Y.W.C.A. receives help from Japan
It’s one of the country’s most active and well known non-governmental organisations, but name recognition alone does not help finance all the good works of the Y.W.C.A. News Five’s Janelle Chanona reports on some good news from the Y.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
This morning officials of the Young Women’s Christian Association accepted a cheque for just over one hundred and seventy-one thousand dollars in grant money, courtesy the Japanese Government.
When the main building of the Y was built in 1960, it served as a boarding house for female high school students and a hurricane shelter. But fifty years later, the structure is badly in need of repair.
Sonia Lenares, General Secretary, Y.W.C.A.
“We’ve been trying, the students would bring little paints and paint. We get people now and a again to do the basic repairs but we have been working. We always say that when an environment is nice and clean and attractive, learning takes place much better.”
The planned renovations include the strengthening of the building’s support columns, roof restoration, repair of cracks in the wall, rewiring and new plumbing, fresh paint and new bleachers for the basketball court. This is actually the second grant the Japanese have given the Y.W.C.A. In 1997, approximately one hundred and thirty-two thousand dollars were donated to help the Y build its pool.
Tetsuya Yoshimoto, First Secretary, Embassy of Japan
“Taxpayers money we are using to support other countries entities like the Y.W.C.A., we have to be accountable for our taxpayers, in my case, Japanese taxpayers’ money. In this case, Y.W.C.A. as I told you are doing a very good thing for the community so we can meet that requirement very well.”
Raquel Rhaburn, Student, Y.W.C.A.
“We are confident that the new and improved physical surroundings will not only provide more spaces for us to be creative and comfortable but it will further improve our pride and more importantly our self esteem.”
The total cost of the repairs has been estimated at almost three hundred and fifty thousand dollars and an aggressive fundraising drive is already underway to make up the difference.
Since its inception, the Y has been empowering young women and girls with specific skills training but the organisation has also branched out into early childhood development and literacy classes and has become an important meeting place for older persons. According to General Secretary Sonia Lenares, the hope is that one day the Y will be financially independent.
Sonia Lenares
“With the renovation and we do have in the streamline an expansion project so when we expand that project, the classrooms will come downstairs and we’ll have the hostel available for people to come and stay. We are looking at sustainability of our programs because we know funding is sometimes difficult to get and in doing that with the fees we get our programs and the income we generate through some of the things that we will be doing we should be able to be an organization that is quite sustainable.”
The construction upgrades at the Y.W.C.A. are scheduled to start later this week. Reporting for News Five, I am Janelle Chanona.
