A man left paralyzed by a police shooting has been charged with possession of a firearm and ammunition. Jonathan Burrows, 31, of Eleuthera and Alexandria Boulevard, appeared before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes in connection with the November 14 incident. The charges stem from an [...]

The Bahamas Bureau of Standards & Quality (BBSQ) hosted a one-day training session on Monday, December 18 on the importance and benefits of accreditation and the fundamentals of internal auditing in collaboration with the Jamaican National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC). JANAAC facilitates the trade of [...]

Long-awaited renovations are finally underway at the AIDS Foundation this month, in a bid to give the premises a much-needed facelift leading into the New Year.

The renovations start with the instalment of a new kitchen, with help from a recent donation from CIBC FirstCaribbean.

The kitchen is set to be installed between December 22nd and January 8th.

“It won’t be in time for Christmas, because as long as the kids are here we need to use the kitchen. But we’re hoping it will be finished by the start of the new school term, a bit like a late Christmas present,” said Lady Camille Barnett, President of the AIDS Foundation.

“We still do what we can to give the place a little ‘holiday spirit.’ The kids will have a Christmas party and exchange of gifts. They put up a Christmas tree last week and they’re very proud of it.

“At our afterschool program, we have a part-time cook who prepares a meal for the kids – the idea being that once they have a meal at the end of the day they’ll be able to take their medication,” said Lady Barnett.

“Our kitchen was in dire need of renovation. The buildings we’re in now were donated to us in the late 1990s, and not much work has ever been done to them because we’ve had to use our resources for other things. CIBC FirstCaribbean’s donation will go towards renovating the kitchen area, which is vital to the work that we do with young people.”

Established in 1992, the AIDS Foundation engages in HIV/AIDS education, awareness, advocacy, support, treatment, and prevention. Their afterschool program caters to people of all ages, and has three components: academic, psycho-social, and medical.

“On the academic side, we have trained educators who work with the kids from 4:00pm until 5:30pm on school assignments Monday through Thursday.

The psycho-social component happens on Friday and it’s all the interaction we do to support them in terms of their health, especially those who are HIV positive.

We teach them anything from self-esteem building, to making good choices and life skills.

With the medical component we work very closely with the Ministry of Health, because they’re the healthcare providers for these young individuals.

We are actively involved with making sure they get to clinic appointments and that they take their medication.

“We also found that as some of these kids have grown up, they need help with job preparation and we’re doing that with them as well.

So I like to call this the ‘holistic program,’ because we try to support them and meet all of the needs they have. Sometimes it involves housing – at one point our social worker actually housed three of the kids in her home because there was no place for them to go and no one for them to be with.

We try to provide complete support for them and at the end of the day we want them to be healthy, productive, and independent young people – that’s the goal,” said Lady Barnett.

Part of that process involves creating a “safe space” that is comfortable for program participants.

“There’s still a stigma surrounding HIV, and you don’t want the children coming to a place that’s broken down because that’s not good for their self-esteem. You want the place to look nice.

We’re receiving help to renovate our stairs soon, because they’re in pretty bad condition.

So along with the donation from CIBC FirstCaribbean to renovate our kitchen – all of that is just giving it a little facelift. I think coming to a place that looks decent and not broken down enhances everybody’s self-esteem.”

CIBC FirstCaribbean’s donation to the AIDS Foundation will help give the non-profit organisation a much-needed ‘facelift’ in time for the New Year. L-R: Lady Camille Barnett, President of the AIDS Foundation, and CIBC FirstCaribbean Marketing Director, Maya Nottage.

About CIBC FirstCaribbean
CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank is a relationship-bank offering a full range of market-leading financial services through our Corporate and Investment Banking, Retail, Business & International Banking and Wealth Management segments. We are located in 17 countries around the Caribbean, providing the banking services through approximately 3,000 employees, in 80 branches and offices. CIBC FirstCaribbean is a member of the CIBC Group of Companies. For more information about CIBC FirstCaribbean, visit www.cibcfcib.com

Five lucky contestants walked away with the top prizes at URCA’s (Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority) Inaugural ICT (Information and Communications Technology) Awards Ceremony held on Friday December 15, 2017.

The flagship competition was open to students in three categories: Primary (4th to 6th Grade students), Secondary (7th to 12th Grade students) and Young Adult (individuals age 18 to 30). URCA’s Corporate & Consumer Relations Manager, Mavis Johnson Collie expressed excitement regarding the overall execution and end result of the competition, expressing thanks to the panel of judges and parents of the contestants.

“They knew exactly what they were looking for and we know that this process was one that was executed with the utmost integrity for all of the participants and all of the entries.” “Thank you for allowing them to have a view of your children’s and your work and I know that you will be pleased as we are with the results.”

The winners included: Avante Knowles for the Primary Essay Category; Thalya Maksyhung for the Primary Illustration Category; Andre Rolle for the Primary Video Category; Ryan Farquharson for the Secondary Category and Jasmine Williams for the Young Adult Category.

Prizes included: cash, tablets, smartphones, an internship with URCA and an all-expense-paid trip to an ITU event.

Since the competition was launched in September, there were more than 180 entries submitted – 136 from New Providence and 25 from Grand Bahama , as well as, other Bahamian Islands.

In the Primary Category, students were asked to imagine their school without chalkboards and books and create an essay, illustration or video that captured what their school would like with technology at its core. 

In the Secondary Category, students were asked to create a video that depicts how ICT can improve one of seven areas of national development. 

These areas included: recreation, island life, disaster preparedness and recovery, education, cyber security and privacy, health and the Internet of things.

Similarly, the Young Adult entrants were challenged to create a concept that used ICT to improve one of the same seven areas of national development.  URCA Board Member J.P.Morgan said he was proud that the mandate of the competition was accomplished.

“It is said that youth is the future of every culture,” he said. “It is also said that ICT is now an essential ingredient - an essential delivery, an essential path, an essential infrastructure - even for economical and national development.

“The goal with this competition was to spark the imagination and curiosity of our young people and to consider how ICT can be used to improve the nation that we all live in.”

URCA’S Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Stephen Bereaux described the response to the competition as “amazing” and “absolutely overwhelming”.

“All it takes is the effort - the incentive and the encouragement to get our people especially our young people, jumping on the bandwagon and really digging deep, deep into their intellect to find amazing ways that technology can enhance our lives,” he said.

“We at URCA are firm believers that a country like the Bahamas with all our islands could not exist without technology, and the most clearly visible path to a bigger and brighter future for our country, lies through the adoption and development of technology.”

Organizers said although here was a lot of effort and hard work put into refining the competition to pull off its debut, it was a wonderful accomplishment that the institution looks forward to expanding in years to come.

Pictured from left to right in back row: Latifa Wood, URCA Corporate and Consumer Relations Officer; Mavis Johnson-Collie, URCA Corporate and Consumer Relations Manager; Alexis Burrows, URCA Corporate and Consumer Relations Officer; Honourable Ellsworth Johnson, Minister of State for Legal Affairs; URCA Board Member, J P Morgan; Pakeisha Parker-Edgecombe, Parliamentary Secretary for Information and Communication in the Office of the Prime Minister and MP West Grand Bahama and Bimini and URCA Chief Executive Officer Stephen Bereaux. 

Pictured in front row from left to right are the competition winners: Jasmine Williams for the Young Adult Category; Thalya Maksyhung for the Primary Illustration Category; Avante Knowles for the Primary Essay Category; Andre Rolle for the Primary Video Category and Ryan Farquharson for the Secondary Category