A September to remember – Jamaica Observer

In this month of September, we will celebrate Jamaica’s seniors, while the Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA) Jamaica 580 Branch will have several events to commemorate the Battle of Britain and Jamaica’s deaf community will observe Deaf Awareness Month.

Minister of Labour and Social Security Pearnel Charles Jr launched the month last Wednesday, with the National Council for Senior Citizens (NCSC) marking its 50th anniversary with the theme ‘Honouring a Golden Legacy, Shaping a Bold Future’. We heard much of the NCSC’s history from Professor Denise Eldemire Shearer, who had served the organisation for 45 years.

She noted the Vienna International Plan of Action on Ageing (VIPA), the first international policy document on ageing adopted at the 1982 World Assembly on Ageing. It outlined 62 recommendations across sectors, which are being considered by an Intergovernmental Working Group of the UN to create a legally binding UN Convention on the Rights of Older Persons.

Professor Eldemire Shearer emphasised active ageing and reminded us that grandparents play a vital role in supporting families. She called for caregiving to be designated a job by the ministry so the attendant government benefits can be enjoyed by those family members who quit their jobs to care for elderly relatives. She ended her address by urging Minister Charles to expedite the elderly protection legislation.

Last Friday, the NCSC held its annual Seniors Spelling Bee Championship, masterfully won by 64-year-old retired police sergeant Veronica Richards Whittaker of the Emmanuel Senior Citizens Club, St Mary. Runners-up were Andrew Green of St Andrew and Jacqueline Mullings of Manchester.

CCRP looks forward to participating in the NCSC Ageing Fair and Park Walk at Emancipation Park this Thursday, September 10. Once again, Juici Patties Jamaica will roll out the red carpet for its Lyming on the Verandah event at Clarendon Park. Juici has been quietly supporting seniors and government infirmaries for decades.

On World Alzheimer’s Day, September 21, the NCSC will have a sensitisation session with the Jamaica Constabulary Force, and on National Grandparents’ Day, observed on September 27, it will hold the Seniors 3K Purple Run/Walk at The University of the West Indies, Mona. Please participate in these events, all towards active ageing.

Deaf and Productive

If you knew the work of the Jamaica Association for the Deaf (JAD) and the Caribbean Christian Centre for the Deaf (CCCD), you would join me in affirming the noteworthy achievements of our deaf community.

When I send my precious vintage books to the bindery at the JAD, they are returned with expertly stitched hardcovers and titles printed in gold. On each of the three campuses of the CCCD — Kingston, Manchester, and St James — there is a boarding school, and the agricultural and manufacturing activities are built on a foundation of faith and excellence. The popular DeafCan! Coffee Company started on the Cassia Park campus in Kingston and now boasts a stand-alone café in New Kingston.

CCCD will host a Deaf Culture Day at its Jamaica Deaf Village in Knockpatrick, Manchester, on Friday, September 27.

Jamaican-born Claudia Gordon, the first deaf black woman lawyer in the US, has been joining in Deaf Awareness Month events.

The former chair of the Committee for Persons with Disabilities under US President Barack Obama’s Administration noted, “No matter where life or my career takes me, those humble roots remain an important part of who I am…Time with my two eldest aunties, who are 89 and 90, is especially precious to me.

“Giving back is equally important. This week, I returned to St Christopher’s School for the Deaf in Brown’s Town with another round of post-Hurricane Melissa donations, particularly books, to help replenish the school library, which suffered severe damage and is being rebuilt from the ground up. I also had the opportunity to offer words of gratitude and encouragement to Principal Lavern Stewart Barnett and the school’s dedicated teachers and staff…And, of course, no trip feels complete without a visit to DeafCan! Coffee…It brings me tremendous joy to witness its continued growth and expansion.”

Royal Air Forces Association Jamaica 580 Branch commemorates the Battle of Britain in September.

September Morning

Yesterday, in Jamaican parlance, was “September morning”, the day when our schools reopen for the 2026-27 academic year. Our Education Minister Dr Dana Morris Dixon has put a great deal of effort into having damaged schools repaired, including a surprise visit to the Manning’s School in Savanna-la-Mar, where she discovered that work seemed to have been at a virtual standstill.

There have been claims of signed renovation contracts, but past due payments in some instances. We heard this just a week before the reopening of schools. We have multiple media channels which could be utilised by parent-teacher association members to put pressure on the authorities. Members of Parliament and councillors should have been pounding the pavement to get these schools ready.

We are encouraged by Minister Dixon Morris’s concern about the lengthy list of books, some remaining unused at the end of the academic year. With education resources online, it is time that students carry less weight from those back-breaking schoolbags.

Regarding transportation, it is hard to understand why there is so much controversy around the provision of rural school buses. Since their introduction, we have not heard of any multiple road tragedies involving students as we had in the past. We cannot make perfection the enemy of the good.

Dr Dana Morris Dixon (Photo: Horace Hines)

RTA Demerit Point System

Transport Minister Daryl Vaz announced on Friday that the Road Traffic Act Demerit Point System is under review and will, therefore, not be implemented on October 1 as previously announced.

Minister Vaz said the review will “allow the Government and all stakeholders to carefully consider and address the recommendations arising from the consultations, and to ensure that the necessary amendments to legislation and regulations needed, along with public awareness, are fully in place for a smooth, orderly, and effective transition into the new system”.

Earlier this year, Minister Vaz had posted on social media, “The lawlessness on our roads has become routine, and as we push for behavioural reform, the Transport Ministry has partnered with the Jamaica Constabulary Force and the Ministry of Justice to implement the long-overdue Demerit Point System…The system mechanism is designed to track traffic violations and disqualify habitual offenders from driving for specified periods based on the accumulation of points.”

Battle of Britain Commemoration

RAFA Jamaica will be holding events to commemorate the Battle of Britain — a major World War II air campaign fought from July 10 to October 31, 1940 — when the British Royal Air Force successfully defended the United Kingdom against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany’s air force. These include a church service, a wreath-laying ceremony, and the annual Battle of Britain Dinner.

Jean Lowrie-Chin is an author and executive chair of PROComm, PRODEV, and CCRP.