14
UWI TODAY 100
TH
ISSUE
– SUNDAY 17 DECEMBER, 2017
HOST A STUDENT
It’s here! That most wonderful time of the year
– when we
turn our houses upside down and inside out, clearing the clutter
and scrubbing them clean; when we raid grocery stores for
the ingredients to make the pastelles, ham and turkey, ponche
de crème, sorrel and fruit cake; when we flock to the malls
and flood the streets of Port of Spain (and the digital citizens
among us are happy click-clacking away at our favourite virtual
stores), to find the perfect gifts – when we prepare our homes
for our loved ones who are sure come a-knocking, spreading
their Christmas cheer. What is Christmas, after all, if not for
those near and dear?
But what if your loved ones weren’t near and you had
no chance of spending time with them this Christmas (or all
the Christmases over the next three or four years)? That’s the
situation of many of The UWI’s regional and international
students. Unable to return home during the holidays for one
reason or another – maybe because of financial issues, classes
over the Christmas break, or unsavoury conditions in their
home countries (let’s not forget the islands that have been
ravaged by nature over the past months) – there are members
of the UWI family who find themselves spending Christmas
alone, on a barely-populated campus.
AHome for the Holidays
Staff share seasonal cheer with students away from their families
B Y S E R A H A C H A M
“I was really sad when I realised my first Christmas away
from home was coming up,” says Grenadian and recent UWI
graduate, Jefferson Parris. He came to Trinidad in 2015 to
begin his degree and, not only was that the first time he’d ever
visited Trinidad and Tobago, it “was my first time actually
flying out from Grenada,” he said. “I was despondent. Back
home we would have a gift exchange. We would visit a lot of
family members and [do] all the good things that come with
Christmas. I would be missing out.”
Until, that is, he was invited to spend Christmas day with
another member of the UWI family and he experienced a
Trini Christmas.
Kathy-Ann Lewis, Manager of the Careers, Co-Curricular
and Community Engagement department at UWI’s Division of
Student Services and Development (DSSD), invited Jefferson
to spend Christmas day with her family, as a part of the
Campus’ Christmas at UWI, Host-a-Student programme. The
DSSD, headed by Dr. Deirdre Charles has been running the
programme for several years now. Josann Greene of the DSSD,
who has been managing it, explained that Christmas at UWI
comprises three components – the Student Christmas Dinner,
a $20+ Charity Drive and the Host-A-Student initiative – all
intended to help foreign students feel a bit more “at home,
while away from home.”
The Host-a-Student component was introduced in 2014,
specifically for students staying on Campus over the entire
Christmas break. “Part of [the DSSD’s] mandate has always
been student-centeredness,” said Josann. The DSSD caters
to student needs and feeling at home and happy during their
time at UWI is a student need. Since Christmas is an especially
difficult time to be away from one’s family, the Division
wanted to do “something that would bring a little cheer to
[these students’] lives … to give them, throughout that break,
something family-oriented,” which they inevitablymiss staying
on campus for Christmas, she explained.
“There’s no life, really, on campus …You think you’re just
going to be in your room, until the semester reopens and your
friends come back from home.”
The Host-a-Student programme gives these students “an
opportunity to have a family experience and gain an extended
family,” while they’re away from their own.They’re a part ofThe
UWI community and this goes beyond academics, she says.
“We want them to feel loved by their university. To feel
cared for and supported, so we thought that extending the
Students are treated
to a Christmas dinner,
hosted by the DSSD.
These photos are from
the one held in 2014.
