US-based charity donates 48 laptops to St Mary High

HIGHGATE, St Mary: STUDENTS AND staff at St Mary High School in Highgate, St Mary, celebrated Monday nigh after a US charity, dedicated to regenerating Highgate, donated 48 laptops to help upgrade the school’s computer room.

Speaking after a handover ceremony in the school’s auditorium, Principal Jullet Frazer-Sadaar thanked United Friends of Highgate (UFoH) for their generosity, and urged its members to continue on their mission to improve the education, health care, and social welfare systems in Highgate and throughout St Mary.

Frazer-Sadaar told The Gleaner: “These laptops will make a great difference to us. Prior to this, the teachers were complaining because they were ready to launch technology integration, but we just did not have enough computers to go around.

“Now, I’m quite sure, they are going to be very happy knowing they can make learning a little more exciting and meaningful because with 48 additional laptops, it feels like we have reached computer heaven,” she explained with a laugh.

President of the UFoH’s Florida chapter, Lorrimer Burford, revealed how the computers had been sourced from US savings and loan association Bank United, and called for Jamaicans living abroad to do more to help develop their hometowns.

He said: “The 48 computers we procured for St Mary High School is really just part of our mission to support the development of education within Highgate and the rest of the parish. The reality is, the people who launched this organisation are all from Highgate.

“We met after a launch party for a book I wrote, A Jamaica Storyteller’s Tale, and decided that things aren’t how they used to be in Highgate. And although we can never make it what it used to be, we can make Highgate a beautiful place to live, work and play.”