Radiothon to raise funds for needy students May 24

The Education Trust Fund holds its Third Annual Radio-thon Saturday, May 24, 2008. This year all radio stations on island will play their part to make this activity a successful one. DBS Radio will host a radio-thon from 3-6:00 p.m. which will be relayed by KAIRI FM, Voice of Life will host its own program from 2-4:00 p.m. and Q95 Radio will later confirm its involvement.

Dominicans at home and abroad and supporters of needy students in Dominican schools are once again reminded to join in this major fund raising activity.
Every year, more persons apply for assistance under the fund and more are approved. For the 2007/8 school year, 748 applications were received and 660 were approved. Needy students received assistance for transportation, textbooks, school registration and GCE/CXC examination fees. The radio-thon is a convenient and collective way for supporters and past beneficiaries to help replenish the fund every year.

What is the Education Trust Fund?
The Education Trust Fund is a facility established by an act of Parliament No. 17 of 1981, referred to as the Education Trust Fund Act.

Purpose
The purpose of this fund is to provide financial assistance to students whose families have serious financial difficulties.

Who can get assistance?
The fund focuses on secondary students who without this assistance are unable to continue their education.

How can one get assistance?
Parents requiring assistance complete an application form provided by the Secretary of the Education Trust Fund Board in the Ministry of Education or at the various village council offices.

How can you help the fund?

Although Government provides an annual subvention for students’ assistance, the fund seeks to raise money in order to meet the growing demands for assistance. Funds are raised by donations from persons, clubs, local, regional or international associations and by fund raising activities.

All donations and contributions made to the Fund are tax deductible.
This is an opportunity to share your blessing with those who are not as fortunate as you are.

Who is involved?

For the purpose of administering the Fund, a Board of Trustees consisting of not less than five (5) and not more than seven (7) persons is appointed by the Minister for Education. Members of the Boards hold office for a period of two years.

Operations of the Fund

The Board may grant financial assistance to any student deemed unable to complete his/her education in the absence of such financial assistance. All monies received for and on behalf of the Fund is deposited with a Bank approved by the Board of Trustees in the name of the Education Trust Fund.

For further information, please contact:
The Secretary
Education Trust Fund
Ministry of Education, Human Resource Development, Sports & Youth Affairs
Cornwall Street
Roseau, Commonwealth of Dominica
1 767 448 2401
ext 5578 or
1 767 266 5578

Charles Lawrence and the larger struggles of life and death

When I first met Charles 24 years ago I was a young untested teacher with an unbridled desire to impart winsome knowledge to all those I came into contact with.

One of my many students was a bright, talkative Charles Lawrence. Life was different then. Charles like many of my fifth form high school students was constantly challenging me. He asked probing questions, studied hard, articulated studied responses to my questions, and was a rising star.

Although we were only a couple of years apart, there was a deep student to teacher respect. I was always “Sir” in and outside of the classroom. The respect was mutual. Here I was teaching stuff that I had only learned about three years before. I guess I was convincing. The students all triumphed at the GCE exams.

I saw in Charles and others like him a glimpse of the tremendous potential of Dominica’s human resource. Learning was like second nature.

This was then. It is now 2004 and I’m attending a dinner hosted by a Dominican group in New Jersey. As I entered the room I heard this shout, Sir! I spun around and there was Charles. At least there was the smile, the voice, the face. In a second my mind raced back twenty years. Surely, this was Charles Lawrence. Or was it?

As if reading my mind Charles bellowed, “Sir it’s me Charles, you remember?” Of course I do, how could I forget. For the next few minutes we reminisced about those wonderful days at SMA. Then the conversation turned to him.

“You know” he said. “I should have been in Cuba. I was half way through training to become a doctor.” I interrupted by telling him that I always knew how brilliant he was. He pressed on, “But you know, I had to come back to the US to get some treatment, I have been diagnosed with kidney failure.”

My heart sank. I have witnessed sickness and suffering in the young on a very personal basis having lost two siblings. The pain lingers, the memories still raw. The first, my brother died of a mysterious stomach ailment in 1985.

My perennially fit, athletic sister died just four years ago from lung cancer. Most days of the last six months of her life I shared with her as she bravely battled through sickening doses of chemotherapy and other cancer treatment.

Sometimes in our world of TV diners, botox treatments and designer drugs we can often forget the words of the great philosopher Thomas Hobbes: “...and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.”

I’ve never quite understood why young people suffer like this through sickness. I don’t want to understand. Why engage in mindless musings? I simply accept it as part of the conditioning of man.

I was staring at Charles, tortured memories swirling through my mind. Even then he was brave, bold, committed to overcoming his latest challenge. In the end, his attitude and courage gave me hope. I promised to stay in touch. I did not.

In the summer of 2007, I’m back in New Jersey at a Dominican picnic. I see a frail looking person hunched slightly forward and leaning against a cane. I turned to someone nearby and enquired who might that be.

The response was completely unexpected. “Charlo that there wee.” I stared in disbelief, rooted to the spot. Here was a person I had recognized after 20 years. Now, just after three years the face that I knew had been replaced. The disease that had been visited upon him combined with the treatment had taken its toll.

He had aged beyond his years. I quickly ran across to him. “Sir, I’m doing good. I’m alive.” Then the laughter!

In his characteristic style Charles detailed his struggle. Weekly dialysis treatments and a strict adherence to a special diet was sustaining him. A resumption to normal living was within reach. He was in need of a kidney transplant.

Thankfully, his sister was a match and had agreed to give him the gift of life. But, things never always work out the way one desires. Without insurance coverage, he would have to bear the full cost of the operation, about $100 000.

This time I promised to help where I could. I did. At least I’ve started. The word is being spread. Fund raisers are getting organized. The word is getting out, and people are beginning to respond. If anyone can beat this, Charles can. His indomitable spirit has risen equally to the daunting challenge.

His positive outlook on life is heartwarming. Every time I speak to him there is this wow! effect. Sometimes it takes someone like Charles to remind us of life’s limitless potential and equally damning pitfalls.

How we respond to our challenges is key, but equally important is how those around us respond, take up our challenge as if theirs, and do the right thing.

Editors Note: The Dominica Academy of Arts and Sciences has fully embraced the plea to help a fellow Dominican, and we are urging everyone to contribute through the DAAS:
(1) Via Credit Card, go to http://www.da-academy.org/memberfees.html and click on the Pay Pal donate button. Indicate Charlo Benefit Fund in the item line.

(2) Via Direct Bank transfer: Dominica Academy of Arts and Sciences
Routing Number: 031100869
Account Number: 2000003534225
Wachovia Bank of Delaware
5801 Limestone Rd
Hockessin, DE 19707

(3)Check payments can also be mailed to: Thomson Fontaine (Treasurer – DAAS), P O Box 27254, Washington, DC, 20038.

DAAS is a registered 501 (c) 3 non profit organization in the United States. All contributions made via DAAS are tax deductible.

Thomson Fontaine

Dominican Reverend Phillip Potter Receives South Africa’s Highest Civilian Award

South African President Thabo Mbeki conferred on the Rev. Philip Potter the country’s highest civilian honor for foreign nationals, the Oliver Tambo Award.

The former general secretary of the World Council of Churches is recognized for his efforts to combat racism and apartheid in southern Africa.

A citation said that “Potter, WCC general secretary from 1972 to 1984, was receiving the award for leading efforts against apartheid and his ‘excellent contribution to peace, justice, non-racism and equality in the world through the vehicle of Christianity.”’

Potter, a Methodist pastor, led the WCC during a period when the Geneva-based church grouping took a high profile role in the struggle against apartheid and white minority regimes in southern Africa.

The WCC's Programme to Combat Racism, launched in 1969, led to controversy, including among its own members, because of humanitarian aid given to armed liberation movements in southern Africa, financed by a special fund.

Potter, who was born in Dominica in the West Indies in 1921, was awarded the "Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo in Silver". The award is named after Oliver Tambo, president of the African National Congress from 1967 to 1991.

Mbeki at the 22 April award ceremony said of the recipients, "These are citizens of other countries, who, without discrimination and at great cost to themselves, their countries and peoples, have made an exceptional contribution to the efforts of the people of South Africa to define themselves as human beings."

Potter was unable to travel to South Africa to receive the award in person, the German Protestant news agency epd reported. He now lives in Germany where he is married to Lutheran Bishop Bärbel Wartenberg-Potter.

Past recipients of Oliver Tambo awards include former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and the first director of the WCC's anti-racism programme, Baldwin Sjollema.