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UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 5 AUGUST, 2018
CAMPUS NEWS
The “Connecting the Dots: Work Life Balance Ageing”
conference was hosted by the Institute of Gender and
Development Studies and the Social Work Unit in April.
The conference was energized by the recently
concluded three-year research project “Work/Life Balance:
Its Impact on the Productivity of Working Men and
Women and on the Wellbeing of Ageing Populations”
which was funded byThe UWI Research and Development
Impact Fund, and brought together stakeholders, including
the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin
America, and the Caribbean (UNECLAC), International
Labour Organization, Decent Work Team and Office for
the Caribbean (ILO/DWT), Women Working for Social
Progress (Working Women), policy makers, public sector
official, corporate sector representatives, caregivers, civil
society, regional and international scholars in the field of
ageing, and members of the public.
Lead Investigator, Professor Patricia Mohammed
established the need for the research and the conference
from the onset, by highlighting the demographic shifts
towards an ageing population in the Caribbean and the
If I asked you to motivate people to become more like
Nelson Mandela,
how would you do it? The Norman
Girvan Library (NGL) of the Institute of International
Relations (IIR) figured out just that with their Dollar a Day
Donation Drive – an appeal to UWI staff to donate 100
dollars in 100 days (from April 9 to July 18) in honour of
NelsonMandela’s centenary birthday and NelsonMandela
Day. The Nelson Mandela Foundation celebrates Nelson
Mandela Day under the theme,
Take Action. Inspire
Change. Make Every Day a Mandela Day.
Being change agents is nothing new to the NGL staff.
They answered the call to ‘Take Action’ before in 2013 and
2017 by hosting campus-wide Book Drives with Project
for Educational Excellence (PEDEX) – a foundation which
assists in equipping primary schools and its pupils with
school supplies. Together, they hosted book donation drive;
the proceeds of which were donated to primary school
students and libraries respectively.
This year’s initiative, according to Library Assistant,
Carrill Melville, came about by coincidence. After seeing
internal promotions for the Division of Student Services
and Development’s (DSSD) Adopt-a-Student Fund (a fund
where staff give monthly donations to students in need of
financial assistance through salary deductions), Carrill
reached out to Chandar Supersad, Manager at Financial
Advisory Services to see if people could make one-time
donations instead of monthly, thus the $100 in 100 days
drive was born. A proposal was presented to and approved
by the NGL Librarian (Mrs. Cherill Farrell), the IIRDirector
(Prof. Jessica Byron), and the Campus Registrar (Mr.
Richard Saunders). NGL staff members, Malika Charles,
Carrill Melville, Premma Ramsawak, and Gina Ravello
then went full steam ahead with the coordination process.
For the next 100 days, 41 departments participated in
the drive including my Marketing and Communications
Office, who were the drive’s highest donors raising
approximately $2,111.11. Overall, $8,161.95 was raised
during the drive and on July 18, the NormanGirvan Library
hosted a Dollar Plus Sale with local goodies for purchase as
well as games, movies as well as a reading of “Long Walk
to Freedom: Children’s Edition”.
Children were invited from around the community as
part of educational outreach including 111 campers from
various camps including fromThe UWI After-School Care
(14), Curepe Anglican (47), Jump Start Child Care Services
Camp (27), and Art- in-Action Camp (23); and a total of
18 counsellors.
The sale generated $1,213 in additional funds, and
with a final donation of a thousand dollars, the total was
$10,374.95. As chief fundraiser of the highest contributing
department, I think my coworker, Publications Manager
Nicole Huggins-Boucaud expressed it best: “Thanks
Jeanette for the weeks of pestering, cajoling, badgering,
and mild shaming – just what is sometimes needed to get
stuffDONE!” Indeed, we must do whatever it takes tomake
every day a Mandela day!
Jeanette G. Awai is a freelance writer, part-time idealist
and full-time Marketing and Communications Assistant at
the UWI Marketing and Communications Office
Mandela Days
B Y J E A N E T T E G . A W A I
imperatives for society to plan forward to address the
emerging changes.
The conference began with a difference, moving
away from traditional conferences which establish social
problems from the onset. Rather, the introduction of an
animation piece specially commissioned by First Citizen’s
Bank, allowed young people to produce a public think-piece
which guided the participants through re-imagining life in
a society which supports our ageing population.
Professor Denise Eldemire Shearer, Director of the
Mona Ageing and Wellness Centre set the tone for the
conference with her presentation entitled: “Ageing and the
Art of Living: A Doctor’s Prescription”
TheWork Life Balance &Ageing Research team shared
the findings of the project and invited participants to
dialogue during anOpenMike session on the topic: Finding
Our Equilibrium- Full of Ups and Down”. Other panels
highlighted issues of care work and ageing with speakers
Cynthia Carrington Murray of J&C Adult Daycare and
Re-Creation Centre, Emmanuel Joseph from Martinique
and Ariel Pino, representing the ILO. The day ended
with a panel discussion on Duties of Care with Dr Neleen
Baboolal, Dr Simone Mc Fee and Satye Seemungal framing
the discussion around dignity in care and preserving the
quality of life of persons for as long as possible.
The second day’s keynote speaker, Mrs. Niala Persad-
Poliah, Executive Director of the National Insurance
Board of Trinidad and Tobago, stimulated the audience’s
thinking around “planning for a longer working life.”
Her presentation around the realities of increasing life
expectancy, the doubling of the over 60 sector of the
population and a contraction in the workforce aged 15-60,
invited conversations around whether older people should
have the right to continue working beyond the current
compulsory retirement age.
Other panel discussions followed on Work, Ageing
and Society with Ms Diane Hector, Dr Letnie Rock, Ms
Douladel Willie and Mr Feyaad Khan,. The final panel,
Implications of Work and Work/Life Balance and Ageing
Issues capped the discussions for the day. Presenters at this
panel included Mr. Nirad Tiwarie, Mr. Francis Jones and
Mrs. Christine Sahadeo.
Age and Balance
“Our graduates are our most important asset.
We
are delighted to recognise them at this moment of the
University’s history.” Chancellor Robert Bermudez was
speaking to guests during his opening remarks atThe UWI
70th Anniversary Pelican Awards ceremony on July 25. It
was part of the University’s Chancellor’sWeek celebrations,
which also honoured seven distinguished alumni.
In response, President ofThe UWI Alumni Association
(UWIAA) Jamaica Chapter, Mrs. Jacqueline Sharp, who
delivered greetings at the event, stated, “We haveThe UWI
to thank for giving us the solid foundation from which
we’ve launched our careers, for giving us the values that
have shaped our character and prepared us for leadership,
and for giving us long-enduring friendships and a valuable
network which we can lean on for support.”
Dr Lloyd Stanford, retired senior public servant of the
Province of Ontario, Canada, and president of Le Groupe
Stanford Inc; Dr Karl Massiah, Orthopaedic Surgeon,
Founder and Head of Orthopaedics at Etobioke Hospital in
Canada; Professor Merle Collins, internationally acclaimed
poet, oral archivist, documentary filmmaker and educator;
Chancellor Robert Bermudez with members of the Jamaica Chapter of the International Women’s Forum (left) and with members of the Guild of
Students from the four campuses.
PHOTOS: DENNIS GORDON
Celebrating Students Past and Present
Dr Andre Irvine, a distinguished jurist on the Superior
Court of Justice of Ontario; Dr June Soomer, Secretary-
General of the Association of Caribbean States and Chair
of The UWI Open Campus Council; Dr Andre Haughton,
Lecturer in the Department of Economics at The UWI
Mona and Dr Nicole Nation, a specialist in autism and
disabilities, received awards. They were nominated by their
peers in Chapters ofThe UWI Alumni Association globally.
