Over the course of time, a number of groups and individuals in Anguilla, and abroad, has been generous enough to make some tangible donations to social development on the island, resulting in the appreciation and gratitude of the Government and people.
The latest donation, as recently as on July 15, 2021, was contributed by a Lenovo North American incentive group of some 200 members comprising award winners for work done for the company; support and other personnel including management teams. The first donation of supplies for school children was made by the same group in 2019, before the COVID 19 pandemic when the economic and social development situation in Anguilla was yet in a reasonably good position.
The second donation, about a week ago, was even more elaborate than the first. (See front page story.) According to Lenovo’s President for North America, Mr. Vlad Rozanovich, this time the members of the President’s Club went above and beyond what was expected of them in giving back to the island they love and enjoy with the host hotel being Four Seasons Resort and Residences Anguilla.
The recipient, on behalf of the Ministry and Department of Education and Social Development, was the young and very capable Minister, Ms. Dee-Ann Kentish Rogers. Among other matters, she told the large gathering of the Lenovo President’s Club, Four Seasons’ Management Committee members, employees and teachers from the schools across the island: “Thank you so much, Lenovo, for all these notebooks and school supplies for our students. We know that this has been a very difficult year and, as we move into the fourth industrial revolution – the digital industry – we know that technology and-e-learning are becoming a bigger part of both our learning experience from what we expect from the world of work, and how our students transition into that world…
This is a very important link in engaging and empowering our students and teachers to be able to actually deliver both in terms of content and engagement.” Even in this abridged version, it was a well-thought-out adlib statement, reflecting the gratitude and hopes of the Government and people of the island.
Anguilla has also recently benefitted from two financial grants – for schoolchildren – from Aurora Resort, formerly Resorts and Residences by CuisinArt, now in a stage of closure and redevelopment. It is understood that further undisclosed social development assistance, from this source, is in the pipeline. It is no doubt that there have been other donations and grants from different sources, but we can only acknowledge and report on what was brought to our attention.
Despite some of our upgraded communities, upscale hotel properties, our winning of the award of best destination in the Caribbean for a fourth consecutive year; and the apparent affluent lifestyles of some of our people, generally Anguilla is by no means a wealthy island. There are still pockets of poverty and the scars of centuries of colonial and double colonial neglect by Britain and St. Kitts. The fact is that, as a result of our self-help efforts, political will and the resilience of its people, Anguilla has moved from having been “a backwater of the Caribbean,” to its present improved state of affairs. We are still grossly lacking in a number of basic amenities and services, as a small-island developing nation.
Our social development needs are many. They include improvements to our sporting facilities such as the Pond Ground Playing Field at East End; the Welches Playing Field; the further development and lighting of the Ronald Webster Park; the development of playing fields at all our schools; a primary-school feeding programme; more specialty care facilities for the elderly; improved diabetes and mental health facilities; a more advanced MRI machine – and the list goes on and on.
Oh say, who else will take the stand, as a good corporate citizen, in the further social development of Anguilla? We sincerely thank Lenovo, Four Seasons Anguilla, Aurora Resort, Belmond Cap Juluca, the National Commercial Bank of Anguilla, the Republic Bank, the Anguilla Social Security Board, the Anguilla Development Board, and other known and unknown foreign and local donors, for what they have contributed, so far, in terms of giving back to Anguilla. Let us see who else will answer the call to help a thriving, resilient, thankful and still needy people in Anguilla.
