Ministry of Education

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For the past six months the Treasure Beach Foundation or BREDS, as it is commonly called, has been working assiduously to implement a multi-million dollar school expansion project at the Sandy Bank Primary School in St. Elizabeth.

As part of the project a computer laboratory and two classrooms are to be constructed at the institution during the yuletide season.

Last Friday, on World Volunteer Day, American Ambassador to Jamaica, Sue Cobb and her husband, were at the school giving of their time and effort to what has been described "a worthy project".

Speaking to JIS News, Ambassador Cobb underlined the need for more Jamaicans to become involved in various voluntary activities that could help to uplift their community and country.

"We have been coming out to Treasure Beach every now and then and have really grown to enjoy this community, we feel that there is a tremendous amount of pride here and good leadership.my husband has been very involved in education in the United States at different levels, when we met the principal of this school and Jason Henzell who has been trying to help, we thought that we could be of help and so provided a little financial support to get the ball rolling," she said.

Ambassador Cobb indicated that significant help for the project had also come through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

"Tony Hart of the private sector from Montego Bay made a donation, the community came together as you can see from the turn out today. Sunset Villa as well as Tranquillity Bay came in with some help (and) in my view it has been a tremendous public/private partnership," she said.

Ambassador Cobb pointed out that it was her hope that the Sandy Bank project would serve as a good example for other communities to follow.

"It is not that it takes a lot of money, it takes a lot of work and organisation and desire, but this is a tremendous facility and we are very proud that we are involved with it," she said.

Discussing the work of the American Peace Corps movement in Jamaica, Mrs. Cobb observed that there had been many accomplishments over the years.

"We have been in Jamaica from independence, and right now we have 20 to 25 volunteers taking time off from their current jobs to come and help out here on the island. We have more than 130 and by next year we could be up to 200 in keeping with a commitment from President Bush to double the size of the movement.I think that this group represents the very best that America has to offer," she said.

Country Director for the American Peace Corps, Suchet Loois told JIS News that currently the 130 volunteers on the island were engaged in a broad spectrum of activity.

"In this particular community of Treasure Beach, we have about three peace corps workers.one is engaged in information technology, another in community development, that is through the work of the Treasure Beach Foundation or BREDS, and the third in the putting together of the annual Calabash Literary Festival," he said.

Representative from the National Registry of Volunteers (NRV), Claudine Allen was quite impressed with the high level of community participation that was evident.

Principal of Sandy Bank Primary School, Norma Moxam told JIS News that she was quite happy with the work that BREDS had done.

"Today I have seen some of my dreams come through and I am so elated words cannot express.the new building will house the grade one and grade two class, it will also house a library and computer lab along with sanitary facilities for boys and girls," she said.

Mrs. Moxam pointed out that it had been a long journey to get to the point of the new building.

"The dream came through because of Jason and BREDS, they took us on the journey along with other sponsors and parents. This is all possible because in Treasure Beach, we have unity and commitment, our people are willing to go all the way once they have started something.we have the community at heart and the community has the school at heart," she indicated.

Chairman of BREDS, Jason Henzell told JIS News that initial discussion about the project took place with Ambassador Cobb and her husband Charles just a short time ago.

"They along with my friend Tony Hart came to me as they were looking for a project to support in Jamaica, they had meetings with our board as well as the school and were quite impressed with the synergies there and the support and the past projects that we could point to.this goes to show that if you have a plan and you have integrity you can get support," he said.

Discussing how the project was formulated, Mr. Henzell said: "First of all the classrooms were only divided by blackboards so you can imagine the noise levels and easily conclude that it was not a great learning environment for students so we decided to add on an additional wing".

The Chairman of BREDS explained that the new facility would be properly utilised by "all members of the community."

"Both the library and computer lab will be opened to the community in the evenings and we are going to talk to HEART Trust/NTA about (it) being affiliated with us, there are lots of other persons who came forward such as Tranquillity Bay and Sunset Villa who will be donating the air conditioning unit.we did fund- raisers at Jack Sprat Restaurant with the homecoming foundation as well as with the parish development committee.today is a proud day for BREDS," he said.

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