BRIDGETOWN – As many residents of hurricane-ravaged Dominica start to put their lives back together, a number of Dominican students studying at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies continue to experience difficulties.
Five of them recently received a contribution from CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank to assist them with the purchase of their groceries and toiletries for the month.
In accepting the donation, they shared some of the difficulties that had led them to seek assistance. One young lady’s mother has lost her job while others do not have homes and their families are busy trying to get a roof back on their family homes. Another’s father is a farmer who has lost his entire crop and the family’s only source of income.
All of these make it very difficult for the families to send money to Barbados for their children studying at Cave Hill. Others depend on the Dominican government for a monthly stipend to cover living expenses, but they have not been able to get any of those funds since the passage of the hurricane.
As a result, they explained, the Cave Hill Campus has agreed to defer the payment of the campus fees for this semester until the next semester, giving them time to get their lives back in order.
The presentation from CIBC FirstCaribbean will cover the groceries and other incidentals for the five students for at least one month.
In answer to the question of what was their greatest need, they confirmed that groceries are the immediate need but one student stated that she would really like to go home for Christmas as she wanted to see her family and her home even though she was aware that the home she left is not the same as it now has no roof and her family is sheltered from the elements by tarpaulins.
“I just want to go and see for myself and spend Christmas with my family” stated Jyorianne Daniel.
Managing director of CIBC FirstCaribbean Barbados Operating Company, Donna Wellington commented on the effort.
“When we heard about the plight of these students, we wanted to help. Yes, we had sent aid and relief supplies and helped on a big scale with the relief effort in Dominica, but it was easy to forget that there are Dominicans who are not there but who are still going through the hardship caused by these devastating hurricanes. I am glad that we found a way to assist,” he said. (PR)
