MANDEVILLE, Manchester — The private voluntary organisation Projects Abroad Jamaica has moved a step closer to building an HIV/AIDS facility in Manchester.

Country Director Dr Bridgette Barrett says that, after lengthy negotiations, a lease agreement has now been finalised for seven acres of land at the planned location in Belretiro, Central Manchester.

“After three years of lobbying the (Jamaican) Government, we finally have the lease agreement in hand and we can legally begin construction of the facility,” Barrett announced at a recent appreciation banquet at the Golf View Hotel.

She said the The Belle Haven Centre, as the home is to be called, will include “a residential facility for (forty) children living with HIV/AIDS, a women’s centre designed for the upliftment and empowerment of women living with HIV/AIDS, and a community resource centre designed for the training and skills acquisition of adolescents and adults.”

Projects Abroad Jamaica, which has its main country office in Mandeville, is partnering with the BridgIT Water Foundation in Australia among others for the funding of the project.

Grace-Ann McFarlane, regional director for the Southern Region of the Child Development Agency (CDA) said the facility will be of benefit to the work of her organisation.

“I am very happy that Projects Abroad has acquired the land for this facility. I am now looking forward to the completion of the home,” she said.

“Usually [when] children with HIV/AIDS come to our attention, and residential placement is needed, some facilities are reluctant to keep these children for long-term care and the ones (that) cater (specifically) for children with the illness are usually operating at their full capacity,” McFarlane explained.

Barrett said representatives from the partnering BridgIT Water Foundation are expected to visit the island in September, after which a timeline will be set for construction to begin.

The plans are for the “immunitiative” arm of the Belle Haven Centre, which focuses on the residential area for the children, to be “fully operational” by 2014-2015, organisers say.

To that end, Projects Abroad Jamaica has continued fund-raisers and other activities.

The schedule of upcoming events include a 5K Road Race and Health and Wellness Fair, a series of cricket matches, including retired cricketers from Australia starting at the Belle Haven Centre site, the official launch of the project, a fund-raising concert, and a World AIDS Month Celebration.

Projects Abroad, which has been in Jamaica since 2008, depends heavily on the short-term placements of an increasing number of international volunteers who work on various projects mainly in Manchester and St Elizabeth. Their efforts were acknowledged at the function.

Also recognised were Projects Abroad Jamaica office staff, host families of volunteers, host organisations and those responsible for transporting volunteers and staff.

It was announced at the function that Projects Abroad has also established an office in Montego Bay.

The cultural exchange promoted by Projects Abroad Jamaica was described as part of a larger network that works to the benefit of both the volunteers and the communities and organisations they serve.

Winsome Wilkins, chief executive officer of the Council of Voluntary Social Services, said that voluntary work such as that of Projects Abroad significantly impacts on national development.

The United Kingdom-based parent company of Projects Abroad was established in 1992 and now “sends nearly 8,000 volunteers each year to placements in twenty-eight countries spread across five continents.”