, appreciated and respected? in the South East Asian jungle and were not desperate to return to Bermuda.

?How come they can?t feel it in their own country?? he asked.?The message came through loud and clear ? they don?t feel appreciated in their own country.?

He said the Government?s national development strategy would look at new ways to encourage young people. ?We want them, we need them,? he said.

The ten youngsters spent three months in Malaysia and Brunei working in impoverished villages. Mr. Butler paid for his own trip to see them. Another group is to visit Namibia with Raleigh this year.