Minister of Labour and Social Security Shahine Robinson is appealing to Jamaicans to unite in stamping out the abuse of senior citizens, warning that those who persist in taking advantage of this vulnerable group will face harsher sanctions.
“I appeal to all Jamaicans to report the abuse of elders to the police or to the council (National Council for Senior Citizens). Those of you who are engaged in it, I say to you, publicly, desist from doing so because if it means that stiffer penalties will have to be imposed as a deterrent, so shall it be,” she declared yesterday during the launch of Senior Citizens Week at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel, New Kingston.
The week, which runs from Sunday, September 23 to Monday, October 1 under the theme ‘Forging Our Future: Embracing the Participation, Contribution and Talents of Older Persons’ will see a number of activities across the island celebrating the rights as well as the contributions of senior citizens (person 60 years and older).
Promising that the pending revised national policy for senior citizens will provide improved social-protection measures, Robinson underscored the need for a greater appreciation of the work and worth of senior citizens.
REVISED NAT’L POLICY
“The prosperity, progress, growth, and gains we are enjoying today have been made possible through the tremendous efforts and sacrifices of our seniors and elders across the island. Therefore, as I launch activities marking Senior Citizens Week, I must remind all Jamaicans that the abuse of our elders is of great concern to all decent and law-abiding citizens,” said Robinson.
The minister offered further insight into provisions of the revised national senior policy, which was tabled in Parliament this year, the Green Paper for which is available on the ministry’s and the Jamaica Information Service’s websites for review and comments.
“This policy will be the benchmark for establishing and maintaining a productive, healthy, and meaningful environment for our senior citizens. It is anticipated that Parliament, in the coming year, will complete the review of the policy, which will allow for social-protection measures that will redound to the benefit of our senior citizens all over Jamaica.”
The national church service to mark the official start of the week is slated to get under way today at 11 o’clock at the Ocho Rios Seventh-day Adventist Church, Milford Road, St Ann.
David Shoucair, Director Of Distribution Logistics at Food For The Poor (FFP) Jamaica assists a resident with her gift package at FFP Jamaica’s recent Health, Information and Distribution Fair held on July 18-20 at Torrington Wesleyan Holiness Church in Westmoreland. Hundreds of community members received free gift packages containing toiletries, food, adult diapers, children’s books and toys.
Food For The Poor (FFP) Jamaica hosted its sixth (6th) health and distribution fair in the western region from Wednesday, July 18 to Friday, July 20. Residents from communities such as Torrington, Savanna-La-Mar, Hartford, Bath and Strathbogie benefited from free medical examinations and prescriptions while being served by a team of medical personnel including doctors, nurses and a pharmacist. Additionally, the fair included wheelchair assessment and distribution, an agricultural outreach in a remote community and a dental clinic for children. Gift packages containing food, toiletries, agricultural items, children’s books and school’s supplies were also distributed over the period.
Rainforest Seafoods has extended its partnership with Food For The Poor (FFP) Jamaica by donating $1 million in cash and kind to aid in the construction of houses for the needy.
Speaking at the recent handing-over ceremony of a cheque, Roger Lyn, Director of Marketing & Corporate Affairs at Rainforest Seafoods expressed his happiness that the company could continue its support in helping FFP fulfil its mission.
“Having witnessed, first-hand, the happiness that recipients of the houses built by FFP-Jamaica expressed on receiving keys to their new homes, we were inspired to continue our partnership. This is an organisation that deserves everyone’s support as we all share in the mission of changing lives and restoring Jamaican families,” said Lyn.
Development and Marketing Manager at FFP-Jamaica, Marsha Burrell-Rose reminisced on how the partnership had impacted the life of one beneficiary.
“I will never forget the day when we stood with Rainforest management looking at the very first house that their partnership built. The lady came over and thanked us, telling us how she buys her fish at Rainforest. She felt proud knowing that a company that she supports was the same company that built her home,” said Burrell-Rose.
Lyn said that they were very proud of their ongoing collaboration with FFP-Jamaica and noted that, “it is truly a remarkable and transformative approach to helping those most in need and we know the money is going to good use.”
“We get so much from our community – this is a small way of giving back. We will continue to find creative ways of engaging the population, so they can contribute what they can, and we will definitely be on board next year as well,” said Lyn.
“We truly appreciate everything that Rainforest has done for FFP over the last few years. It truly is life-changing, and we can’t do it without you guys,” said Burrell-Rose as she urged ordinary Jamaicans to help their fellow Jamaicans by making small, monthly donations to FFP.
See article published by Loop Jamaica on Wednesday, September 12, 2018.
The Western Province of Papua New Guinea is looking towards a connected future as the PNG Sustainable Development Programme (PNGSDP) – along with its partner Digicel – implements a telecommunications vision to benefit present and future generations.
The PNGSDP is a fund that was established as a result of the ecological damage to the Western Province by the OK Tedi Mine, and is used for special projects in the area to meet the development needs of the citizens. The area has long been neglected, primarily due to the sparse population, however, in 2011 Digicel and PNGSDP worked together to deploy 49 telecommunications towers. Now, with that success to build on, this contract will see Digicel upgrading the towers, expanding coverage, deploying LTE and offering managed services.
This landmark agreement between PNGSDP and Digicel means the Western Province will benefit from 19 new telecommunications towers that will be owned by PNGSDP, new power generation units and LTE on 78 towers owned by Digicel and a seven-year managed service agreement to deliver operations and maintenance of the telecommunications services including internet bandwidth.
“This is a great partnership between Digicel and PNGSDP because, not only will we be able to provide increased access to services in the Western Province, but PNGSDP has also engaged with Digicel PNG Foundation to deploy schools to facilitate digital learning. In this way, we are bridging the gap to create a word where no one gets left behind”, said Digicel Group CEO, Alexander Matuschka.
The World Bank 2016 World Development Report shows a positive correlation between the increase in internet penetration and the gross domestic product in developing countries, and in PNG, the entire Western Province will soon have access to reliable 4G phone and internet service, creating an education knowledge network with app-driven learning, a foundation to deliver remote health solutions using LTE and, of course, increased coverage for existing mobile services.
With both organisations looking forward to changing lives for the better in the Western Province by providing the technological resources needed to make this happen, for its part, PNGSDP indicated that the partnership with Digicel is one it is glad to be part of, knowing that when Digicel commits to something it goes above and beyond to deliver.
Matuschka added, “In the education sector, distance learning in the more remote communities can be supported, teacher capabilities can be improved and classrooms can have better tools and access to world-class education. In the health sector, village-based and mobile paramedics can receive long-distance technical support with diagnostics, access to patient records and online advice. And in the business sector, with better connectivity, online financial services become available resulting in better opportunities for the banked and unbanked populations.”
Glenroy Anthony Smith, O.D. (better known as Ernie Smith) will bring musical joy and entertainment to participants and four honorees at the Caribbean Community of Retired Persons (CCRP) Living Legacy Awards 2018. The Awards Luncheon will take place on Friday, September 28, at the Mona Visitors’ Lodge, University of the West Indies Mona Campus, beginning at 12:00 noon. Dr. the Hon. Glen Christian, O.J., O.D., Joy Crooks, O.D., Dr. Owen James, O.D., and Dr. Jean Small will be honored at the event.
“As one of the first CCRP Living Legacy Award recipients [in 2012] I am looking forward to performing at this year’s event. CCRP continues to ensure that Jamaica remembers the legacy of our elders and I applaud them for it,” said the renowned singer, songwriter and musician with the mellow voice.
Born in Kingston in 1945, Ernie Smith grew up in the parish of St. Ann in a large musical family (he has eight siblings). After high school, he formed a singing group with four of his brothers and sisters. His singing and songwriting career took off when he recorded an original composition (“I Can’t Take It”) at Federal Records.
Smith’s professional music career went from strength to strength. He won Grand Prize at the World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo with his song “Life Is Just For Living” – as the first Jamaican musician to win an international award. He was the first popular musician to be honored by the Jamaican Government with the Badge of Honour in 1973. He lived overseas for 13 years and was credited for popularizing reggae music in Canada.
Returning to Jamaica in 1988 after Hurricane Gilbert, Smith recalls watching people exchanging gifts and thanking God for life, instead of crying about their losses. He picked up his career as a highly successful solo artist. Last year he celebrated 50 years since his first recording, “I Can’t Take It,” with a Mass at the Bamboo Catholic Church, where he once served as an altar boy; and a “Solid Gold” concert in September 2017.
Ernie Smith has never stopped singing and playing. He has written over 200 songs and has received numerous awards at home and abroad, including a Bronze Musgrave Medal in 2003 and an Order of Distinction in 2006.
See original article posted in the Gleaner on Saturday, September 8, 2018.
The Munro Wind Farm. Professor Anthony Chen says that solar, wind and hydro generation accounted for between 15 and 20 per cent of Jamaica’s energy supply. (Jamaica Observer)
The spectre of Kingston becoming submerged and the shoreline of Montego Bay becoming compromised should motivate every single one of us to do our part to protect our island and, indeed, our planet from climate change. The erosion at Hellshire beach and Little Ochie has sounded a loud alarm.
Last Thursday Jamaica’s scientists and policymakers participated in a forum at The University of the West Indies (UWI), entitled “100 per cent Clean, the Why and How of Jamaica’s Transition from Imported Fossil Fuels to Natural Resources.” Chair of the forum Gerald Lindo, United States Agency for International Development project management specialist for energy, opened by declaring that “Climate Change is the direst situation faced by civilisation.”
Professor Anthony Chen, member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change who shared the 2007 Nobel Prize with former US Vice-President Al Gore and Professor of Applied Atmospheric Physics, led the discussion. He noted that Jamaica had joined with the NGO 350.org, which states as its purpose: “Cut CO2 emissions and build a global movement for climate solutions”. Last Saturday 350.org led a worldwide campaign, #RiseforClimate, stating, “It’s a beautiful time to really feel global unity in the struggle for just climate action.”
Jamaica has been making some headway in renewable energy: Prof Chen shared that solar, wind and hydro generation accounted for between 15 and 20 per cent of our energy supply. He acknowledged that the cost of installation of renewables was costly but that this was steadily becoming less expensive.
Prof Chen sees the day when renewables will cost much less than fossil fuel energy generation and is calling for a national spatial plan, mapping for wind, solar and hydro installations. He said that the tragic floods in Kerala and the extensive fires in California are awakening the world to the danger of global warming. California, he noted, had committed to 50 per cent energy generation by renewables in 2025, and 100 per cent by 2050.
Panellists Dr Masa Ashtine and Dr Randy Koon Koon convinced us that, indeed, we can change our climate for the better, as they discussed applications, integration and socio-economic pathways. Dr Ashtine referred to the extensive solar installations at Lady Hamilton Grand Palladium in Hanover and Wisynco in St Catherine. I can add the multimillion-dollar Rainforest installations in both Montego Bay and Kingston. He gave us the big news that in my home parish of Westmoreland, financing had been secured for a 51-MW plant that will represent a quarter of Jamaica’s renewable energy portfolio.
Dr Ashtine foresaw JPS moving to micro-grids, guaranteeing greater energy efficiency. Dr Koon applauded the US$21.6 million JPS hybrid energy plant, the first of its kind in the Caribbean. He said with the continued installation of renewables, Jamaica can reduce electricity cost by 67 per cent!
Therefore, we were heartened when Professor Alvin Wint took the podium and explained that the Generation Procuring Entity (GPE) which he chairs has as one of its operating protocols special consideration for the procurement of renewable energy. His organisation, in conjunction with the PIOJ under the guidance of Professor Michael Taylor, dean of the UWI Faculty of Science and Technology, has soberly acknowledged “what Jamaica will look like if we don’t act”.
He said the existing power plants will peak in 2020 and the plan is to phase out these heavily fossilfuel-dependent plants and install renewables, the cost of which is trending down. He sees this as “important to Jamaica’s competitive advantage”. We must count first on ourselves, on academia, Government, business and civil society to stay in step with global efforts to literally save our planet.
We have to thank Dr Tannecia Stephenson, head of the Department of Physics, for convening an important forum. We understand that this outstanding Convent of Mercy Alpha graduate returned to her alma mater to teach for two years before continuing her postgraduate studies. What a good example: giving back to her school in a brilliant and practical way.
See full article published in the Jamaica Observer on Monday, September 10, 2018.
HOPEWELL, Hanover — Fourteen-year-old Britannia Stephenson could not mask her joy when she turned up for classes at the Hopewell High School in Hanover on Monday, the start of the new academic year.
Sporting a broad smile and exuding confidence, the former Watford Hill Primary student gleefully told the Jamaica Observer West that she was very happy to be at the school at which she was placed, following her Grade Six Assessment Test (GSAT) last year.
“I feel happy to be here (Hopewell High). I always wanted to come to this school, so I am happy and thankful for the opportunity,” said a smiling Britannia.
The soft-spoken wheelchair-bound teenager, who was diagnosed with encephalopathy, and has never walked since birth, was unable to commence classes at Hopewell High at the start of the 2017/2018 academic year because the State-run educational institution was not equipped with a ramp.
In fact, Britannia started her high school education at the Dr Fidel Castro Campus of the Anchovy High School in the neighbouring parish of St James, more than two months after the start of that academic year, following a Jamaica Observer story highlighting her plight which spurred the Ministry of Education and other stakeholders into action.
The Observer story also prompted the Digicel Foundation to construct two ramps and to retrofit sanitary conveniences at the Hanover school.
But even though Britannia was placed at Anchovy High where classrooms and other facilities are located on the ground floor, her mother, Cecilia Hill, who resides in the deep rural community of New Milns in Hanover, could barely afford to send her daughter to the school, due to severe financial constraints.
Karlene Dawson, CEO of Digicel Foundation
On Monday, a team from the Digicel Foundation, headed by CEO Karlene Dawson, visited Hopewell High to get a first-hand look at the two ramps installed and the bathrooms that were retrofitted to accommodate students who are physically challenged.
Janet Spence Silvera, Education and Special Needs Programme Officer, Digicel Foundation
Jennifer Spence Silvera, education and special needs programme officer at the foundation, who was a part of the team, explained why the Foundation decided to undertake the project.
“We decided to start the project because it (Britannia’s plight) came up as an item in the news — and of course everybody read the article — and when our chairman Mrs Jean Lowrie Chin, saw it, she immediately contacted our CEO and asked that we do something about it, because giving access to persons in schools with disabilities is very important in terms of the Foundation’s core values,” said Spence Silvera.
She added that the matter was taken to the Foundation’s board meeting, during which a decision was taken to construct two ramps at the school and to retrofit the bathrooms at a cost of $8 million.
Spence Silvera noted that the ramps give access to all the classrooms and other facilities at the school.
“The ramps are not simply ramps to enter a building.these ramps ensure that there is access to the second floor of the building, and that is where most of the classes are held, so persons will have access to all the areas of the building. So once a student comes here to Hopewell High, if they are wheelchair–bound, if they are using a walker, once there is any physical disability, then the person will be able to access everywhere on this compound, and that was what we really want— to make it truly inclusive so every child must be able to go to any department at the school,” she explained.
Dawson told the Observer West that the Foundation, will this year, collaborate with the Ministry of Education to construct ramps at about 10 other state-run schools across the island.
She noted that the Foundation has been constructing ramps at schools since 2014, stressing that “special needs is a big part of the Foundation’s mandate”.
Hopewell High Principal Byron Grant lauded the Digicel Foundation for undertaking the project at his school.
“At least we can now reach those students that are physically challenged to offer them educational opportunities.So we are very pleased that the Digicel Foundation came on stream and actually build two ramps and retrofitted the bathrooms at no cost to us. We are most thankful to Digicel,” Grant stressed, adding that the school currently has two physical challenged students.
Hill also commended the Foundation for undertaking the project.
“I really want to thank the Digicel Foundation for making this happen.
“Britannia really wanted to come to Hopewell High, so for her it’s like a dream come true,” said Hill, who also thanked the Jamaica Observer for bringing her plight to public attention, and the tremendous support that she has received from the general public over the past few months.
She stressed that the financial cost associated with sending her daughter to Hopewell High will be greatly reduced, as the Hanover school is “not too far” for her home.
Original article published in the Jamaica Observer West on Thursday, September 6, 2018.
The Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica (GoCD) – and by extension the people of Dominica – are poised for a major technology transformation with the news that ICT managed services provider, Digicel, has officially been selected as the winning bidder to provide the rebuild of the Telecommunications and ICT services to the GoCD.
With the competitive bid process complete, Digicel has been selected as the strategic provider of telecommunications and ICT services to the Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica for a 15 year term. The awarding of this contract to Digicel comes upon approval from Cabinet after accepting the recommendation of the Bid Evaluation Committee.
As Dominica works to recover from the devastating effects of Hurricane Maria in September last year and focuses its renewal efforts on becoming a world leading climate resilient nation, this landmark agreement sees Digicel working in close partnership with the Government to deliver a highly resilient, state of the art network infrastructure, at a standard never seen before in the region.
Digicel will undertake the rebuilding and provisioning of telecommunications, internet, data, cloud and other ICT services to all of the Government sites – including every Government office, school, community centre and health centre, across the length and breadth of the island.
Alexander Matuschka, Digicel Group CEO
Alexander Matuschka, Digicel Group CEO, commented; “We are honoured to have been selected by the Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica for this transformational project which will provide the foundation for the provision of new advanced digital services such as eGovernment, Safe and Smart Cities, Connected Health and Smart Education and make them a powerful reality for the people of Dominica.”
Minister for Information, Science, Telecommunications and Technology, Honourable Kelver Darroux
Commenting on the strategic partnership, Minister for Information, Science, Telecommunications and Technology, Honourable Kelver Darroux, said; “Telecommunications and ICT are vital necessities for all sectors in the Dominican economy. It is imperative that the role of telecommunications and ICT be seen as an economic resilience phenomenon and therefore a catalyst for economic growth and prosperity. This is a vital first step on the path towards Dominica becoming a world leading climate resilient nation. We are on a mission to ensure we are strongly positioned for the future and that we have the right ICT infrastructure in place to take full advantage of the benefits of a strong digital economy.”
Jamaica Highlights 