Earthly Angels; efficacious eight members of TCCF receive Ontario Volunteer Service Award

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

The community members that make up The Caribbean Children Foundation have had another fantastic year, and they concluded the decade in fabulous style. The Ontario Honours and Awards Secretariat recognized eight selected members and volunteers of The Caribbean Children Foundation, on November 28^th, 2019 at a ceremony at the Fontana Primavera Event Centre. Jay Brijpaul (President), Radeeka Davie, Jasmine Silvera, Jankie Dolaram, Christopher Silvera, Videsh Brijpaul, Adil Kotadia, Rajiv Persaud, Kumar Singh (Nominator), and Annand Suedat (Absent) were presented with the Ontario Volunteer Service Award.

The eight nominees were reviewed and the selected because they continue to provide committed and dedicated service to TCCF. In their own way, they recognize that giving back to others is not only good for the people they give back to; it is always great for their own mental and physical health. It has provided all the members of TCCF with a sense of purpose knowing that they have helped over 260 critically ill children have a second chance on life.

TCCF has focused their attention on helping families in the Caribbean, and there has been a concentrated effort put towards families in Guyana where research has shown that there is high child mortality rate and a notable gap in health care provisions. In 2011, there were no paediatricians in the public sector where around 90% of the population sought care (Cameron, Johnstone,  Sparman,  Nelin, Singh, Hunter, 2017). Although Guyana has shown its willingness to improve social living conditions and healthcare, the country is still heavily in debt and has difficulties providing economic aid for its impoverished population (https://www.humanium.org/en/guyana/). It does not help that there are still racial tensions and political instability, which detracts from the complete fulfilment of children’s rights and freedoms.

A most recent TCCF success story is about a 16-year-old named Rahsaan Abel who was suffering from severe kyphoscoliosis (a curvature of the spine). TCCF partnered with SpineHope, and rallied with members of the community, and because of this, Rahsaan was treated, and today the smile on his face cannot be denied.

The presentation of the awards to the special eight members was made by Ms. Sylvia Jones (Solicitor General), Mr. Michael Tibollo (Associate, Minister of Mental Health and Addiction), and Mr. Amarjot Sandhu, MLA (Brampton West). Each of the nominees was presented with label pins and a Volunteer Service Award depicting the number of years of dedicated service to the TCCF.

TCCF want to thank the community for supporting their mission, and they recognize that they couldn’t do it without your continued support. It is not to late to participate by supporting and/or joining TCCF in providing healthcare and support to families in the Caribbean. Visit them at https://tccfangels.com/ and donate today. TCCF wishes the community a Happy Holiday Season, and a successful New Year to all!

References

Cameron, L., Johnstone, J. C., Sparman, A., Nelin, L. D., Singh, N. C., & Hunter, A. (2017). Guyana’s paediatric training program: a global health partnership for medical education. Canadian medical education journal, 8(2), e11–e17.

Humanium. Retrieved from https://www.humanium.org/en/guyana/