标签： Barbados

As Barbadian families gear up for a new academic year, leading regional telecommunications provider Flow has stepped beyond traditional product promotions to deliver meaningful, community-centered support to hundreds of students – particularly those from low-income and vulnerable households – through a expanded two-day back-to-school giveback activation held September 4 and 5.

Building on the success of a small-scale community outreach hosted at the same site in 2023, the first day of the 2024 initiative kicked off at Flow’s Customer Experience Centre in Windsor Lodge, St Michael. For this year’s event, Flow deepened its long-standing partnership with the One Family Programme, a national government initiative overseen by Barbados’ Ministry of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs that works to help vulnerable households move beyond reliance on traditional welfare toward long-term self-sufficiency. This collaboration allowed the organizers to prioritize access for students who face the greatest financial barriers to preparing for the new school term.

Attendees on opening day enjoyed a full schedule of family-friendly activities beyond core assistance, including face painting, interactive games, live music, and art activities. One of the most popular highlights of the day was complimentary haircuts and braiding provided pro bono by local business Gomez Barber Studio, a small touch that helped many students start the school year feeling confident and polished. Local food and beverage producers including Pinehill Dairy, Banks Holdings Limited, WIBISCO, and Smiley Sno-Cones donated all snacks and drinks for the event, turning the day into a collective community effort.

Flow’s own employees played a central role in creating a warm, inclusive atmosphere for attendees, with the event adopting a fun “Rep Your Alma Mater” theme that saw staff and local social media influencers show off their former schools’ colors, ties, and nostalgic memorabilia.

The activation moved to Bridgetown’s National Heroes Square for its second day, where the focus expanded to include all participating Flow customers alongside supported students. Attendees were able to browse the company’s official back-to-school product offers while taking part in on-site entertainment, prize giveaways, and reward programs. A popular “Spin to Win” game offered attendees the chance to claim gift vouchers and merchandise from leading Barbadian retailers including Massy Stores, Abed’s, and Bridgetown Duty Free, while complimentary back-to-school breakfast bundles were distributed to guests. Additional high-value prizes included Samsung tablets and tickets to matches in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), the region’s premier T20 cricket competition, with extra CPL-branded giveaways distributed throughout the day. Local popular artist and Flow brand representative DoeJay provided on-site entertainment to cap off the afternoon.

Toni Yarde, Senior Communications Manager at Flow, emphasized that the community-focused initiative is a core reflection of the company’s long-term commitment to investing in the communities it serves. “Back to school is such an exciting milestone for kids, but we also know it puts enormous financial strain on many families across Barbados,” Yarde explained. “That’s why we chose to do more than just push back-to-school device and plan promotions. We wanted to create something that was meaningful, practical, and also fun for kids and their whole families.”

Yarde added that the recurring partnership with the One Family Programme has been key to the initiative’s impact, saying: “This collaboration lets us directly reach the families that need extra support the most, while also bringing together our employees, customers, and local community partners around a shared goal. For Flow, giving back isn’t just about writing checks – it’s about showing up for the places where we live and work, and finding tangible ways to improve people’s daily lives.”

The two-day giveback activation forms one centerpiece of Flow’s broader 2024 Back-to-School campaign, which continues to run across all of the company’s retail locations around Barbados, with ongoing special offers, customer rewards, and connectivity support for students and families.

Barbados’ Ministry of Innovation, Industry, Science and Technology (MIST) has announced a planned temporary shutdown of a segment of the Princess Alice Highway, restricting all vehicle access between the hours of 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. this coming Friday, September 11. The partial road closure is being put in place to accommodate an exciting community-focused tape-ball cricket tournament, held to honor the Barbados Tridents’ home matches as part of the ongoing Caribbean Premier League season.

The stretch of highway impacted by the closure runs from the intersection of Prescod Boulevard, past the Export Barbados Pelican House Building, all the way to the junction where Princess Alice Highway meets Mortuary Road. In an effort to minimize travel disruptions, MIST is strongly encouraging all motorists to plan ahead and use alternate travel routes whenever possible. Drivers are also reminded to follow all posted traffic signage and adhere to directions provided by attending police officers and event organizing staff throughout the duration of the closure.

Organizers note that the traffic restriction is a critical safety measure designed to protect event participants, attending spectators, and members of the general public who may be in the area. Beyond safety considerations, the closure makes it possible to hold a community event that celebrates local sport and fosters national pride across Barbados. MIST has acknowledged that the temporary road shutdown is likely to create some degree of inconvenience for regular road users, and the ministry has issued a formal apology for any disruptions. It also extended its gratitude to the Barbadian public for their expected cooperation and understanding as the event gets underway.

Law enforcement authorities in Barbados are turning to the general public for help as they search for a missing middle-aged man who vanished more than a week ago. 54-year-old Sylvanus Grant, a resident of Blades Hill No. 2 in the parish of St John, was last spotted by members of the public on Saturday, September 5, and no confirmed sightings have been reported since that date.

Investigators have released a full physical description of Grant to help community members identify him quickly. He has a dark skin tone, stands approximately five feet six inches tall, and has a slim body frame. Those who know him describe him as soft-spoken, and he speaks with a distinct Vincentian accent that sets him apart.

On the day he was last seen, Grant was wearing casual clothing that authorities say makes him easy to recognize: a plain grey short-sleeved t-shirt, blue three-quarter-length denim jeans, and he was carrying a standard black haversack over one shoulder.

According to information compiled by the District ‘C’ Police Station, which is leading the search effort, Grant regularly visits three popular commercial areas across two different parishes. He is known to frequent the coastal town of Speightstown in the northern parish of St Peter, as well as two busy locations in the capital parish of St Michael: Nelson Street and the Vincy Lane neighborhood.

Police are urging anyone who has seen Grant matching this description, or anyone who has any information about his current whereabouts that could assist the investigation, to reach out to authorities immediately. Tips can be submitted directly to the District ‘C’ Police Station via phone at either 416-8200 or 416-8204. For urgent reports that require immediate attention, community members can contact the national police emergency line at 211. Anonymous tips can also be submitted through the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-TIPS (1-800-8477), or members of the public can drop off information at any local police station across the country.

A 56-year-old Barbadian contractor has issued a full public apology following his court appearance this week on charges of assaulting and making threatening remarks to Minister of Health Senator Lisa Cummins, attributing his outburst to overwhelming personal stress tied to a pending school project deadline.

Michael Alphonsa Harris, a resident of Seales Avenue in Goodland, St Michael, spoke to reporters immediately after his Tuesday hearing, expressing profound remorse for the altercation that took place on Saturday. The confrontation unfolded after Harris encountered the health minister, capping off an ongoing disagreement between the two.

“I want to say it nationally: I apologise for my actions,” Harris told reporters. “But my actions happened out of frustration. I was under a lot of pressure to get my school project finished.”

Detectives from the Black Rock Police Station took Harris into custody and filed the two charges against him following the incident. He appeared before Magistrate Jared Richards at the Traffic Court, where the judge imposed a three-month peace bond and opted not to record a formal conviction against him.

Under the terms of the court order, any violation of the peace requirement over the next three months would trigger a $2,000 fine or one-month prison sentence for the assault charge, plus an immediate $1,500 fine or an additional one-month prison term for the threatening language charge.

Harris opened up about his experience spending a night in custody at Dodds Prison ahead of his morning court hearing, noting that while law enforcement and medical staff treated him with courtesy and respect throughout his detainment, the ordeal left a profound mark on him.

“When I reached the precinct, everyone greeted me with respect. Everybody took care of me very well and told me: ‘Just be strong overnight, you’re gonna be good. Tomorrow you’re gonna get to go home,’” he recounted. “From this morning until I got up, saw a doctor, saw a nurse, checked my pressure… It was an experience that I would not want to go back through again. But in life you learn from that experience… right there, you see it and understand the system.”

A particularly lasting impact came from Harris’s observation of the other detainees held in the same corridor during his custody. As the oldest person in that section of the facility, he found himself surrounded by young men facing severe criminal charges—a sight that left him deeply distressed.

“I was there all along in the corridor… I was the oldest guy on that corridor,” Harris said. “I see all the youngsters on that corridor, and it was painful to see so many young men in jail.”

Drawing on the lessons from his own mistake and what he witnessed behind bars, Harris shared a public message urging young people to avoid impulsive actions that could lead to incarceration and keep themselves out of legal trouble.

“The young men got to pull up their shoes, as my mother used to tell me, you got to keep your peace,” he advised.

Now entering the three-month court-supervised peace bond period, Harris says he is fully committed to abiding by the order, meeting any financial obligations that may arise, and closing this troubling chapter of his life for good.

In a landmark ruling delivered at the Employment Rights Tribunal’s (ERT) Warrens Office Complex headquarters in Barbados, tribunal chair Vere P. Brathwaite has awarded former senior civil engineer Allanna Hazell $6,576 in basic compensation for unfair dismissal, while throwing out her allegation that her 2017 termination was tied to her pregnancy. Both legal teams for the claimant and defendant, local construction firm Markham Construction Limited, have claimed victory in the long-running labor dispute, pointing to separate favorable outcomes in the 15-page judgment.

Hazell, who had been employed by the St. George-based company since January 2015, was dismissed from her role on November 29, 2017. Markham Construction framed the termination as a response to what it called Hazell’s “failure to efficiently and effectively execute assigned job duties”. The former engineer brought her claim to the ERT on two separate grounds, arguing the dismissal violated the Employment Rights Act (ERA) both on procedural unfairness grounds and because it was driven by her pregnancy.

The three-member ERT panel, which included labor leader Dennis de Peiza and industrial relations consultant Deighton Marshall, ultimately sided with Hazell on the question of unfair dismissal, but rejected the pregnancy discrimination allegation entirely. Crucially, the tribunal found that Markham Construction failed to meet its legal obligations under the ERA by not retaining or producing Hazell’s complete personnel records, despite being formally ordered to submit key documents including her employment contract, performance plans and assessments, disciplinary records, and bonus payment history. Company representatives told the tribunal the records were either lost or never created, a violation of Sections 13 through 17 of the Employment Rights Act, the panel confirmed. No costs were ordered against either party, and the full $6,576 basic award was granted to Hazell with no deductions.

The dispute traces back to a construction project at Little Kent, Christ Church, which Hazell was assigned to supervise roughly five months before her termination. The tribunal found that a major on-site incident at the project – the collapse of concrete formwork (referred to as “boxing” in court documents) between June and November 2017 – was the direct catalyst for her dismissal.

Hazell testified that the collapse stemmed from multiple factors, including ground saturation caused by heavy rainfall, the elevation of the work site, and her pregnancy, which made it impossible for her to climb to the high work area to supervise the concrete pour directly. She told the tribunal she requested assistance from company official L. J. Still, who was seriously ill at the time, and when a replacement supervisor left the site without notifying her, the incident proceeded without proper oversight.

However, the tribunal raised significant questions about the credibility of Hazell’s pregnancy discrimination claim. She was unable to produce any formal medical documentation confirming her pregnancy at the time of the incident or her termination, nor could she provide any evidence that she had formally notified Markham Construction leadership of her pregnancy, either in writing or verbally. Hazell claimed she had shared the information with senior supervisor Winston Walker and submitted a sick certificate to receptionist-accountant Antoinette Massiah, but both employees had left the company before the tribunal, no contact information was available for either, and the certificate was never presented as evidence.

Markham Construction’s legal team, led by counsel David Hamel-Smith, argued that the company had already conceded the procedural flaws that made Hazell’s dismissal unfair, but maintained that there was no proof pregnancy played any role in the termination. Hamel-Smith told reporters after the ruling that the company’s core position – that pregnancy was not a motivating factor in the firing – had been vindicated by the tribunal’s rejection of that portion of Hazell’s claim.

Meanwhile, Hazell’s attorney Ella Hoyos called the ruling a win for her client, highlighting the tribunal’s finding that the dismissal was unfair. She also pointed to the ruling’s rebuke of Markham Construction’s poor record-keeping practices, which she said exposed deep flaws in the company’s corporate governance. Markham’s quantity surveying technician Deighton Gooding had testified that leadership had raised concerns about Hazell’s performance long before the Little Kent incident, but the unsigned, undated documentation he submitted to support that claim was rejected by the tribunal as unreliable and suspect. The panel confirmed that Markham Construction had explicitly conceded it failed to follow the progressive disciplinary process required by the ERA, and no formal disciplinary records were produced to back up the company’s performance claims. Gooding also confirmed that the company had paid a preliminary severance package to Hazell after the termination, acknowledging its own procedural missteps in the firing process.