Major giveback
Entertainers distribute more than 1,000 devices
Having recognised that online schooling has presented a dire need for digital devices islandwide, several members of the entertainment industry have been digging deep into their pockets to provide the essential item to needy schoolchildren.
Among those who have been undertaking tablet giveaways are entertainer Shenseea, her labelmates Teejay and Ding Dong, their boss Romeich Major, and IG talkshow host DJ Lava. In total, these entertainers have issued more than 1,000 tablets and have all expressed the need to do even more.
In an interview with THE WEEKEND STAR, Major revealed that he and his team will be having a second round of tablet giveaways, and that this time around, they will be partnering with corporate companies to make the initiative even bigger.
“My team is always looking to give back to the people. Ding Dong spoke to some of the corporate companies when he was doing this, and they jumped on board, and now we’re looking to do even more giveaways. A lot of these same companies are reaching out to help, and I know that they are going to,” he said.
“We knew that Jamaicans need it, but we never know say a so much a dem did have it so bad. Because of that need, we don’t have any limits on this one. Whatever funds we raise will be going towards the purchasing of these devices.”
Jamaica has some 600,000 students in the school system, and about 100,000 of them are believed to have access to devices such as tablets and desktop computers, which are now essential since COVID-19 has disrupted face-to-face learning interactions in school.
Major, noting the overwhelming need, said that persons who have benefited from the generosity of his team have been thankful.
“We have got videos from families crying, and yuh cry too when yuh see the thank you videos. It just overwhelmed our hearts and minds to see that we are one team that’s helping so many families,” he said.
DJ Lava noted that entertainers have been playing an important role in helping to bridge the digital divide.
“People usually only focus on the negatives from dancehall, but this genre has done, and continues to do, great things,” said DJ Lava, who has to date given away a total of 126 tablets.
“We are all about showing that dancehall is capable of contributing to the holistic development of the country by bettering the lives of people who need help.”