Community Exposition Held in Old Harbour

A community exposition was held yesterday (November 5) in Old Harbour under the theme: ‘Unity, Awareness and Action, the key to community development’.
This was staged by the Old Harbour Development Area Committee (OHDAC), through the Social Development Commission (SDC).
Chairman of the OHDAC, Dr. Joseph Lindsay, explained to JIS News that the exposition was held to allow residents in that area to access information and services provided by various organizations.
“We invited the schools, and the various government, business and community organizations to showcase their services and to provide information to members of the community and to share with them how to move community development further,” he said.
In his address, Robert Bryan, Executive Director of the SDC said that the development of the country and the community was dependent on the participation of the people.
“We believe that for Jamaica to develop, we have to do a lot of things differently.and we are absolutely passionate about our belief that the country has to go back to recognize, as it did in the early 1930s, that people and their participation in the activities of the country are the cornerstone to producing unity and development,” he said.
Mr. Bryan challenged community members to develop a vision for their community and their country, to share this vision and to commit themselves to carrying out this vision.
More than 300 members of the Old Harbour community benefited from the services of the Registrar General’s Department, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture, the National Council on Drug Abuse, the Consumer Affairs Commission, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the St. Catherine Health Department, the National Youth Service and the National Housing Trust.
In addition, several banks and businesses from the community provided information for the residents.The OHDAC was formed in February 2001, facilitated by the SDC, with a mandate to co-ordinate and monitor community development activities within the development area.
Just over 30 districts are represented on the Committee.