Sarah’s Children charity donates tablets worth $4m to children islandwide
ST JAMES, Jamaica — Montego Bay-based international charity organisation Sarah’s Children has donated tablets worth $4 million to children across Jamaica to assist them in accessing and navigating online education, which became essential with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The presentation of the devices to recipients, including many in Montego Bay, took place recently and was the culmination of a one-year collection drive involving donations by Jamaicans here and overseas.
Major contributions to the initiative were received from overseas-based donors, including California based businesswoman Patricia Perry and The Whole Woman’s Natalie McKenzie, transport company Knutsford Express, which delivered the devices to towns across Jamaica within its bus routes and shipping company, RSD Express, which provided international shipping service free of cost.
The initiative, coordinated by Janet Silvera, chairman and founder of Sarah’s Children also involved the provision of phone credit to some recipients for the purchase of data plans for accessing the internet.
“This will benefit my child a lot. It will help him to do his school work. He had a tablet that was damaged and so he wasn’t able to log on to classes. Sometimes he would use a phone, but sometimes it doesn’t have good service. So, this tablet is a great help,” said Trevor Samuels, a parent.
Several students who received tablets expressed their appreciation noting that possession of their own devices will mean that they can access online learning more consistently without having to wait until their parents or other adult relatives were at home to use their mobile phones.
Among the recipients were the children of several vendors at the Montego Bay Craft Market.
President of the Harbour Street Craft Market Vendors Association, Melody Haughton, noted that with tourism, on which they depend for a livelihood, having been affected severely by the pandemic, vendors were facing great financial difficulties. She expressed the gratitude of the association and its members for being included in the initiative.
“Many of the children of our vendors couldn’t participate in online school. We would have been thankful even if only one child of our members received a tablet. We are even more grateful that so many have received,” Haughton said.
