More than 570 Children in Clarendon to get Disaster Relief

More than 570 children in Clarendon, who were affected by Hurricane Ivan, are to benefit from the donation of food and recreational items by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) valued at more than $300,000.
The items, to be distributed between September 23 and 28, will include water, canned meat, sachets of soup, rice and cornmeal, health supplies including first aid kits, water purification tablets, hydration salts, water containers, educational and recreational supplies including play kits.
Eda Golding, Project Officer at the Rural Family Support Organisation (RUFAMSO), told JIS News, that the assistance would be channelled through her organization.
She explained that UNICEF had decided to make the donation, after representatives from the agency visited the hurricane-affected communities last week and saw firsthand, the effect of the disaster on the children.
“They immediately got into action and six days later, they were able to deliver food supplies to our organization to be distributed to the children. I think RUFAMSO is one of the most appropriate agencies to help in the relief distribution as we already work in these communities, the people are known to us and most importantly, we can ensure that the supplies go to the persons who were really affected,” she said.
According to Ms. Golding, 370 families in Mocho and the Vere Plains of Clarendon were to benefit from the assistance.
She noted that the families are a part of RUFAMSO’s roving care givers programme, which is an early childhood programme providing educational stimulation for some 1,300 children from birth to three years.
RUMFAMSO is a non-government organization established in 1996 with the roving caregivers programme operating primarily in Clarendon, St. Catherine and Manchester. The organization works to improve the quality of life of rural families by providing counselling, skills training, early stimulation, literacy and numeracy skills.
In 2000, RUMFAMSO won the Maurice Pate award, UNICEF’s most prestigious award, for its work with the Teenage Mother’s Project.