Little Monique Reid (right) of Boys' Town All-Age School, Trench Town, Kingston, gets a hug from Joy Williams, a member of Daughters of Rizpah, a visiting United States-based aid and religious ministry, founded by evangelist, the Revd. Jacqueline McCullogh. Monique's classmates look on. The two were attending a ceremony yesterday at the Rema Reading Centre, Trench Town. -Norman GrindleySTUDENTS ATTENDING the Boys' Town All-Age School, Trench Town, are well on their way to being placed in refurbished classrooms, says Dr. Omar Davies, Minister of Finance and Planning, and MP for St. Andrew South.
Dr. Davies, who was speaking yesterday at the newly- refurbished Rema Reading Centre, said the building that housed the eight classrooms would be occupied soon but that there would be no official opening until another building facing the classrooms was renovated.
"This represents a dream come true for the Boys' Town All-Age school (which was) operating under cramped circumstances. The children will now have a fair chance to perform like children should," he said.
In July, Dr. Davies had told journalists that just over $10 million was to be spent on refurbishing a section of the Phillip Sherlock building in Trench Town, where the school is located.
The refurbishing of the Reading Centre, which cost between $300,000 and $400,000, was made possible through the continued donations from United States-based religious ministry, Daughters of Rizpah, which is also responsible for the Word Alive crusades.
The group, which also has members from Canada and Britain, had planned to donate computers to the centre yesterday but the six computers would come next month, following the delay of shipment owing to "unforseen circumstances," said Amy Gardner, assistant to the ministry's president, the Rev. Jacqueline McCullogh.
During the ceremony, Dr. Davies outlined the plight of many parents who had not had a fair chance to educate themselves. He said this was being made worse by the failure to refurbish the building opposite to the classrooms so that "we could have an adult centre because there is a large percentage of illiterate (and) unskilled parents who have not had an opportunity to make themselves productive members of society."
Dr. Davies urged the Revd. Ms McCullogh to continue to contribute to the refurbishment of other sections of the Hugh Sherlock complex in Trench Town where the school and reading centre are located. The Hugh Sherlock Centre has suffered from strife between factions in South St. Andrew.
The evangelist is accompanied by 256 people -- ministers of religion, medical personnel, educators and interested volunteers -- who brought food, clothing and medical supplies for people in St. Mary. There a clinic was held and a wide range of reading material provided for the centre, which was newly painted when The Gleaner visited yesterday.
During the last four days, more than 4,000 people have received medical check-ups from paediatricians, dentists and ophthalmologists among others.
The activities should continue today with "Word Alive 2000" concert at the Church On The Rock, which features gospel greats such as CeCe Winans, Donnie McClurkin, Papa San, Carlene Davis, Forgiven, Ziggy Soul and Pastor David Keane.
The team started visiting Jamaica four years ago and has had activities in Ocho Rios, St. Ann last year, at Church on the Rock, St. Andrew in 1998 and Montego Bay, St. James in 1997.
