A new school which was built under the Medianet Haiti Relief Fund (TMHRF) is to be called the Caricom Community School of Digue Matheux in honour of Caricom’s solidarity with the project.
A release from the Caricom Secretariat said that under the fund, 15 houses were also handed over to beneficiaries.
Assistant Secretary General in charge of Foreign and Community Relations Ambassador Colin Granderson, represented the Caricom Secretary-General at a handing over ceremony in Digue Matheux, a small farming community some 40 miles from Port-au-Prince.
In his remarks at the ceremony, Ambassador Granderson underscored three reasons that marked its importance. He expressed that it was the culmination of the fulfilment of a promise made by Ambassador Reginald Dumas, Chairman of the TMHRF following his service in 2004 as Special Adviser on Haiti to the United Nations Secretary General to continue to work with Haitians “to make a difference in Haiti.”
According to the release, he also pointed to the model nature of the Village Aid Project with regard to town planning strategies that would help to create viable sustainable communities.
He noted that the houses were storm and earthquake resistant, used solar energy and had running water and flush toilets.
Granderson explained the symbolic importance of the project as a gesture of solidarity from Caricom to the people of Haiti. In this regard, it was announced at the ceremony that the small school completed under the project would be called the Caricom Community School of Digue Matheux.
The TMHRF is a partnership between Ambassador Dumas and One Caribbean Media. Resources under the fund were acquired through contributions from citizens and private companies of the Caribbean Community.
Its priority areas of intervention include affordable housing, public health and education. The Village Project at Digue Matheux was adopted as the principal aid project of the TMHRF and is the most recent of a number of assistance projects in the priority areas identified.
Ambassador Reginald Dumas, Chairman of the TMHRF, Kelvin Scoon, the Fund’s Secretary, Danny Duvert, Parliamentary Representative for Digue Matheux, Ambassador Sandra Honore, Special Representative in Haiti of the United Nations Secretary General, Jean-Lesley Duret, the head of the enterprise that built the homes, village leaders and other members of the Digue Matheux community, also attended the ceremony.
