Police from the Kingston Central Division lend a hand in the Kingston Labour Day project at the Success Basic School on Wildman Street. - Norman GrindleyIT WAS a day of brilliant sunshine, warm weather perfect for a trip to the beach, but several thousand Jam-aicans instead joined hands to "fix up" basic schools and other areas in communities across the island, in celebration of Labour Day 2001 yesterday.
Official estimates indicated that there were over 500 registered projects, which, together with thousands of unofficial projects, helped to reinforce a spirit of volunteerism and community development.
Hundreds from urban communities turned out to support the official parish projects for Kingston and St. Andrew. The over 150 persons who converged at the Success Basic School on Wildman Street, downtown Kingston from early in the morning wasted no time in carrying out repairs to the school's roof, pruning the large almond tree in the main courtyard, and giving the buildings a new coat of rich "regatta blue" and soft "frosted lime" paint.
Residents from the adjoining communities of Gold Street, Allman Town, Sutton Street, East Queen Street and Beeston Street were among those coming out in their numbers to help beautify the school.
"Hands and heart together, you can't go wrong," declared Donovan Campbell, a volunteer from Text Lane whose son Kevon is a student of the school.
Repairs were also done to the walls surrounding the school. Last year two boys were crushed to death when a wall collapsed at the Wildman Street property.
Over in Central Ave, Vineyard Town, over 100 volunteers at the St. Matthew's Basic School spent the day paving an approximately 400 square foot playing area with concrete. Drawn from neighbouring communities, the Special Constabulary, Kiwanis Club of Eastern Kingston and Port Royal, Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) and the school's PTA and board of management they also did some re-roofing work, replaced broken windows and painted the school.
Donna Arthurs travelled from McIntyre Villa to participate in the St. Andrew parish project at St. Matthew's.
"This was the nearest registered project that I saw published in the papers so I decided to come over here. I'm enjoying it because I usually work indoors," she told The Gleaner, as she took a break from shovelling stones into buckets.
Meanwhile, a number of the island's high school students spent part of the day labouring over CXC exams in English Literature.
