SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland — Male students at Little London High School no longer have to be jealous that the girls’ restroom is nicer than theirs. Last Friday, a group of alumni called Global Humanity Network Incorporated (GHNI) donated $1.5 million that will be used to spruce up the boys’ restroom, as was done for the girls last December.

“Little London is very special to that organisation and we were able to get them to come on board and partner with us. The area of concern really was that the male students felt really jealous about the female bathroom. They felt that they were being marginalised, and we do not roll like that at Little London High School. Our objective and our goal is to provide holistic development for every student, and they came on board to actually provide the financial backing that was necessary to transform the male bathroom and bring it in line with that of the females,” said Principal Garfield James.

GHNI, which was founded in January 2022, mainly consists of past students of the Little London High School. It is a non-profit, humanitarian organisation that aims to provide assistance to underdeveloped communities. The high school is one of the organisation’s beneficiaries.

One of the founders of GHNI, Dr Laxley Stephenson, said he and other co-founders who were alumni of the school saw it as their obligation to give back to their alma mater.

“We were compelled to do something to give back because this is the institution that nurtured our early development. That was one of the motivating factors, not just that we are here but it played such a fundamental role in our development,” Stephenson told the Jamaica Observer.

“I keep hearing the comments, that they’re thankful. We’re grateful that we have this opportunity to come here and hopefully change the lives of a few of the students here…We decided that life’s been good to us, so we need to show gratitude. We need to give back because we can; we need to lift others,” he added.

They have already established a programme to feed needy children.

“We have implemented our ‘Helping Hands’ initiative. We shipped barrels of food to this very institution and that is something that we’re going to be doing consistently, because you can’t educate anyone unless they are nourished,” Stephenson said.

Other projects are also in the works, not just for the school but for the wider community.

“We are exploring how best we can implement our mentorship programmes. We had discussions with the principal, the vice-principal and other staff to find out what the needs are so that we can help. We have already raised money for our next project, at least US$25,000. In June we’re coming back to renovate the physical education building, and our next thing is to build a state-of-the-art community centre to serve this institution and all the surrounding communities,” Stephenson said.

He stressed that although the organisation is fairly young, they are committed to doing work that will aid in the betterment of the community.

Also present to share in the festivities was director for the Ministry of Education’s Region Four, Dr Michelle Pinnock.

“We’re grateful for the donation, we’re grateful for the focus on the infrastructure, but we’re more so grateful for the fact that members are able to come back. They’re able to interact with students and they’re able to mentor students and be able to guide them on a one-on-one basis towards maximising their potential — and that means a lot to us in region four,” Pinnock told the Observer.

“Here we believe in developing the whole person and we believe that it is through the village approach that we’re going to be able to uplift each and every child. So, undaunted despite all the things happening, we want to make sure that we get our children to understand that there is hope, and of course that we must remain positive,” she continued.

She said donations such as the one made by GHNI will further aid in the development of schools in western Jamaica, and she is hoping it will inspire others to give back.

“We’re very grateful to Global Humanity Network Incorporated, and I am sure that because of their presence other persons are going to want to come on board — and together we will be able to surround our young people and really uplift each person, one by one,” said Pinnock.