HAVING her school visited by royalty on Monday evoked feelings of pleasure and honour for Violet Thomas-Thompson, principal of Victoria Primary and Infant School in Clarendon.

However, even after receiving pleasant greetings and a small token from Crown Prince of Norway Haakon Magnus, she said the institution was wanting.

“It is an amazing feeling. I am a past student of this school and I am now serving as principal. This school opened in 1995 and in all our history, we have never had such a visit. It is truly a blessing,” Thomas-Thompson said.

The crown prince began a three-day visit to Jamaica on Monday in his capacity as global goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which has been partnering with other organisations to implement programmes to enhance climate adaptation and human security.

Victoria Primary is one institution that has been a beneficiary of one such project — a rainwater harvesting system and a solar panel.

But while the school’s principal expressed gratitude for the assistance, she pointed out on Monday that help is still needed to sustain certain aspects of the system as well as to implement other programmes that will benefit students and the wider community.

“We benefited from the project which is a collaboration between UNDP and the Japan Caribbean Climate Change Partnership (JCCCP). The JCCCP is into sustainable development as it relates to climate change and water harvesting is big on their list. We were very fortunate enough to receive a project through the Clarendon Parish Benevolent Society.

“We benefited in the form of a water harvesting project as well as a solar panel on one of our blocks, which currently houses our upper school. The water harvesting has helped us tremendously because, prior to the project, we would have to dismiss school on some days at 12:00 pm because we would run out of water. If you can remember, the country was experiencing a terrible drought, so with the partners coming onboard, we would have seen tremendous changes in terms of water and we don’t have to send home the children anymore,” said the principal.

“One student told me that he used to hate when I used to come around and say, ‘Listen, children, I have to send you home because there is no water’. Since we got the project we have not dismissed because of water issues and this is from 2018 until now. The Ministry of Education came onboard, too, and furnished us with some black tanks as well. The councillor for the area, Mr Collin Henry, also gave us some black tanks to bolster the project,” the principal said, while also pointing out that the water project in particular extends to the wider community which is located in Victoria District, Thompson Town.

She said that prior to the project, many residents, including subsistence farmers, would have to take their donkeys to catch water. Since the installation of the water catchment system, the need for people to go to fetch water at rivers and gullies has lessened drastically, she noted.

At the same time, the principal said the school does not have the money to purchase two batteries for the panel.

“The batteries we got have outlived their time. Right now we are trying to source some batteries but they are very expensive. The gentleman who usually services the batteries suggested that we change the type of battery and use the ones that don’t need the servicing,” she said, adding that one costs $130,000.

Eurica Douglas, general manager of Clarendon Parish Development Committee Benevolent Society, who wrote the proposal for Victoria Primary to receive the water harvesting project and the solar panel, said she did not get the opportunity to appeal directly to the prince for more assistance, but highlighted the need for maintenance as more than 10,000 residents from Victoria and adjoining communities depend on the water system.