March 31, 2023 – by Dayle Da Silva

Among those responsible for the newest addition to the school are organizations such as ‘Hands Across the Sea’, the Mustique Charitable Foundation, and a former student of the school – Mrs. Ettie Gill-Skeete, 

The contribution made in the name of Ettie Gill-Skeete ensured that proper shelves and other requisites were provided for the library.

A former student’s support 

Horatio Skeete, who now plies between SVG and the USA, explained during a ceremony held on March 27 to mark the official opening of the library, that his mother – Ettie Gill-Skeete, was a student at the school over 70 years ago, and that during one of his trips home he visited the school and overheard a concern being expressed that the only education institution located at Dorsetshire Hill was to be closed.

On his return home that day, he told his mother of what he had overheard. She directed him to seek more information from the officials at the Ministry of Education and on doing so, he found out that the ministry officials had indeed contemplated shutting down the school but after reflection had decided against doing so.

Upon giving his mother the good news, she there and then remarked that the family ought to do something for the school. 

A few days later, she said to her son that she had some money saved up for her funeral, in addition to the EC$5,000 that she was to collect from the Marriaqua Friendly Society (Bunpan), and that he should minimize her funeral expenses and use the remaining amount as a monetary donation to the DHGS.

Gill-Skeete died a few years later and according son Horatio, it was his duty to inform his siblings that their mom had given away any inheritance money, and explained her wishes. They agreed this was a great gesture, and they visited the school where they were told about the library project.

The library project unfolds

The library project had gotten underway as far back as 2019.

Janice Gilkes, Principal, said that former Principal Patricia James was the one who saw the need for a library, and made the initial effort in this regard.

“Mrs. James identified the space and ensured that the building was renovated for this purpose,” Gilkes explained.

She solicited the assistance of ‘Hands Across the Sea’ who secured books through the Mustique Charitable Organization, the principal added.

Even though a space was created to house the library, Gilkes said that when she took over as principal in 2022, she recognized the need for some work to be done to make the area ready to function as the library.

Contributions towards this end were made through persons like Goland Greaves, and the Skeete family, the latter contributing bookshelves, an air conditioning unit, door, windows and burglar bars.

The area, she contended, now offers a quiet space in which students can enjoy reading and was also a space conducive to learning, studying and working on projects, to which the teachers can direct their students. “The importance of a school library could not be over emphasized,” Gilkes said.

The library was also expected to serve as a resource centre for the Remedial Reading Programme in place at the school.

January 17, 2023

Kingstown, St. Vincent & the Grenadines – World Pediatric Project’s (WPP) General surgery team kicked off the year 2023 with a smooth flowing clinic on Sunday, January 8th at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital. 31 children inclusive of children from St. Lucia, Dominica, and Grenada were evaluated in clinic and 12 were scheduled for surgery throughout this week. Of the total of patients seen, 8 were regional families including 6 from St. Lucia, 1 from Dominica and 1 from Grenada.

WPP Pediatric General Surgeon Dr. Jeff Lukish was excited to be back with his team and says they are so happy and committed to the work they do, it took no convincing to be here and assist the children, many of whose conditions were worsened by the pandemic break. Dr. Lukish expressed immense gratitude to be able to meet the need, as well as to add a new surgical procedure this year. “Due to the generous donation of new specialized equipment, this year we will be able to address a need surgically we have not been able to in the past,” explains Dr. Lukish. He continues “the first year we saw some children with a very common chest wall deformity, called pectus-excavatum where the child’s chest wall is significantly dented in. This is a severe deformity, which is very stigmatizing for a child, causing them to not want to ever take their shirt off around their peers. We are thrilled to now be able to repair those right here in St. Vincent.” The donation came from a company in Washington D.C., Zimmer Biomed, with further donated instrumentation from Capital US Surgical. The additional traveling team members are anesthesiologist Dr. Tae Kim and OR nurse Sheree Dyer, who will work in collaboration with local surgeon Dr. Jasmine Ellis Davy and team members of the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital.

WPP General surgery mission, January 2023 © Asberth News Network

This first mission is very special for several families particularly, those who had challenges getting here due to travel woes. One family from St. Lucia situation was so desperate, they paid a fishing boat some $2500 to get to St. Vincent for lifesaving medical intervention for their child. A few other families spoke of the challenges getting flights to SVG to receive the well-needed medical attention. Executive Director for WPP Caribbean Lauren McIntosh-Shallow says they are excited for the year ahead, and thanked Mustique Charitable Foundation who she says has made it possible for Vincentian Children to afford care and surgeries. She adds that the regional families have encountered a bit of a challenge so it really is a collaborative effort to make it possible. She said “for the upcoming year there will be a lot happening not only for SVG but regionally.” She adds “in the upcoming months there will more teams visiting, including speech therapy later this month, a cardiology diagnostic team, and a multi-disciplinary ophthalmology and plastic surgery team in February. McIntosh-Shallow adds that WPP plans to unveil and roll out a number of diagnostic clinics in neighboring islands in the new year. “This will facilitate and ease the process for many of our regional families, allowing quicker triage and identification of surgical patients. From there, qualified cases will either come to St. Vincent and the Grenadines for the surgery or be referred outside the country for more complicated cases.”

The next upcoming WPP team will be speech therapy slated for Jan 28th to Feb 1st. Individuals interested in supporting the work of WPP can contact the local office at 784-451-2989.