The Overseas Employment Programme continues to provide vital opportunities for Jamaicans globally, with 14,350 workers placed in jobs across Canada and the United States in 2024. One such individual is Nicola Herron, who was one of the four persons with disabilities chosen to go on the farmwork programme last year in Canada. A wife and mother of two, she was...

Retired Superintendent of Police and former Commanding Officer for the Trelawny Division, Winston Milton, has the distinction of serving the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) for more than 40 years. His career in law enforcement began in high school while he was preparing for his final examinations. While studying at the Kingston and St. Andrew Parish Library, Superintendent Milton came across...

Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, has hailed the Issa Trust Foundation for two decades of dedicated service to Jamaica’s children through its annual fundraising concert. Over the years, the proceeds from the events have been instrumental in supporting health services and programmes to benefit children. These include the paediatric ward at St. Ann’s Bay Hospital and the...

Defying gravity and age, Iris Duffus spent decades embracing her adventurous spirit, climbing trees until she was in her 90s. On several occasions in the last 15 years, when her grandchildren and great-grandchildren visited, Ms. Duffus told them that it was the last time they would see her, as she was going to die. The reply from one of her...

For many young Jamaicans, the journey to homeownership can be daunting, marked by financial hurdles and competitive real estate markets. Recognising these challenges, the National Housing Trust (NHT) has introduced a unique solution called the Parent Assist Programme, designed to help young Jamaicans achieve homeownership by leveraging the contributions of their parents. For Jody-Kay Turner, this has made a significant...

For the past three years, 31-year-old Felicia Bethune has been attending the St. Thomas-based Yallahs High School, where she stays from the start of classes to the end, not to learn but to “shadow” her daughter, Daejhanae Lumsden, who has special needs. She shares with JIS News that she realised “very early” that her daughter was not “doing things a...

In 2010, Constitution Hill Primary and Infant School in St. Andrew, located approximately seven miles away from Papine Square, was up for closure due to low enrolment. Principal, Melicia Mathison, and former Principal, Winston Smith, have led the institution through a transformative journey, making it the school of choice for residents. The school’s population has more than tripled, moving from...

Growing up in a modest household, with her mother working as a domestic helper and her father as a farmer, third-year university student, Jannel Muirhead, has always understood the importance of sacrifice. So each morning before sunrise, she resolutely steps onto the first of eight buses that carry her from her home in Clarendon to the University of Technology (UTech)...

Students at the Salt Spring Primary and Infant School in St. James were treated to a special Read Across Jamaica Day celebration on May 6, when 40 travel advisors from the United States (US) and Canada visited the institution under the banner of the Sandals Foundation. The travel advisors, who are in Jamaica ahead of Global Travel Advisor Day on...