Projecting towards a better future
Published:Friday | February 18, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Laura Redpath, Senior Gleaner Writer
For 18-year-old Melody Jones, a housekeeping job in the tourism sector would give her an opportunity to show hospitality to foreigners with disabilities.
The teenager, whose mother gets around in a wheelchair, said she took her mother out of a nursing home in order to take care of her.
"Some of them in the home nuh get treated good," Jones said. "And I am just full of love and care for people who might need a little help."
Jones left high school when she was in 10th grade, and said she was currently unemployed but would love to, one day, go back to school.
However, she said her focus is on getting a job first, to take care of her two-year-old child.
"I dropped out of school because I got pregnant, but I would like to finish high school and then maybe go on to university," she told The Gleaner yesterday.
Jones was one of more than 400 possible recruits into the tourism sector who participated in Project Tourism at Manpower and Maintenance Centre, funded by Diageo (Red Stripe) under the Learning for Life programme.
According to Dianne Ashton-Smith, communications manager of Red Stripe, close to $7 million went into funding the programme.
Under Project Tourism, recruits will be accepted into fields such as housekeeping, landscaping, food and beverage, cookery (commercial food preparation) and hospitality 101 (customer representatives and tour guides).
Isheba Hawthorne, 26, a volunteer at Allman Town Infant School, said she has been working since she was 18 and is looking forward to working in the tourism sector.
Housekeeping, she said, would be a big break for her.
"I have wanted this for a long time," she said, her eyes wide. "I tried HEART in 2003, but I failed an entry test," she said, while she waited to be called in for an interview.
"This job will make a big change for me. It will help me provide for my kids, be a better role model, and help me with my confidence," Hawthorne said.
Under Project Tourism, recruits will be accepted into fields such as housekeeping, landscaping, food and beverage, cookery and hospitality 101.