Barking Lodge Primary in need of aid to complete resource centre
Published:Tuesday | June 20, 2023 | 12:36 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
ADMINISTRATORS AT Barking Lodge Primary School, located in deep rural St Thomas, are appealing to the public for assistance through cash or kind, to help with the completion of a resource centre which has been in construction since 2008.
Tannia Johnson, principal of the institution, informed The Gleaner on Monday that a Canada-based charity group began the construction work but did not complete it. As a result, the building has not been functional nor given the appropriate attention for many years.
This, she said, has caused some level of difficulty for the institution’s 50-student population and the larger community of youth, who have been challenged with not being able to conduct research, among other things.
She hopes that once the building is completed, it will become a space where youngsters will have access to reliable Internet connection and can not only complete their school assignments, but to also enhance their academic learning experience.
Johnson added that the institution is expected to get computers, which should be donated by National Commercial Bank (NCB), but that it could not be handed over until the work on the centre is complete.
Students, administration and alumni of the Elsa Leo-Rhynie (ELR) ‘Towers’ Hall, in celebration of its 10th anniversary outreach project, assisted the institution in March with working towards completing the resource centre alongside other beautification works on the school grounds.
So far, the building’s roofing is partially installed, and paint work has been executed.
Aspects of the work which need to be completed include the installation of windows and doors, tiling of the floors, electrical installation, and outfitting the space with furniture and the required educational equipment and materials for functionality of the space for the students who will be utilising the centre.
SHARE THE LOVE
Johnson is pleading with corporate Jamaica to assist the institution in this regard.
Bertram Anderson, student services and development manager of the ELR Towers Hall, told The Gleaner on Friday that the hall was intent on looking for ways in which it could “share the love” outside of the Corporate Area, because most organisations, he said, were concentrated within Kingston and St Andrew.
The school was also informally adopted by the ELR Towers Hall, which intends on lending continued support, while remaining committed to community development by aiding vulnerable groups through annual outreach activities.
In addition to work done on the school’s resource room, the ELR Hall, through its Cinderella Project, one which seeks to assist students in need of sneakers for physical education and school shoes to pair with their uniforms, was able to donate 50 pairs of school shoes to the students at Barking Lodge Primary.
The project commenced in 2017 and has impacted the lives of many children within schools and children’s homes. Anderson stated that the project was dear to the group’s heart, as oftentimes it is not really understood how disadvantaged some students are, not even to afford shoes.
“I was one of those persons who never wore a pair of shoes to school ... the only time I would put on shoes was when I was going to like graduation or some special event at the school,” Anderson shared of his personal experiences. He added that he went five years without wearing shoes.
“Every September morning I would get my new, well pressed khaki uniform. I would have every single book that I needed and I would not have a bag for those books either because my mother was a single parent and she knew what was essential and what wasn’t and she felt like a pair of shoes, you don’t need it,” he said, noting that he lived relatively close to school and that many other students from the community would also go to school barefooted.
“You never felt out of place then. Now it’s a little different because most of the students do wear shoes. Sometimes it is not in the best condition, but them still try to wear something; and I think that if we can change somebody’s life by just offering them or providing shoes, I think it’ll go a far way,” he said.
Anderson said that he has encouraged other members of the ELR Hall to continue the programme and to expand its reach to include the setting up of drop boxes for donations of new or lightly worn shoes for underprivileged youth.
Persons interested to assist Barking Lodge Primary School, contact principal Tannia Johnson at (876) 802-8606 or via email at barkinglodge.primary.sts@moey.gov.jm. To offer donations to the Elsa Leo-Rhynie Towers Hall Cinderella Project, persons can contact them at towers4development@gmail.com of via telephone at (876) 977-0126 or (876) 298-5427.