Jamaica Pride lauded

MANGO VALLEY, St Mary:

The success of the Jamaica Pride Project was extolled at a dissemination event held in Mango Valley, St Mary, on Friday, December 4.

The project, which has run from November 2008 to December 2009, is funded by the European Union Banana Support Programme Rural Diversification and Enterprise Programme.

Jamaica Pride is a collaboration between Coventry University in the United Kingdom, the Jamaica Organic Agriculture Movement, the Jamaica Network of Rural Women Producers and the Mango Valley Visionaries Friendly Society.

The aim of the project is to develop a strategy to integrate agricultural production, preferably organic, agro-tourism and the production and marketing of value added agricultural products.

Giving an overview, project leader and professor in the Faculty of Business, Environment and Society at Coventry University, Phil Harris, said that the strategic partnership between the UK and Jamaican organisations had been beneficial.

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Fire victims get fresh start

KINGSTON:

The Government on Tuesday handed over cheques amounting to some $5.7 million to registered vendors who lost stalls and goods in the recent Oxford Mall fire, downtown Kingston.

Of the 68 vendors affected, 57 received cheques valued at $100,000 each, during a brief ceremony held at the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation's Markets Department, at the bus terminus, Darling Street, downtown Kingston.

Special technical assistant to the prime minister, Carlene Sinclair, who handed over some of the cheques, said that 11 vendors still remained but were, in fact, being processed.

Sinclair said 34 vendors had received airline tickets to access goods overseas, and that she wanted the vendors to make use of the token to help to replenish their stocks for the Christmas season.

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St Mary highlights STIs

PORT MARIA, St Mary:

The St Mary Health Department recently concluded two weeks of activities aimed at highlighting HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and sensitising the parish on the importance of preventing the spread of the infections.

Health educator for the St Mary Health Department, Rohema Robinson, said the activities began on November 24 and ended on December 5.

Robinson said the activities included a condom cross-country invasion, free health tests, and the holding of hype sessions for the purpose of facilitating extensive discussions on the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The hype sessions were also supposed to help increase the awareness of the public on the realities of living with the infection and the need to appreciate and accept persons suffering from the illness.

The department visited Islington, Richmond, Mango Valley, Port Maria, Hampstead, Gayle, Oracabessa, Scotts Hall and Retreat.

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NWA faces delays

OLD HARBOUR, St Catherine:

The National Works Agency (NWA) has suffered delays in setting up traffic lights to ease congestion in Old Harbour.

A source at the NWA said the traffic lights, which were installed at the intersection of South Street and East Street, were to have been commissioned into service already but the project had been set back for at least a week.

The same source said what is called a traffic count would have to be done in order to regulate the lights properly.

The NWA official, although unable to give a date, said the lights would be fully operational before the end of the year.

Angella Chin