Crawford organises successful summer school concert

Curtis Campbell, Gleaner Writer

Damion Crawford, in collaboration with Solid Agency, recently concluded an annual Hope Summer School Camp with a concert held at the University of the West Indies Students' Union.

The event was attended by members of the neighbouring communities along with Ronald Thwaites, minister of education.

The main performers for the night were children from primary and secondary schools.

The children were separated into colour-coded groups but collectively delivered thrilling performances that had patrons screaming from the edges of their seats.

The performances included dance, drama, speech and song.

The drama pieces were most entertaining, notably the piece called Walking Away starring a loud-mouthed Monique Prescott, who played 'Poochie'.

Plenty humour

Poochie was the talker in school, but she was not the brightest. When asked by her tutor what the total of 0+0 was, Poochie yelled, "Give me something easier than that," triggering much laughter from the audience.

All skits carried an underlying theme and taught the campers the value of education.

There were also guest performances by recording gospel artiste Omari and up-and-coming reggae act Raw Deal.

LIME, sponsors of the Hope Summer School Camp Jamaica, also gave a cash donation to the organisers to aid in the developmental process.

Courtney Bell, community programmes manager at LIME, did the presentations.

According to Bell, while resources were tight, assisting in the development of youth is always of paramount importance to the organisation.

"When Minister Crawford engaged us and told us about the venture, we had to find a way to help. We also have our Cyber Camp that we run during the summer, where we get IT specialists to teach students how to create websites using the LIME training facilities. It's all about youths, they are our future and we have a responsibility to mould them in the positive way that they ought to be," Bell said.

Education key

Solid Agency head, Sharon Burke, who was busy attending to the children for much of the concert, said the camp was a positive move by Crawford.

"I believe in what Crawford is doing because education is the key right now, even in the music business. I wish I could speak Spanish and French, so it's a good opportunity for the kids who are being exposed for the first time to certain things. I have brought in members of my family to help and people from my company, and we have gotten so attached, a part of us will miss them," Burke said.

Minister of Education Ronald Thwaites also took the opportunity to speak to the participants, imploring them to take their education seriously.

"I am enjoying the concert. I hope you are learning the lessons from the drama: respect women, don't steal, don't be a gunman. All of this is good but the purpose of the camp is to ensure that you do well on your English and maths because they are the foundation. After leaving this camp, you should have a different attitude to learning, and I applaud this move by the sponsors and the MP (Crawford) from this programme," Thwaites said.

Sponsors of the event were Happy Ice, Jamaica Broilers, Food For the Poor, Lorraine Fung, University of the West Indies, LIME, Wata, McMasters Wholesale, McGann Eggs, KFC, Stewart Autos, Wisynco, Solid Agency, Chin's Wholesale, Rainforest Seafoods, Xclusive Sound, Party Time, Innovative Signs, Malta, Armbands Plus, Kirk Distributors, among others.