Once vibrant hubs of learning and laughter, now they stand as stark reminders of fading dreams and shrinking communities. They are havens for wild animals, vagrants, and insects and spark contention among residents who remember their glory days and...
After 14 years, Andrew Richards, the man who pulled a drowned policeman from the Rio Cobre after he fell in while chasing gunmen along the sippery river bank in Gordon Pen, St Catherine, was honoured by the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) last...
It is crucial that they move quickly and safely, making split-second decisions about routes, precautions, and care for those in need. However, emergency service workers say their jobs are being made increasingly more difficult by Jamaica’s...
Elletson Primary and Infant School in East Kingston has long been affected by gang violence, with the toll becoming increasingly evident in its declining enrolment numbers. The impact is so severe that administrators often find themselves waiting...
Nestled high in the Blue Mountains, Claverty Cottage Primary is home to Jamaica’s smallest student body in the public school system, with just five children on its roster. Four boys and one girl – one student each in grades one, two, and three, and...
With the continued prevalence of violent crime, including multiple murders and gun-related incidents, primary school administrators say there is a desperate need for more guidance counsellors and social workers at institutions to help buttress...
Dozens of children who witnessed last month’s murders of five people in Rockfort, East Kingston, are still suffering from psychological trauma. Some have reportedly become silent and fearful of the dark, while others have been violently acting out...
Although they did not make the list of national awardees for this year, to their relatives, neighbours, and the children whose lives they saved, they are lifelong heroes, worthy of all commendation. They are unsung, their actions driven by pure...
It is one of the fastest-growing parishes, with several housing developments emerging yearly. Yet, St Catherine also has a rapidly growing population of the homeless and persons in need of assistance, a situation that outreach workers fear could...
Coswell Barnett is a decorated Spanish teacher, with more than a decade of experience. But now, unable to find permanent employment, he has had to settle with teaching two classes per week, for a paltry sum of $4,000. Blind since birth, Barnett...
It is a tumultuous period from diagnosis to mastectomy, a dreadful life-changing journey for some of the hardest-hit breast cancer patients. For them, it requires resilience, a tightly knit support system, and a calm head – steady in faith, and...
Some are rat nests. Some are havens for pigeons, frogs, bats, and termites. These classrooms reek of the animals’ faeces, rendering them grossly unsanitary for students’ occupation. The problems existed long before the passage of Hurricane Beryl,...
He was still a student when Hurricane Gilbert hit Jamaica, but teacher Devon Wilson still remembers the devastation and sacrifice at Happy Grove High School in Portland, which became home to droves of residents in its wake. The memories came back...
One household. Eighteen mouths, including those of eight children to feed; and a Jamaica Public Service (JPS) electricity bill for some $37,000 after the passage of Hurricane Beryl. Then there are the back-to-school expenses that must be met –...
Monique Grant-Facey, principal of the Happy Grove High School in Portland, walked the school’s corridors last Friday, annoyed, frustrated, and on the brink of “losing it”. It was 2:45 p.m. and still, a contractor assigned to the school by the...
They started their formal education with lockdowns and online schooling as COVID-19 pummelled the education system four years ago. Now, as they enter their final primary school years, they face another daunting setback in the wake of Hurricane...
Despite having over a decade of teaching experience and numerous commendations and awards to his name, Coswell Barnett has been unable to secure a full-time position for the past four years. And he believes it is because he is blind. With just 25...
They lit a bonfire last Friday evening, hoping its flame – if even symbolically – would burn the ghastly memories of two Sundays ago when their lives changed forever. Eighteen persons were shot, eight of them killed, among them fellow residents...
There were many acts of heroism as the Cherry Tree Lane massacre unfolded in Four Paths, Clarendon, last Sunday. From residents who opened their doors to those scampering for cover to others who, without hesitation, bloodied their vehicles to...
The lack of land ownership titles and funds for rebuilding materials are the main hurdles keeping over two dozen people in shelters across Clarendon, Manchester, and St Elizabeth – three of the parishes hardest hit by Hurricane Beryl. The Category...
Except for the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) or the St Ann’s Bay Regional Hospital going against regular protocol to deploy one of their vehicles, there is no public ambulance to respond to road accidents in the island’s largest parish. The situation...
The police in St Ann are urging motorists travelling in the parish during the party-heavy holiday weekend into Tuesday to exercise caution, paying attention to particular hotspots that have accounted for a rise in crashes, especially after festive...
Jodi-Ann Nelson was brought to tears as she read the second lesson at her father’s funeral yesterday but later composed herself enough to deliver a fitting tribute to the man she hailed as her hero. Her father, Job Nelson, a veteran journalist,...
Relatives of Shankar Maragh are worried sick. They have not seen the 36-year-old, a deportee from the United States who battles mental illness, since April 2020. They hope he is still alive; his twin sister Shakeera is the most faithful, but with...
A fallout between the National Housing Trust (NHT) and one of its contractors is being cited as the primary factor jeopardising the completion deadline of an overnight stay facility for parents at the Bustamante Hospital for Children in Kingston....
