BY HORACE HINES

Observer West reporter

HAGUE, Trelawny — An invitation has been thrown out to Trelawny residents to partner with the Trelawny campus of the University of Technology (UTech) in nurturing indigenous plants for research in the treatment of maladies.

The request was made by Professor Geraldene Hodelin, principal of the Trelawny campus of UTech, which is headquartered at the old Baptist manse in Falmouth, during her address at the recent re-launch of the Hague Citizens Association/ Neighbourhood Watch in the parish.

“So right now I am on the lookout for all kinds of indigenous herbs and spices so I can at least learn about them, plant them, grow them and use them as part of the university research,” Professor Hodelin disclosed.

“So I am publicly inviting you now to be a part of it, and if you have some things in your backyard now, bring one in a little container to me and you will become a part of my research.”

The senior UTech official noted that a plot of land at the institution’s Trelawny headquarters will be used for the cultivation of herbs for the proposed research project, among other things.

“Right now we are going to initiate a herb garden around the manse and it will not just be a beautiful herb garden for the beautiful smell and the aroma which will attract the tourists. But we want at some point to take that herb and process it to create a product, but also to use it in research to look at ailment management,” she explained.

In the meantime, Professor Hodelin underscored the need for Trelawny residents to signal to the university the programmes that they are interested in pursuing.

“We will start off with some things that we are familiar with because you can only begin with what you know, but we won’t know what is needed until you tell us. So don’t say I wish UTech will do this or that. How come they not doing this or that? Because if you don’t tell us we won’t know,” she argued.

Meanwhile, President of the Hague Citizens Association/ Neighbourhood Watch, Joan Findlator, has hailed members of her executive for revitalising the movement, while commander of the Trelawny Police Division, Superintendent Dermot Lawrence, implored the residents of Hague to sustain and keep the movement alive.