Students of Whymss Road Basic School Feted for Christmas

The 30 students of the Whymss Road Basic School near Dumfries in St. James, received an early Christmas treat on Tuesday (Dec.15), when representatives from the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) and the Kiwanis Club of Providence visited the school and presented them with gifts and refreshment.

Chief Executive Officer of the Jamaica Information Service, Donna-Marie Rowe (left) presenting a student of Whymss Road Basic School, in Dumfries, St. James with a gift, during a visit to the institution Tuesday (December 15).

The students, under the direction of their teachers, entertained the visitors and their parents with rousing renditions of Christmas carols, before being handed presents by Chief Executive Officer of JIS, Donna-Marie Rowe and President of the Kiwanis Club of Providence, Dr. Doris Channer-Watson. They then enjoyed a tasty lunch and refreshing fruit drink.

Chief Executive Officer of the Jamaica Information Service, Donna-Marie Rowe (left) presenting a gift to Principal of the Whymss Road Basic School, in Dumfries, St. James, Jennifer Ferguson-Bell, during a visit to the institution Tuesday (December 15).

Mrs. Rowe said that the visit of the JIS team is in keeping with the agency’s mandate to reach out to the wider community and heighten national consciousness.
“The thrust is to help Jamaicans to work together to show how it is that we can bring about real solutions for the country” she said.

Chief Executive Officer of the Jamaica Information Service, Donna-Marie Rowe (standing at centre) joins other members of the Jamaica Information Service and the Kiwanis Club of Providence teams and members of the Whymss Road Basic School community, in Dumfries, St. James,during a visit to the institution today (December 15) by both the JIS and Kiwanis Club of Providence.

It is keeping with that mandate, she noted, that the agency has undertaken a number of outreach activities this year, including adopting the Mount Olivet Boys Home in Manchester “which we hope to visit regularly and continue, in a sustained way, to show that we care.”
Dr. Channer-Watson, for her part, stated that assisting children is a priority for the club. “Children are the future and to see the smile on their faces is heart-warming,” she said.

Chief Executive Officer of the Jamaica Information Service, Donna-Marie Rowe, (standing second left) along with other members of the Jamaica Information Service staff share pleasantries with Principal of the Dumfries Primary School, Patricia Flemming (right) during a visit to neighbouring Whymss Road Basic School today (December 15) by the JIS and members of the Kiwanis Club of Providence.

“I really hope that as we have come and have interfaced with these children in this school, it will not only stay here in the school but extend to the whole community to benefit and bring about change among citizens; change in attitudes, change in the way they see each other…change in the way they love and care for each other,” she stated.

Students from the Dumfries Primary School in Eastern St. James wave during a visit to that institution and the neighbouring Whymss Road Basic School on Tuesday (December 15) by staff of the JIS and members of the Kiwanis Club of Providence

Principal of the school, Jennifer Ferguson-Bell, expressed appreciation to the teams from JIS and the Kiwanis Club of Providence for making the children feel special this Christmas season.