MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Glenor Josephs, a native of Porus in this parish who migrated to Canada with her late husband in 1975, says she has long wanted to give back to Jamaica.

That’s why she jumped at the opportunity to donate C$45,000 for the construction of a basic school at Georges Valley, just outside Mandeville, when the charity organisation Food For the Poor came calling for help.

“It’s a pleasure to have done this. God has blessed our family and in turn we aim to bless others,” Josephs told a recent launch ceremony for the new building. Classes are scheduled to begin at the new location for the Georges Valley Basic School immediately after the Easter holidays, following landscaping work and the connection of running water and electricity.

The new structure, one of 50 basic schools being built and upgraded under the aegis of Food For the Poor as part of its Jamaica 50 campaign, includes three classrooms, kitchen, sick bay and bathrooms.

“It’s the talk of the town,” an enthusiastic acting principal Deauvadine Francis said of the new building. She claimed the number of students attending the basic school would now increase because of strong interest from parents who, up to now, sent their children elsewhere.

Georges Valley Basic, with 33 children and two teachers, has been housed at the Georges Valley Community Centre for the past three years. For more than 50 years, prior to 2009, an old rickety building just up the road from the recently constructed building was home for the school. It was founded sometime in the 1950s by early childhood educator Maisie Saunders.

In 2009, staff and students had to move into the community centre after the land on which the old building is sited, was sold by its private owners.