Black Immigrant Daily News

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Health Minister Moses Jn Baptiste has expressed concern regarding the high number of COVID-19 cases in Saint Lucia.

He told reporters on the sidelines of a parliament session on Tuesday that between August 12 and October 10, Saint Lucia recorded seventeen COVID-19-related deaths.

“Very clearly COVID-19 continues to be a very serious problem,” the Vieux Fort North MP asserted.

In addition, Jn Baptiste disclosed that medical professionals are reporting the usual increase in respiratory problems, especially around the rainy season.

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Regarding bivalent vaccine boosters, the Minister said the Saint Lucia government continues to work with the Pan American Health Organization to get the latest available medications.

“I do not know as of last week whether these boosters did arrive, but I know the Ministry of Health is attempting to access the latest COVID-19 medications,” Jn Baptiste told reporters.

But he said health officials are dissatisfied with the current COVID-19 vaccination rate.

Nevertheless, he said they hope Saint Lucians will see vaccination as an effective option in their general health care and not only in relation to COVID-19.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) wants government to look into the vehicle issues surrounding the School Meals Services immediately because it is impacting the island’s most vulnerable – “our children”.

A Christ Church-located school received lunch from Schools Meals Services after 1:30 pm, almost two hours late, on Tuesday, October 11, 2022.

DLP Education Chair Melissa Savoury-Gittens told Loop News, “better needs to be done like yesterday”.

The woes at the Blackman and Gollop School, came after similar complaints arose at Welches Primary recently. Savoury-Gittens said that she conducted her research and learnt that the crux of the matter is transportation. She said in the case of Welches Primary, only one van was available to service all the schools catered to by the centre at Lancaster and Welches was way down the list and Highway 2A. As it relates to yesterday’s delay, she said again transportation was given as the excuse in Christ Church.

Savoury-Gittens said that the Schools Meals Services’ late delays are affecting the entire school, not only those who take school meals. She said that parents have complained to her and teachers have confirmed that they are directed to let all the students eat together at one time, even if the delivery is late. “So even the children who bring packed lunches have to eat late when the vans are late. It is not good!”

After almost two years at home, at this time when children should be getting the most out of the six hours of face-to-face schooling, Savoury-Gittens asserts, “This is another disruption. It disrupts the whole school day. Teaching cannot resume until the children are fed. They are hungry and agitated obviously. Big adults sometimes cannot work when hungry, so what about these little ones? It is just another disruption in their day and brings learning to a halt.”

Aware that on the other hand there are parents and teachers who are complaining about the presentation of the dishes prepared by School Meals, she said that’s not her concern today, more importantly, is the time of arrival. She stressed, “Let it be there and let it be on time so that school can carry on as usual.” She said the high amount of food wastage because students “do not like how it looks, so they do not eat it,” is a matter for another day.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

NewsAmericasNow.com

Black Immigrant Daily News

Twenty women from Crescent District in Spanish Town, St Catherine have benefitted from a training programme designed to promote alternative livelihoods and the sustainable utilization of forest resources.

The women were trained in the production of bamboo and straw items earmarked for the tourism and craft industries.

Dubbed, the Crescent Women Group, the initiative sought to enhance the economic and social development of the women by engaging them in meaningful work as well as replacing activities such as coal burning.

The programme is an initiative of the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ), in collaboration with the Forestry Department with funding provided by the European Union (EU) and is aimed at assisting vulnerable women within Crescent District, a part of the Angels community which forms part of the Spanish Town Development Area, where unemployment is a major issue among women.

Speaking on the impact of the project, Norda Dawkins-Lyons, field supervisor from the Social Development Commission who had oversight for the group said the project has positively changed both the group and the wider community.

“The greatest impact of the project has been its ability to lift the morale of the community. As we know, this community is in the Spanish Town Development area which is heavily stigmatized and known for high crime and violence and other illicit activities. So, the introduction of this project provided members within the community an opportunity to do meaningful work rather than be idle or engage in illicit activities,” she said.

Member of the group, Yvonne Elliston says she is grateful for the opportunity to learn a skill.

“This project showed me the importance of bamboo and the many possibilities that surround it, especially in the tourism sector. We saw the rise in demand for bamboo furniture and products so we wanted to create income from it,” she added.

The EU grant allowed the women to procure important equipment such as a stove and pots for boiling the straw, which is part of the preparation process, sewing machines for product decorations and hand tools such as drills, a compressor, hole saws and sanders for making and finishing of bamboo craft items.

The women were able to use the tools to make bamboo products such as cups, bowls, lanterns, flower pots and jewellery while the straw was used to create hats, handbags, purses and mats, among other things.

Other organizations the Forestry Department, the Bureau of Standards, and the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCO), also lent support to the programme.

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