ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica -The JN Foundation, through its JN Circle Junction chapter, has donated reading materials and furniture to establish a reading centre for the community of Alligator Pond, a fishing village, in Manchester, to support improving literacy levels among children and adults in the area.

The facility was officially opened to the community recently.

Bobbeth Clarke, principal of the Alligator Pond Early Childhood Institution, where the facility is located, commended the JN Circle Junction chapter for recognising the importance of literacy and taking concrete steps to updgrade the reading centre.

“After careful evaluation and analysis, they determined that a reading centre was necessary. This project will generate a culture shift in the community, one that places greater focus on reading and education,” Clarke emphasised.

Shavocka Swaby, assistant teacher at the Alligator Pond Early Childhood Institution, highlighted the centre’s potential to bridge literacy gaps.

“When we were setting up this morning, a parent came in and asked about the programme. She didn’t hesitate to ask if it would also be open to adults,” she shared. The question, she noted, reinforced the widespread need for literacy support across all age groups

Acknowledging the time constraints within traditional classroom setting, Swaby underscored the importance of providing additional opportunities for children to read. “The time spent on reading in school is often not enough. This centre will provide a space where children can engage in reading activities after school, helping them build stronger literacy skills,” she said.

The initiative has already sparked enthusiasm within the community, with volunteers eager to contribute their time and expertise. Discussions are ongoing about incorporating a variety of reading materials beyond the school curriculum to further enhance learning.

Clarke urged community members to embrace the opportunity.

“We must use every available resource to support our children’s learning. This centre is more than a space— it is a steppingstone to a brighter future for our youth and adults alike ,” said Clarke.

KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Government will seed the first $200 million to the HOPE for Children Trust Fund, under which any Jamaican child born on or after the 60th anniversary of the country’s Independence (August 6, 2022), who is part of a PATH household or a ward of the State, will be eligible to register.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness said the ground-breaking fund which was first announced at the Jamaica Labour Party’s annual conference last year, is aimed at breaking the cycle of generational poverty.

“We are making progress with determining the legal structure of the fund and examining options for how the fund will be managed and administered and I am pleased to report that during the upcoming financial year, the Government will seed the fund with $200 million,” Holness said.

He was speaking Thursday during his contribution to the 2025/26 Budget Debate at Gordon House.

Women affected by the chronic condition of endometriosis are not only grappling with the physical, emotional and mental impact of the disease, but also the high costs associated with treatment to manage the disorder.

Cherie Raynor, who has stage three endometriosis, received a rude awakening nearly nine years ago about the costs involved in merely diagnosing the disease – an often painful condition in which tissue similar to the inner lining of the womb grows in other parts of the body.

“I was diagnosed in August 2016, and then in October they said I should have surgery by December, but that didn’t happen. I sought multiple quotes for the procedure, and the first doctor quoted me a million dollars. I thought, ‘Where am I supposed to find a million dollars?” the 31-year-old recounted.

After a long search for the most affordable laparoscopy, a minimally invasive surgical procedure used by surgeons to confirm diagnosis and treat endometriosis, Raynor opted to go with a familiar face.

“When you see the difference in cost between the doctors in Jamaica for the surgeries, it’s ridiculous. The amount I ended up paying was with my mother’s doctor. Life came full circle. He’s my doctor to this day. He was the most affordable and, I believe, the best person to have operated on me, which is (noted obstetrician and gynecologist) Dr Michael Abrahams. He makes me feel comfortable, so the whole process was a lot easier to go through,” Raynor said, adding that the surgery confirmed that she had endometriosis.

Raynor noted that, prior to her diagnosis, she had a regular menstrual cycle, but for two weeks she experienced prolonged bleeding.

“I had a regular cycle from prep school going straight to university, and then one day I just couldn’t stop bleeding for like two weeks straight, which would have been odd. I found that weird, and then I was having all sorts of pains. I never understood what it was, and I went to the doctor, doing test after test, until I went to a radiologist, and they gave me a piece of paper that said endometriosis with question marks. I didn’t even know what it was.

“So I have a disease that I didn’t even know existed. So when I got the paper, I asked them, ‘Okay, so what’s next?’ And they said surgery is the only way you can diagnose endometriosis. To hear something like that, most people don’t want to just get cut open like that. So it was a very strange experience and an expensive one because I wasn’t just going to take it at getting one piece of paper from somebody to say, ‘Okay, I’m going to let somebody put me under anaesthesia and cut inside of me,” Raynor said.

In addition to the cost of diagnosing the disease, women affected by endometriosis also face high prices for menstrual care products, injections, and alternative medicine, according to Sandina Davis, who is also battling stage three endometriosis.

“If the average woman uses one pack per month, that’s not me. That’s not, I’m not the average woman, right? And so the cost of menstrual care products is something to consider,” the 29-year-old Davis said. “What I do is I travel annually to visit my twin. I stock up on my care products when I travel, and I bring back the whole bunch of them. And that suffices for maybe a good nine months until I go again because it’s not going to be feasible for me to be picking up the stuff in the supermarket.”

Additionally, Davis shared that women with endometriosis can easily spend millions on treatment annually due to the ongoing need for prescriptions, surgeries, and holistic approaches.

KINGSTON, Jamaica— Prime Minister Andrew Holness has hit back at claims by the People’s National Party (PNP) that they— and not the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP)— started Jamaica on the road to fiscal discipline.

Opposition Spokesman on Finance, Julian Robinson declared this to be a “PNP baby” and stated that if Holness said otherwise he would be claiming a “jacket”

He made the statement during his contribution to the 2025/26 Budget Debate on March 13. Both Robinson and Opposition Leader Mark Golding asserted that the JLP and Jamaicans are benefiting from what the PNP started.

However, Holness shot back during his contribution to the debate on Thursday at Gordon House.

“True to their bipolar nature, the PNP wants to claim paternity after causing the mother – the people – so much hardship. In the 2023 budget, the leader of the opposition complained that the government was moving too fast to reduce debt, he advocated that we abandon the fiscally responsible path, use J$40b (in other words, party with the rent money) from debt repayment to spend on temporary relief. In this Budget, when he sees the amazing benefit of reducing the debt to 68 per cent (of GDP), he is now claiming that the reduction in the debt is due to the PNP’s faithfulness to fiscal prudence,” Holness said.

“This reminds me of the classic tale of what we call in Jamaica the “wutliss” father who causes the mother so much pain, and then abandons the child, but when the child grows up to be successful, out of the blue they turn up to claim paternity and associate with the success.

The leader of the opposition is a man of convenience, flip flopping between prudence and popularity when it suits him. One minute he disowns the child of fiscal discipline and then the next he claims the child of fiscal discipline. The mother remembers the pain of Finsac and the high interest rate policy, the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich, and she knows that she cannot trust this “wutliss” man, so she did the DNA test, and the results are in, when it comes to 15 year-old Fiscal Discipline, PNP you are NOT the father,” Holness stated to laughter and desk banging from Government members.

“Yes, your name was called, but it is another Golding that is the father,” he added, a reference that former Prime Minister Bruce Golding was responsible for setting Jamaica on the road to fiscal discipline.