By Tanya Batson-Savage, Staff ReporterJAZZ ARTISTES and poets will be joining their artistic skills this Sunday to help to raise funds for the Sickle Cell Support Club of Jamaica (SCSCJ). 'Jazz and Poetry for Sickle Cell', set for the Weekendz Bar and Bistro, Constant Spring Road, St. Andrew, will be the first major fund-raiser being put on by the SCSCJ in an effort to raise funds to create a Sickle Cell Entrepreneurial Fund. Beneficiaries of the fund will be able to start income-generating projects.
When the The Gleaner spoke to the major organiser of 'Jazz and Poetry for Sickle Cell' and one of the founders of the SCSCJ, Camille Daley, she pointed out that the group did not have a set target of money they would like to raise. She said that the group would love to have $500,000 dollars to start the fund, but they do not expect to raise all the money from this concert.
The performance roster should allow them to bring in a decent crowd for the event. In keeping with that expectation, the organisers have arranged for secure parking in four nearby areas.
The Princeville Plaza parking lot, just across the road from Weekendz, is one of the parking venues. Parking will also be provided on the compounds of the Eastern Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Life Music and Krystal Auto Care.
The jazz segment will feature the vocals stylings of Karen Smith, Pam Hall and Christine Fisher. Fisher will be accompanied by pianist Alex Martin-Blanken. The Maurice Gordon Jazz Quartet and Tony Green are the additional musicians for the evening.
Connie Bell, a poet who mixes jazz and blues with her verse, will be the headlining poet for the evening. The alternately smooth and cutting lyrics of Dingo will also be featured. 'Jazz and Poetry for Sickle Cell' will also provide a little dub poetry, since Mutabaruka will be making a guest appearance.
WORTHY CAUSE
According to a release sent to The Gleaner, the entrepreneurial fund is necessary because of the difficulties many sickle cell patients have in finishing school. Since one in every 150 Jamaicans suffer from sickle cell, it is by no means a very rare disease. However, it is rare enough for there to be sufficient harmful ignorance surrounding it.
One of the major results of suffering from sickle cell is the formation of a leg ulcer. Daley points out that children suffering from leg ulcers are often stopped from school not merely because the schools do not want them, but because of their parents' embarrassment.
The hereditary disease also causes pain, bone damage, jaundice and lethargy, all of which can affect a child's ability to attend school. As such, without great vigilance on the parent's part, Daley said, a child's education can easily suffer.
Daley says that the grant will be given according to need and the profitability of the applicant's project. She noted that the entrepreneurial fund is willing to look at a wide cross-section of businesses, including "buying and selling", dressmaking or tailoring, and graphic design.
Although the money given is to be a grant, recipients will have to return five per cent of their profits to the fund in order to ensure its continuity, Daley said.
As well as raise funds and entertain, 'Jazz and Poetry for Sickle Cell' will also continue the SCSCJ's efforts to inform the public about the disease.
