By Roy Sanford, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
MORE THAN a year after the St. James Parish Council offered land to the Western Society for the Upliftment of Children (WSUC), the council is still awaiting final approval from the Ministry of Local Government, Community Development and Sport, to settle the matter.
"I have not received a go-ahead from the Ministry," Christopher Powell, secretary/manager of the council, said at the council's monthly meeting on January 8.
"I will be following up on it again."
The land was given to WSUC, an organisation that caters to "at risk children," in late 2002 and is located near the St. James Infirmary in Albion.
Glenda Drummond, executive director of WSUC, told The Gleaner that despite the lack of a response from the ministry, her organisation was forging ahead in planning for an imminent move.
"We have a plan down, it was approved by the parish council and we are working with that," she said.
She said the organisation suffered from a shortage of space, made worse by addition of one new classroom to the original two.
"We are bursting at the seams," said Ms. Drummond. "We have about 200 students and we need more space."
The WSUC recently added some more courses to its curriculum but had to turn down applicants because of the lack of space, said the executive director.
The WSUC was founded in 1990 by Save the Children Fund UK, after its social workers noticed that there were large numbers of children roaming the streets of Montego Bay. It has since grown to serve less fortunate children from all over western Jamaica.
It works with children who live and work on the streets, and children with learning disabilities and other mild disabilities. WSUC also offers personal and family development prorammes, remedial education programmes, arts and craft and a wide range of extra curricular programmes including sports, career training, skills training and an apprenticeship and job placement programme.
