Caribbean Times 55th Issue - Tuesday 13th December 2016

6 c a r i b b e a n t i m e s . a g
Tuesday 13th December 2016
State Insurance stages beach clean-up
On Saturday December 10, State Insurance
Corporation Green Team, in their
on-going environmental exercises, took
the clean-up to Pensioners Beach, in
the vicinity of Side Hill.
When the clean-up was brought to
a somewhat premature end, due to the
overpowering stench of human faeces,
the teammates collected 82 large garbage
bags of trash which comprised mainly
Styrofoam cups and plates, plastic forks,
dirty diapers, plastic bottles, items of
clothing, used condoms and wrappers,
empty and broken alcohol bottles, juice
boxes and cans, along cushions and someone’s
lost stash of several smaller bags of a
suspicious looking substance. And not
forgetting the baby stroller and tires. Nor
the dead dog, wrapped in black plastic,
which received an impromptu funeral
when it was buried by one brave member
of the party. Sadly, no less than five individuals
that we met at the beach issued
the identical warning.
They all stopped short of commending
us on the fine job that we were doing
because, according to them, if we return
to the beach that same afternoon, we
would be appalled at the amount of filth
By Joanna Paris
Seventy young and ambitious
men and women recently
graduated from the Business
Management and Yacht
maintenance courses hosted
by the Gilbert Agricultural
Rural Development Centre
(GARD).
The special ceremony was
held at the Ebenezer Methodist
Church and was widely
attended by family, friends
and other well-wishers, who
that would accumulate within that short
time span.
It appears that this area is an unofficial
dump, not only due to the debris that
washes ashore from sea vessels but from
reports, certain establishments that are
located in close proximity to this once
beautiful beach and persons who discard
household trash and other larger bulk
waste. The Green Team is therefore using
this opportunity to appeal to residents to
stop the indiscriminate dumping of garbage,
not only at Pensioner’s Beach, but
throughout the entire island.
A final appeal from this fledgling
body is to respect the earth, respect the
environment, beach lovers and indeed,
each other.
Seventy graduate from Business Management
and Yacht Maintenance courses
visibly cheered on the happy
graduates.
According to Programme
Coordinator, Kareem Francis
who gave an overview
of the training, the courses
ran for twelve weeks with
ten students graduating from
the Business Management
course and sixty successfully
completed the Yacht Maintenance
course.
Francis indicated that the
graduates are now equipped
in a variety of areas and she
is confident that they will all
make meaningful contributions
to the wider society.
“The project is geared towards
young men and women
between the ages of 15
and 29. The project ran for
three cohorts with its culmination
in December 2016,
with the expectation to train
one hundred young men and
women in a variety of disciplines”,
she explained during
the graduation ceremony.
Francis said that during
the second and third cohort, a
total of 42 and 29 persons respectively
registered for the
course. In the second cohort,
which had 42 participants,
there were 30 males and 12
females. The third group had
21 males and eight females.
Francis encouraged the
graduates to use their skills as
a stepping stone for a number
of careers.