A NEW school, built under the Medianet Haiti Relief Fund (TMHRF), is to be called the CARICOM Community School of Digue Matheux, Haiti, in honour of CARICOM’s solidarity with the project.
Assistant Secretary-General in charge of Foreign and Community Relations, Ambassador Colin Granderson represented the CARICOM Secretary-General at the ceremony in a small farming community, some 40 miles from the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.In his remarks on the occasion, Mr. Granderson underlined three reasons that marked its importance:
* It was the culmination of the fulfillment of a promise made by Ambassador Reginald Dumas, Chairman of the TMHRF following his service in 2004 as Special Adviser on Haiti to the United Nations Secretary-General to continue working with Haitians “to make a difference in Haiti’;
* the model nature of the Village Aid Project with regard to town planning strategies that would help to create viable sustainable communities and
* that the houses were storm and earthquake resistant, use solar energy and included running water and flush toilets.
The TMHRF is a partnership between Ambassador Dumas and One Caribbean Media. Resources under the fund were acquired through contributions from citizens and private companies of the Caribbean Community.
Its priority areas of intervention include affordable housing, public health and education.
Meanwhile, the Village Project at Digue Matheux was adopted as the principal aid scheme of the TMHRF, and is the most recent of a number of such assistance programmes in the priority areas identified.
The function brought together Ambassador Reginald Dumas, Chairman of the TMHRF; Kelvin Scoon, the Fund’s Secretary; Danny Duvert, Parliamentary Representative for Digue Matheux; Ambassador Sandra Honore, Special Representative in Haiti of the United Nations Secretary-General; Jean-Lesley Duret, Head of the enterprise that built the homes; village leaders and other members of the Digue Matheux community.
Under the fund, 15 houses were also handed over to beneficiaries.