THE former Winnifred Rest Home in Fairy Hill, Portland is enjoying a rebirth with the community-focused entity Portland Arts and Vocational Education (PAVE) acquiring the property and starting operations there exactly 100 years after its doors were first opened.

“One hundred years to the day, we were able to inaugurate Winifred with a new purpose, similar but new purpose, and that purpose is to rejuvenate the lives, young lives here in Port Antonio with job skills and life skills and with faith to build new lives for themselves and their family,” PAVE Chairman Al Merritt told the Jamaica Observer during the opening ceremony last Friday.

“The vision for this property is to teach practical skills such as woodworking, cooking, raising fowl [chickens]… hydroponic farming, gardening, sewing, all these types of practical skills to create economic benefits here in Port Antonio,” said Merritt

Winnifred Rest Home was initially operated by a group of churches with Christian entities using the property for meetings, retreats and recreation.

The last public use of the property was in March 2004 when a group of 51 Haitians, who landed in Portland, were housed there before they were deported.

Over the years the property has not been maintained and the main building left in a state of disrepair.

“When we bought this property, it was completely overgrown. The house was in complete disrepair, and [PAVE co-founder] Gulu Chanrai said, ‘wouldn’t it be wonderful if a year from now, we could have an event like this and re-consecrate this land for the community of Portland’,” added Meritt.

He told the Observer that with the purchase of the property PAVE will be doing more than its educational activities as it will include some of what the original owners did.

“We will be able to host mission teams coming from abroad… They will come and teach in the various disciplines on the property, and do community projects around here, Vacation Bible School, and work with other churches in the community. That’s the vision for this property. We are really hoping that it will be accepted by this community. We want to have good neighbours, and we want to be a good neighbour,” added Merritt in obvious reference to squatters who now occupy sections of the 120-acre property.

According to Merritt, the four acres to be used by PAVE are, “the absolute best location of the property, and that’s where we’re standing right now. The breeze is always blowing. The spirit of God is flowing through here. You see the sea in front, the beautiful mountains behind. This land is blessed and we are blessed to be a part of it. Praise God.”

Meanwhile Chanrai told the Observer that the formal opening of the PAVE facility marked an important step in its work and reflects its intention to create, “a practical, well-run space where skills are taught, work is respected, and people are prepared for real opportunities”.

According to Chanrai, it was a lot of hard work to have the facility reopen on the day it first opened its doors 100 years ago with donors and benefactors playing a major role.

“They stepped up, saw the vision that we have over here, and helped us to create it. As you can see, what we are doing over here and what we are planning to do is practical knowledge… not theory,” said Chanrai as he pointed out that at the end of a programme, which will run for some five months, the young students will receive a certificate of competence.

“The long-term goal is that they then develop the skills even further, and using micro-finance and other opportunities… to start their own business. We want people to be entrepreneurs. We want people to grow individually in their community with their partners. We are a partner over here in this community, and we hope to serve everybody who comes over here… This is the beginning. There’s a lot more to do,” declared Chanrai.

PAVE has been endorsed by Portland Eastern Member of Parliament Isat Buchanan who declared his pleasure at being part of the historic launch.

“One 100 years ago people stood here in commemoration of this very spot, and to see us here standing a 100 years later to do something that I am passionate about, which is youth development. Any opportunity to give youth — and in these circumstances the youth of Portland — a second opportunity, a second bite at the apple to be progressive, has to be commended, and I’m supporting PAVE 100 per cent and all the stakeholders who participated and contributed,” said Buchanan.

“The multiple projects, the multiple disciplines that PAVE is offering the youth — and it is another way for persons to be certified in having the ability to survive and strive and progress in a space where often times people are saying, we need your certification in order for you to get a job, and we need to know, so I’m excited.

“I have heard about the hospitality program that is going to take place here, and I’m looking forward and will certainly be encouraging and sending youth — who want that opportunity to be progressive — to this location. We will have talks about partnering and how best we can strengthen the programme to ensure that the youth have something productive to do and become progressive members of society. So don’t take it lightly when we talk about second opportunities,” added Buchanan as he promised the administrators of PAVE they they will get his full support.

“That is true, and you have my word on that. Anything that will enhance the life of youth across Jamaica, not just Portland — and this may actually be an opportunity for PAVE to expand across Jamaica — there’s no greater thing than to lead by example, and the proof is always in the pudding, so that’s what we’re going to do,” declared Buchanan .

In the meantime, Nasha Johnson, operations director and acting principal of the PAVE Centre, used the opening ceremony to share details of its background and mission.

“The institution started in 2018, catering to at-risk youth where we offered vocational training for people in the community between the ages of 17 and 30. We offered nine disciplines and we are now introducing poultry farming. We have done vocational training in hospitality, security, lifeguard, interior decorating and we are very excited to start the agriculture training on this campus.

”We have graduated 417 people and we currently have about 30 in training. With the launch of the poultry class, we will have maybe another 20 persons enrolled and we are well received in the community,” said Johnson.

She told the Observer that PAVE has not advertised its offerings but the students have been telling others in their communities about the programme and these people have been signing up.

“At PAVE, you are a part of a family where you are nurtured, you are included, and you are cared for. We care about the well-being of our students. Those are some of the things that they appreciate and tell others to come and be a part of it” added Johnson.

According to Johnson, PAVE is seen as a second chance for youth.

“A lot of who we cater to are people who dropped out of high school for whatever the reason. Females get pregnant etc. What I find — because I do an interview with them before they enrol into the programme — a lot of them just stopped going to school for financial reasons, sometimes they were expelled from a school for… delinquent behaviour and so they feel like that is the end for them.

“When they come to PAVE we don’t require them to have any subjects. We kind of get to understand what their goals are and then we guide them accordingly. They are given the opportunity to take that next step by certifying them in different skill areas that they can secure employment. Today we have had a 75 per cent success rate,” said Johnson as she claimed that the majority of PAVE graduates are either employed or have started their own businesses.

Johnson said PAVE partners with the Stenden University [of Applied Sciences] in the Netherlands which provides two professors to do a five month intensive training in entrepreneurship in Jamaica each year.

“We have birthed about three or four businesses and those businesses are employing our students. We are very successful and well received in terms of this programme. People appreciate what we are doing as we are teaching them to fish for themselves, not just getting. We’re teaching them to be self-sustaining, economically, mentally, and emotionally,” added Johnson.

Member of Parliament for Portland Eastern Isat Buchanan endorsing the new PAVE facility in Fairy Hill in the constituency. (Photo: Everard Owen)

Nasha Johnson, operations director and acting principal of the PAVE Centre, delivering her address during the opening of the new facility last Friday. (Photo: Everard Owen)

Cutting the ribbon for the official opening of the new PAVE facility at the former Winnifred Rest Home in Fairy Hill, Portland are (from left) Audra Handal, Evon Rees, Al Merritt, Gulu Chanrai, Galvin Weston, and Yvonne Ridguard-Harris (Photo: Everard Owen)