Over 4,000 students benefit from diaspora school-building project

The Jamaican diaspora in Canada, through the Helping Hands Jamaica Foundation (HHJF) and working closely with the Jamaican consul general in Toronto and Food for the Poor Canada, will be constructing the Wakefield Infant School in Trelawny and another in Portland.

Members from the Helping Hands Jamaica Foundation and the Toronto Carpenter's Union some of whom are Jamaicans, have been in Trelawny since Sunday executing these projects.

"Over 4,000 children's lives have been touched by the generosity of our donors and supporters," said Karl Hale, president of HHJF. "This Trelawny build is the first of two this year. The second build is also in July (10-15) and will be in Portland."

Following completion of the school in Trelawny, the team will travel to Portland to build the second of two for 2018 and the nineteenth such school under the HHJF, Food for the Poor Canada and Toronto Carpenter's Union partnership.

"Helping Hands (founded in 2006 by then Jamaican consul general to Toronto) continues to build from the ground up through our contribution to basic-school builds in Jamaica," said Denise Jones, board member of the HHJF and team lead on this Jamaican mission.

She continues, "We have been blessed and honoured to build 19 of the 28 schools our partner and colleague Food for the Poor has constructed in 10 years."

Alongside classrooms, kitchens and washrooms, the schools will include water-catchment systems, fences and playgrounds. It should be noted that the 130-year-old Carpenters Union donated the funds for the constructions and that the tools and equipment used in the processes will, upon completion of the builds, be donated to the HEART Trust/NTA.