No one ever said it was going to be easy.

But the odds really do appear stacked against the Sea Cadets this year.

Despite the extreme lack of funding and a waning interest from youth in general, the officers of the T.S. Bermuda Hamilton unit are determined to make the programme a success in 2003.

"The youth on our Island are our only renewable resource. It's a fact," said petty officer and sail training, drill instruction, and general youth event organiser Khalid Davis. "It pays to invest into this resource. This is one of the greatest programmes I know."

Part of International Sea Cadets Association - with a worldwide membership of 120,000 - the Bermuda Sea Cadets offers young Bermudians the chance to take part in a variety of activities from sailng; working with the St. John's Ambulance Brigade, and Outward Bound to travelling to Japan for a televised international youth symposium.

"Our aim is to give youth a positive, enriching environment," said sub-lieutenant and unit commanding officer Jason Frith. "We teach them navigational skills, boat safety, marching and rifle drills, community events."

"It's not just babysitting," said Mr. Davis. "We send people away, we teach them things."

And Sea Cadets is free, giving young people who would not normally be able to pay for such opportunities to chance to learn and gain experience on an international level. The only demands on time and money are for the travelling, and even then Sea Cadets takes care of 50 percent of the cost of the trip.

Between what the programme does locally and overseas, cadets can can enlist at the age of 11.

"We are a local, Bermudian organisation giving people support and chances," said Mr. Davis. "They have so much fun - they are briding a gap, socialising with people they wouldn't normally socialise with."

"Bermudians are the only people in the world that can get along with everybody," added petty officer, administration/liason officer and official swim instructor Calvin Hayward.

The problem facing Bermuda's Sea Cadets right now, however, is their desperate financial situation. "We're spending more time trying to fundraise rather than teaching," said Mr. Hayward.

Sea Cadets has even had to cancel meetings due to the fact that they could not afford to pay their electricity bill and could not hold meetings in the dark. And the officers have had to get "creative" with their uniforms: Unable to afford the standard internationally-recognised Sea Cadet uniform, they have decided to go with navy cargo pants and T-shirts with their logo this year.

"But we still have to pay for those," said Mr. Hayward.

"The more of a following we have, the easier it is to run," said Mr. Davis. "We want to maintain it at a level where it can support itself."

If the organisation can drum up enough capital support now, they explained, they can give their cadets the experience and tools which will allow the older cadets to take over teaching and instructing the younger cadets - much the way Sea Cadets used to be.

"We used to have a huge following," said Mr. Davis. "Now in general if you look at youth organisations there is not a huge following... the parental support isn't there, the money isn't there. Even football and cricket, our national sports, don't have as large a following.

"Pride in our youths doesn't exist ...We are missing out on the prime youths, from 13 to 18. Those are the ones we want to get hold of."

In this, their first year of running the programme, the three officers are doing everything they can think of to make themselves appealing to both young people and those willing to support their cause.

Starting with smaller fundraisers such as youth dances, walkathons and car washes (including one car wash to be held tomorrow in the park across from the Pembroke Laundromat on Parsons Road), Sea Cadets hope to raise enough money to go after some bigger fish: raffles and other larger fundraisers.

Then, hopefully, that money can go towards the programme itself. "We raise funds and it goes right back to them (the cadets)," said Mr. Davis.

Currently in the process of drafting a letter of appeal which they hope to send around to businesses, the officers are also pulling out all the stops to get their name out into the community, including attending PTA meetings and sending flyers (which they paid for out of their own pockets) to the schools.

The Sea Cadets will also hold two open houses, on April 11 and May 2, to answer questions about what they offer as well as discuss ideas people have "to help us help them".

They are even appealing to their "competition", other mentoring groups such as Big Brothers/Big Sisters or individuals who wish to come to the open house and share ideas. The open houses will be held at the unit headquarters at 1 North Shore Road, across from Pembroke Community Club, from 7 to 9 p.m.

For further information on Sea Cadets, contact Mr. Hayward at 292-8167 or 737-1759.