标签： Jamaica

Nearly six months after Category 5 Hurricane Melissa carved a path of destruction across western Jamaica’s parishes, school leaders from storm-ravaged communities gathered Tuesday at the National Education Trust (NET) headquarters in St Andrew to receive a life-changing donation: 20 portable dual-fuel generators provided through a collaborative partnership between NET and the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) Foundation.

For educators and students still picking up the pieces of their learning environments after the devastating storm, the new power sources are far more than emergency equipment. They represent a critical step toward restoring normalcy, renewing hope, and securing stable, functional learning spaces for thousands of children displaced by the hurricane.

Ryan Stone, acting principal of St Elizabeth’s Mulgrave Primary School, one of the beneficiary institutions, called the donation transformative. His campus suffered catastrophic damage when Hurricane Melissa’s high winds ripped off large sections of the school’s roof, destroyed furniture and learning materials, knocked down perimeter fencing, and fried the campus’s entire electrical system. While the school has partially reopened, students have continued to grapple with lingering trauma, requiring ongoing psychosocial support from visiting psychologists, guidance counselors from neighboring schools, and specialists from Jamaica’s Ministry of Health and Wellness.

Stone recounted that some students have described the storm as “wicked” or “gluttonous,” with one young student telling counselors, “She ate up everything.” A recent cold front bringing heavy winds even triggered widespread re-traumatization, forcing school leaders to call in additional support teams. Against this backdrop, Stone said the generator donation is a much-needed boost to the school’s long recovery process.

“ The generator represents more than just power — it symbolises hope, resilience and a renewed opportunity for our students to learn in a safe and stable environment,” Stone told the Jamaica Observer on the sidelines of Tuesday’s handover ceremony.

Victoria Gooden-Green, vice-principal of Darliston Primary School in Westmoreland, echoed that gratitude, outlining the daily struggles her staff and students have faced since the storm destroyed their school’s roof. Currently, classes for the campus’s most vulnerable group, grade six students preparing for national exams, are held in two temporary tents donated by UNICEF — and not all students can attend in-person classes daily. Without consistent power, the school has also been unable to support digital learning activities that have become a core part of modern education, from streaming educational content to charging student devices.

“Having the generators, that will help us immensely to do what we have to do,” Gooden-Green said, noting that many students lost everything when the storm hit their homes and communities, and continue to live with the lingering emotional impact of the disaster. “It’s not an easy time for us but we know that the toughest soldiers get the strongest fight. We will bounce back because we are resilient, and no matter how dark it seems, the sun will shine again.”

The Generator Donation Initiative was launched in direct response to the widespread devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa in October 2023. In the aftermath of the storm, NET reached out to the MSC Foundation to mobilize support for the hardest-hit education institutions, and the partnership ultimately resulted in 20 15,000-watt DuroMax dual-fuel generators being procured for the affected schools.

Speaking at the handover ceremony, Jamaica’s State Minister for Tourism Tova Hamilton praised the cross-sector collaboration, framing the donation as a model for community-focused recovery. She emphasized that public-private partnerships like this one deliver tangible benefits to communities through targeted educational support, infrastructure investment, and capacity building that strengthens national resilience.

“We see today not as the end of a gesture but as the opening of a door — a door to stronger partnership, deeper engagement, and shared growth,” Hamilton said. “On behalf of the Government and people of Jamaica, I express sincere appreciation to MSC Foundation and MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company Jamaica Limited for this meaningful intervention. This is a demonstration that tourism at its best is a force for national development, strengthening communities, supporting education and building resilience. Jamaica is grateful, Jamaica remembers, and Jamaica looks forward to even stronger partnership in the months and years ahead.”

MANCHESTER, JAMAICA – The first court hearing for a Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) service member accused of murdering his romantic partner in a brutal domestic incident in Manchester last week has been rescheduled for Friday, after a last-minute delay pushed the originally scheduled Wednesday appearance.

Twenty-seven-year-old Damanice Tyrone Williamson, the accused soldier, was set to face a preliminary hearing at the Manchester Parish Court this week. But when assembled reporters arrived to cover the high-profile case, the defendant’s legal representative, attorney Norman Godfrey, confirmed that proceedings would be pushed back to the end of the week.

The charges against Williamson stem from the fatal killing of 29-year-old Tanzanya Dunkley, which took place at a residential property in the Three Chains community of Manchester. Authorities confirmed that Williamson has confessed to the killing, which unfolded during a verbal confrontation between the pair. But the details of his confession have sent shockwaves across the island nation: an anonymous police source briefed on the investigation told local media that Williamson claimed an unknown “voice” commanded him to carry out the deadly attack.

According to the police source’s account of the confession, the confrontation began when Dunkley made the decision to end her relationship with Williamson. In response, the soldier grabbed her mobile phone; when Dunkley held onto him to retrieve the device, Williamson says the voice ordered him to kill her. He then picked up a knife and sliced her throat, the confession alleges.

Law enforcement has also released additional chilling details about the moments leading up to the killing. Before the attack, they confirmed, Williamson approached Dunkley’s 12-year-old daughter, told her he needed to speak privately with her mother, and directed the child to go upstairs to the upper level of the family home. Moments later, he murdered Dunkley before fleeing the property.

Neighbors who were in the area that Friday afternoon corroborated the timeline, telling local reporters they heard loud screams coming from the residence around 3 p.m. Shortly after, they saw a man matching Williamson’s description running from the home, his clothing covered in what witnesses described as blood.

In the aftermath of the killing, a second video has also spread widely across Jamaican social media, adding more fuel to public outcry. The footage, which was reportedly filmed inside the Mandeville Police Station after Williamson was taken into custody, shows a man believed to be the accused holding what looks to be a knife, begging responding officers to shoot and kill him on the spot. The clip has now gone viral, drawing tens of thousands of views and intense public comment.

The brutal killing has already reignited long-simmering national conversations about the pervasive crisis of domestic violence in Jamaica, a problem that advocacy groups have repeatedly highlighted as requiring urgent systemic intervention. As the public awaits Williamson’s rescheduled court appearance this Friday, community leaders and anti-violence activists continue to call for greater action to address gender-based harm across the country.

On the Easter holiday Monday, hundreds of vulnerable people across Kingston and St Andrew received a heartfelt boost of holiday cheer through a large-scale community outreach initiative organized by Kiwanis Club Division 23 East. The club’s annual Easter Breakfast for the Homeless program brought together a coalition of local businesses, municipal authorities and medical providers to deliver hot meals, traditional holiday food and free healthcare services to more than 600 people living in shelters and on the streets of the Jamaican capital.

Volunteers and organizers began their work before dawn, with teams fanning out across multiple districts of the city to reach people wherever they were. Audrey Brown, Lieutenant Governor for Kiwanis Division 23 East, shared that preparation and distribution kicked off at 5:30 am, with separate teams covering zones including Dumfries, New Kingston, Cross Roads, Papine, Liguanea, Half-Way-Tree and downtown Kingston. Every public shelter in the area was included in the outreach, with services delivered to the Desmond McKenzie Transitional Centre, the Church Street Temporary Shelter, the Marie Atkins Night Shelter and the Denham Town Golden Age Home. Brown emphasized that the effort was not limited to shelter residents – unhoused people living on city streets were also priority recipients of support.

For many recipients, the initiative represented far more than a free meal. Fredericka, a 78-year-old resident of the Marie Atkins Night Shelter who has lived at the facility for more than a year, called the outreach an incredible comfort. “As an elderly person over 78 years old it is hard for me to go out and get these things, so when they come here it is an extreme relief for me,” she shared, expressing deep gratitude for the program. Brown added that for many of the people served, the traditional bun and cheese provided by the organizers is the only special Easter meal they will access all year. “All the clubs decided to come together and do one massive project. And it has been so fulfilling to those who are on the streets and in the shelters. Our less fortunate, at times we take them for granted — and for some, this is the only bun and cheese that they will ever have. To us, that is something that we see fit to do. It’s something that means a lot to us,” Brown said, noting the work aligns with the Kiwanis mission of “Serving children in need, one community at a time” by lifting up vulnerable members of the community.

Beyond food support, the initiative integrated free medical care to address unmet health needs among the unhoused and low-income shelter population. Dr. Andre McDonald, chief medical officer at lead sponsor Suretime Emergency Medical Services, explained that at least 50 people received on-site medical check-ups and assistance during the outreach. He framed the holistic effort as a demonstration of a complete definition of health, noting that wellness extends far beyond physical care to include mental, social, financial and even spiritual well-being. “We are here to ensure that people are okay,” Dr. McDonald said.

Club President Carolyn McDonald Riley credited the broad cross-sector collaboration for the initiative’s success, noting that more than 300 holiday buns were donated by participating partners. Suretime Emergency Medical Services served as the lead sponsor, covering costs for cheese and providing on-site medical and security services. Additional in-kind and financial support came from a range of local partners: Island Car Rentals donated two buses to transport volunteers and supplies across all distribution sites; the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation provided on-ground guidance and coordination at the first distribution stop; Flavor Fresh and Newtown Bakery donated all 300 plus buns for the meals; Jet Tour provided gap funding to cover costs not covered by other sponsors; and Lifespan donated bottled water for the event.

The volunteer-led outreach has been celebrated as a powerful example of community action to address food insecurity and unmet care needs among Kingston’s most vulnerable populations ahead of the Easter holiday, with organizers noting plans to continue expanding the annual initiative in coming years.

In a landmark decision announced this Wednesday, the 155th synod of the Anglican Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands has voted to select the Very Rev Colin Reid as the next bishop of Montego Bay.

Reid, who currently serves as senior Canon of the Cathedral of St Jago de la Vega in Spanish Town, secured a decisive victory in the election, earning 75 votes from participating clergy and 101 votes from lay representatives. The strong cross-faction support reflects broad confidence in his leadership within the regional church community.

He will step into the role vacated by the Right Rev Leon Golding, who was elected Bishop of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands last year. Outside of his ecclesiastical work, Reid is a family man, married to Carol Reid, and the couple share three children together. The election marks a new chapter of leadership for the Montego Bay diocese as it prepares for Reid’s official installment in the coming months.