Sacha Walters, Staff Reporter

The 2007 National Leadership Prayer Breakfast is scheduled to take place on Thursday morning at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston. It has become something of a staple on our yearly calendar, but for most of us, the event may go by without much recognition.

What you may not realise, is that the National Leadership Prayer Breakfast provides much-needed funds to help numerous charities across the country. Today, we feature the charity which will benefit from the contributions received at this year's event.

Most people agree that pit latrines should be a thing of the past, and should no longer be used in our schools. Well, if the Build Jamaica Foundation has its way, this will be achieved across the island by the end of this year.

The foundation, which undertook an initiative to replace pit latrines with flush toilets in schools in 2003, has since constructed 25 facilities all over the island. This was after the foundation found that of 1,900 basic schools across the island, 600 were still using pit latrines.

"The majority are in the rural areas, but surprisingly, there are a lot of pit latrines in the Corporate Area," said Doreen Brown, coordinator of the programme.

The structures being built under the programme usually include four toilets, four bathroom sinks and a septic and water tank system.

Angella Vassell, administrator for the programme, said it was important to build the accompanying amenities, because often the schools do not have piped water. This means that the students neither have proper facilities to wash their hands nor a septic system which prevents waste from seeping into their water supply.

Miss Vassell said most of the pit latrines were in poor condition and were especially dangerous for the three to six-year-old children who have to use them. The programme, which is funded solely through contributions from the public, experienced setbacks after the devastating hurricanes of 2004 and 2005.

Build community spirit

Miss Brown said one of the group's mottos - 'A dollar a day to build JA' - helps to encourage Jamaicans to contribute to the cause.

"We are and will be appealing to Jamaica to help complete the project by the next school year or before," Miss Brown said.

Both women said the programme was not meant to be a hand-out to the schools and communities, rather parents, teachers and community members are expected to help, especially with labour to build a spirit of community.

"It has been a disappointment that we cannot harness that aspect of it," said Miss Brown, adding that most times, the charity has to pay for labour.

Contact: Build Jamaica Foundation at 754-8286.