The Sandals Foundation and the Bob Marley Foundation have donated more than 20 computers to the Women’s Center of Jamaica Foundation (WCJF) in aid of its Virtual Delivery Infrastructure (VD() CSEC program. According to Dr. Zoe Simpson, the executive director of WCJF, the organization is “ecstatic” about the donation. As many as eight teens currently must use a single computer during classes at some of the centers. The VDI program began in September 2015 and is designed to provide distance learning opportunities through its seven centers and 12 outreach sites throughout Jamaica. The WCJF assists teenagers who may have to delay their education because of pregnancy. Before implementation of the VDI program, young mothers had a difficult time traveling to Kingston for classes, and this caused the number of students helped by the program to decrease. There was a significant increase in number of students once the program was introduced, but the lack of computer hardware and software still represented a major obstacle, as each site only had one computer. The computer donation project was implemented via the Women Helping Others Achieve (WHOA) program, which began in February 2016. This program focuses on educating pregnant teenage girls, skills training, funding for women in sports, counseling and aid for abused women, and providing health care equipment to local hospitals and rural health clinics.

Photo Credit: Bob Marley Foundation