The Young Women’s Christian Association officially opened its newly refurbished and expanding main building on Friday morning. I was there and here’s the story.
Nancy Quilter, Graduate/Teacher – YWCA
“It is doing a lot more from when I was attending here til now. A lot of students have been helped and they open their own business. They go and do their own thing.”
Now with the opening of four more new classrooms at the YWCA it is expected that more young women like Nancy Quilter will be given the opportunity to become self sufficient.
Dr. Carla Barnett, President – YWCA
“We do a lot of good work here, working with young people and women who need assistance and support of a kind that can help to make them independent and so that is why I think Y is such a wonderful place to be and just right now with all of the children who’ve been passing through the Y it has been such a lively place to be as well and I think that is one of the secrets of the Y that we have people here of all ages and all people benefit from the Y and also people contribute to the Y.”
The additional rooms will provide skills training in cosmetology and sewing. There will also be remedial and PSE classes. The expansion project is the result
of financial support given mostly by the European Union, Social Security and the Y itself. The YWCA Gender Based Rural Sustainable Livelihoods Project is one welcomed by minister of Education Patrick Faber simply because of the critical services offered to youths at risk.
Hon. Patrick Faber, Minister of Education
“Be successful out here in life without getting a formal education, a high school education and so forth, are some of the key projects that the Y has going. So the extension of this building of course will help them to carry out that task, those programs more efficiently.”
Sonia Linares, Project Director/Gen. Sec. – YWCA
“As you know we work with women and youth and it will help us to improve the services we are providing in terms of providing more classroom space, space for sewing rooms, the cosmetology and even the upstairs that they helped to provide furniture and bed and so on, that will help for us to sustain the Y because we will be able to rent rooms and women from the rural communities who want a place to stay, they can stay here whenever they come for training.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
“How do you see an organization like the Y helping in the development of the country?”
Dr. Carla Barnett,
“Well this particular project is a good example because this particular project is geared towards helping women from rural communities and the Y hasn’t been able in the past to reach out so effectively to women in the rural communities because we haven’t had the resources, we haven’t hard enough space to bring in people for training from the rural communities and so this will help us to do that. But the training is of a nature to help people to help themselves generate income and it is not only teaching you a skill but also helping you with organizing a business with mentoring, helping you when you reach a stumbling block, there is a part of the program that will provide that kind of support. And so it is very important I think, it is really very important.”
And success stories like Nancy Quilter that makes all the effort worthwhile at the Y.
Nancy Quilter,
“Well personally it helps me in a lot of way that I have my own business at home and I work at the Y here sewing, teaching sewing – it’s helped me a lot. I work with anyone that I want to, I do anything, I sew what I want, anyone could come to me with their materials and get what they want and be satisfied.”
