Twenty-four students from Howard University, in Washington, DC, are in Anguilla for a week under an arrangement with the Department of Youth and Culture and the Department of Education.
They attended the Christian Fellowship Church Service on Sunday, March 11, where they were warmly welcomed and enjoyed the lively style of worship and music ministry.
The Director of Youth and Culture, Mr. Bren Romney, a participant in the service, spoke to The Anguillian about the reason for the students’ visit to Anguilla.
“The students are part of a programme called the Howard University Alternative Spring Break,” Mr. Romney explained. “Rather than going on vacation and having a good time, they decided instead to come to Anguilla in the post Hurricane Irma period to render voluntary services. They will be placed across the primary school system including the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School. They will be going into the classrooms and providing learning support to our students for one week. Their trip to Anguilla was entirely funded by themselves.”
The leader of the group is 21-year-old Alexa Imani Spencer of Texas, but attends Howard University in Washington. “Our programme sends over five hundred students to different locations, domestic and abroad, every year to provide voluntary services,” she stated. “In light of the hurricanes, this past season, our school redesigned the entire programme so that we could go to different sites to help those persons who were devastated. Most of the students are freshmen so this is their first Alternative Spring Break.
“While here, we will be combating violence for youth empowerment as our initiative. We will be working with the Department of Youth and Culture in different schools. After that, we will be volunteering with the Anguilla Red Cross.”
