TWELVE prominent Jamaican women have shed some of their clothes to raise money for the Jamaica Epilepsy Association (JEA). The women are featured in a calendar titled “How Does Your Garden Grow”, which tastefully displays them semi-nude and accentuated by different aspects of nature.

“After seeing the English version of the calendar … we needed to raise money for the association, so I thought let’s do it,” Nora Perez, president of the JEA told the Observer. She was also a model for the calendar. “I think it is going to be received very well because the real goal is to increase public awareness and to raise funds for the association to improve the quality of life of people living with epilepsy.”

Epilepsy is a chronic neurological condition charac-terised by recurrent, unprovoked seizures.

The calendar as well as a children’s book titled, Way to go Flash: The adventures of a horse that would never say never, was unveiled at the official launch of Epilepsy Awareness Week at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston on Monday night. The book was written by Barbara Rigbie and illustrated by PJ Stewart.

The association hopes to rake in at least $4 million with the sale of the calendar and the book, which will be sold at a cost of $2,000 and $800 respectively. They will be available as of December 1.

Perez said the association decided to do a children’s book because it realised that very few young people knew a lot about epilepsy. Currently one per cent of the Jamaican population have active seizures, while three per cent have had a seizure in their lifetime.

“We have spent a lot of time over these past few years producing brochures and posters and promoting discussion sessions, but we continued to feel that somehow we were not getting our message across successfully to the younger group, that is, the many children facing the trauma of epilepsy and grappling with its medical, social and lifelong implications,” she told the gathering.

Among those featured in the calendar are broadcaster, Fae Ellington; former Miss World Cindy Breakspeare; actress, Beth Hyde; University of the West Indies (UWI) professor Carolyn Cooper; and Christine King, executive editor of the Sunday Herald. The photos were taken by Frantz Marzouca.

People interested in purchasing a calendar or a book may contact the JEA.