The older generation and large institutions must communicate Bermuda's oral and historical traditions to the Island's young people so that they can be better integrated into the community.

Social Worker and former teacher Veronica Ross shared these thoughts with about 30 people at Sandys Secondary School on Tuesday night during a Beyond Barriers community dialogue.

The forum's theme centred on a often repeated African proverb "it takes a whole village to raise a child'' and participants were encouraged to use this as springboard for the discussion.

Persons gathered said responsibility for restructuring communities rested with parents while others said the school system had a bigger role to play.

And some pointed to groups such as the Girl Guides, Cub Scouts and Sea Cadets as organisations where young people should be enrolled because they instil character through discipline.

Mrs. Ross pointed to the robbery of 77-year-old Dudley Bassett last Sunday as an example of the alienation some youth feel.

"I dare say that the young men who attacked Mr. Bassett didn't really know that he spent most of his adult years making personal sacrifices working for this (Sandys Secondary) school.

"...he has been a real integral part in keeping this educational institution alive and running.

"It is our job to communicate to our young people that these are the kinds of people who have been part of the mainstay of our community,'' she said.

Passing on this kind of information to each succeeding generation she said helped to create a strong sense of community and it was important for the elders to ensure that this was done.

In the past she said Sunday afternoon family discussions where children sat and listened to their elders' conversations, was an important vehicle in this process, as were the gift clubs, but both are being lost.

And the attack on Mr. Bassett is an incident that underscored this fact.

"Now we have persons growing up in this community and it is just as if they are living in space because we have ceased to communicate this history.

"You will not read about Mr. Bassett in The Royal Gazette because The Royal Gazette will not feel he sufficiently important.

"We hear about the diatribes of politicians, they are important. Those who are in and those who are aspirants and pretenders at the game.

"But the real people who create and try to keep people together you don't hear about.'' Archdeacon Arnold Hollis of St. James Church meanwhile said the theme was a state of being Bermudians longed for.

But he said the idea of a village raising children could not be realised because it was nothing more than a pipe dream.

"A whole village cannot raise a child if that village doesn't exist,'' he said. "We no longer have any villages or safe streets.'' Archdeacon Hollis said that there was a time when there were community districts made up of extended families and adopted families who cared for children in common.

"All parents raised all children by one code of conduct that existed which was the Holy Bible,'' he continued.

That is not to say Archdeacon Hollis added, that these communities raised perfect children. However he said these codes became a basis for community unity.

He said greed and prejudice tore these communities apart and the insatiable thrust for upward mobility split families along the lines of poor and rich.

"We then began to move out of our districts looking for spots that would enable society's light to shine more brightly on our new found status.

"We became so busy in our new roles that we didn't have any time anymore to chat with our neighbours.

"In fact we couldn't talk anymore with our neighbours because we strived to build walls and plant thick hedges to protect our new cocoons.

"The state of our communities today is a result of our failure in all our upward mobility and new found wealth to build new districts.''