By Omar Anderson, Gleaner WriterTHE MONA campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) yesterday donated $100,000 to help Haitian refugees here, and invited all sectors of the society to follow suit.
The money, which will be deposited in a special fund at the Premier Plaza branch of Bank of Nova Scotia, in St. Andrew, was donated by the Office of Vice Chancellor Rex Nettleford, who is president of the Council of Voluntary Social Services (CVSS).
The office's $50,000 contribution was matched by the UWI's School for Graduate Studies and Research, headed by Professor Errol Morrison, who is also CVSS chairman.
The account number is 905933, and contributors can donate money from any BNS branch islandwide.
CULTURAL AWARENESS
Besides the monetary donation, Haitian students from the university's language laboratory will be visiting the Haitians to teach them about Jamaica's culture.
Meanwhile, Prof. Nettleford said the university's decision to help the Haitians, rests on the fact that they are our Caribbean neighbours.
"The material assistance needed has to be seriously taken into account," he said at a press briefing on the campus. "It would be irresponsible of us to turn them back to their death."
Describing the situation in Haiti as a "very serious crisis," Professor Nettleford added there was a strange paradox that the nearly month-long violence culminated when Haiti was commemorating its 200th year as a sovereign nation.
OBLIGATION TO NEIGHBOURS
"We in the UWI have a real responsibility, but more so CVSS, which is joining hands with all other voluntary organisations in the country to ensure that these people are properly treated and feel they have a home away from home," said the Vice Chancellor.
He added that the UWI's HIV/AIDS Response Programme (UWI HARP) will also be lending a hand in addressing the medical needs of the Haitians. "We see that as part and parcel of the health care programme," Prof. Nettleford said.
Yesterday, representatives of Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and the Adventist Disaster Response Agency (ADRA) gave brief but encouraging reports of assistance their organisation has been lending since the Haitians have arrived here in Portland.
In addition, companies like Grace, Kennedy and Company and Jamaica Broilers have donated food products.
Beverley Sutherland-Lewis, development manager at the National Registry of Volunteers, a project of the UWI, said a number of organisations have already expressed a desire to help when the Haitians are relocated to Montpelier in St. James.
Among them, she said, were the United States Peace Corps, the western region of the Association of General Practitioners, the Social Development Commission, Rotary Club of Lucea, the Montego Bay Roman Catholic Diocese, and Food for the Poor.
She said persons wishing to volunteer or contribute to the Haitians' cause can call the National Registry of Volunteers at the UWI, at 702-3641 or 970-0279, or e-mail voluntrs@uwimona.edu.jm.
