PACO, Grantley Adams to launch project assisting Haiti

As Barbadians observe Black History Month, the Pan African Coalition of Organisations (PACO) will be embarking on a national project to raise funds and tangible assistance to help the people of Haiti. One rural school will be playing a pivotal role in this process.

Fourth and fifth form students of the Grantley Adams Memorial School will be building solar cookers to be shipped to Haiti and distributed to those in need.

PACO announced during a press conference held at Pelican Village yesterday, that the project will be officially launched at the St. Joseph based school on Monday February 6, along with other activities scheduled to take place during this month.

Teacher at the school, Anthony Reid, who holds responsibility for spearheading the institution’s African awareness programme said the students will be constructing the devices, designed to use the heat from the sunlight to cook, under the instruction of Pan Africanist Adhim Muhammad.

Reid said, in addition to contributing to the worthy cause, the students who are working towards achieving their Caribbean Vocational Qualifications (CVQ’s) will be graded on the solar cookers they produce.

The teacher said the students currently have material to produce about 20 out of the 200 cookers they are aiming to construct over the next two years. It is estimated that one cooker cost at least BDS $300 to produce.

“The students are somewhat excited about it because they understand that they are doing something very important. The school has been struggling for sometime, but we have made every effort to try to find some areas that we can develop ourselves,” Reid said.

PACO’s public relations officer Baba John Howell said the Coalition was asking for assistance to help Haiti, in an effort to ease some of the emotional pain of the people, and repair infrastructural damage inflicted on that country by the occurrence of national disasters.

Howell reminded attendees that Haiti had made a tremendous contribution to African liberation in the Caribbean and he believes the people of that nation deserve to be assisted.

Members of PACO who are hoping to take the first batch of solar cookers to Haiti sometime in March, are also in talks with two local banks about setting up an account where Barbadians can make monetary donations to assist with the execution of the project.

The Coalition is also looking at collecting food items and specific plants to assist with the rebuilding of Haiti’s vegetation.

Some of the activities planned for Black Awareness Month include a fundraising dinner, an exhibition at the Black Rock Cultural Centre and a Bob Marley tribute scheduled to take place at Pelican Village on Monday evening at 6 pm. (AH)