Mandeville, Manchester — Students and teachers at the Pratville Primary and Infant School in South Manchester recently celebrated the opening and dedication of a flush lavatory system at their school.
The construction, which took approximately two years to complete, was funded by volunteerism grants from the Alcoa Foundation through Jamalco, and funding spearheaded by the overseas chapter of the school’s past students’ association.
Principal Lanzeford Howell thanked Jamalco and its volunteers for their contribution. “At the ground-breaking event, it was a team of highly skilled employees from Jamalco who drove the first nail, planted the first post and commenced work on the facility. We are very happy for Jamalco and the contributions the company has made,” he said.
Howell singled out past student Anthony Isaacs, who donated US$5000 from personal funds and coordinated the establishment of a crowd-funding account, which raised an additional US$5000 to assist with completing the project.
Manager of Jamalco’s Corporate Services Donna Marie Brooks-Gordon lauded community member Negos Meikle, who lobbied for Jamalco’s assistance on behalf of the school. Brooks-Gordon noted that through the company’s volunteerism programme, Jamalco donated $1.4m to construct the facility.
Brooks-Gordon hailed the overseas association, the volunteer work of Jamalco employees and community residents of the community for pulling together.
“You made it a reality. Your action is a step in the right direction,” she said. “We are living in an age where pit latrines must be removed from our school system to improve hygiene and eliminate certain diseases from our society. It is quite unfortunate that many schools in our operating areas still do not have adequate toilets and good sanitary convenience,” Brooks-Gordon added.
Keynote speaker Pastor Sasha-Lee Edwards also commended the community and donors for setting “a trend for others to follow…”
The project is in keeping with the Ministry of Education’s sanitary upgrade project, which aims to replace pit latrines with modernised sanitary facilities, to improve the learning environment.
Source: Jamaica Observer