The club continues to work closely with many Day Nurseries and Educational Institutions. Some of our projects include: the refurbishing of the Marion Hall Day Nursery and Play Park, the installation of the water tank systems at the Ellerton, CampWood and Colleton Day Nurseries, the development of a children’s play park at Hastings Rocks, the repainting of the John Beckles Day Nursery and C1 at the St. Philip District Hospital, the construction of a paved walkway at the St. Bartholomew’s Primary School, donation of books and computers to several primary schools, assistance to fire victims through donations of household items, distribution of garbage cans to the Foundation school and assistance to the Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) in providing additional room to facilitate a breakfast programme and reading classes for school children.

Community Services

It is recommended by Kiwanis International that prior to each president assuming office, a community analysis should be conducted to ascertain the projects required by persons living in the community. During the administrative year 2011-2012, this useful tool indicated that Mrs. Meldine Price, an eighty two (82) year old pensioner residing in Carlisle Village, St. Lawrence Gap, Christ Church, Barbados needed the outside of her home repainted.

The Community Services chairman, K. Curtis Forde visited the residence to determine the work to be done and the cost for undertaking such a project. His visit revealed that the wall structure would need to be power-washed and scraped before painting. The paint would be donated by her son Hendy Price.

The project was approved by the Board at the December’s Board meeting and got started on January 21st, 2012 and was completed on January 28th, 2012. Eleven (11) members assisted with the project over the two weekends contributing a total of 117 service hours.

The President, Board and members of the club would like to thank the Honorable John Boyce MP and the members of the Constituency Council for Christ Church, Barbados for readily providing the information for the project and for donating lunch to the members on Saturday January 28th, 2012.

The members of the Kiwanis Club of Barbados South were happy to assist the Young Women Christian Association (YWCA) with their project of providing additional room to facilitate a breakfast programme and reading classes for school children during the administrative year 2007-2008.

The YWCA has been in existence for the past 58 years. They focus primarily on helping women to help themselves. They are involve in providing training at vacation day camps, helping children to read and comprehend and providing breakfast for children before they go to school. The breakfast programme, which started in February 2007, received such a phenomenal response from children in the surrounding areas of Deacon’s Farm, that the limited space soon became too small.

Distinguished Presidents Tony Barrow, James Burnett and President Elect David Rawlins visited the site and had the immediate vision for the 48’X16’ extension. The members of the Kiwanis Club of B’dos South thoroughly enjoyed erecting the extension within three months. To date, about 150 children have breakfast daily before they go to school and over 80 attend reading sessions on Saturdays. The members of the Kiwanis club of B’dos South were very excited to be associated with this project, since it affords parents who do not have the time, or are unable to provide breakfast, to utilize this opportunity knowing that their children will be guaranteed the most important meal of the day.

One act of kindness can change the course of a lifetime!

The St. Philip District Hospital is a government institution, situated on ten (10) acres of land abutting and bound to the Holy Trinity Church, St. Philip Barbados. It was first established in the mid eighteenth century also referred to as the St. Philip Alms House. It was utilised to house an average of fifty people who were either indigent fit or very poor. During the mid nineteenth century, a second block was built to accommodate the residents of the St. John’s Alms House. This institution was then renamed the St. Philip District Hospital. Today, there are no indigent fit residents at the institution; instead they are 191 elderly persons who need institutional care. The Elvalina Smith Children’s Unit, the home of 19 severely mentally and physically challenged children and young adults is also situated on the premises. After the Christ Church District Hospital was closed in the year 2002, the Kiwanis Club of B’dos South turned its attention to the hospital, through hosting of Christmas parties and several donations.

During the Kiwanis year 2005-2006, the club adopted Ward C1, a male ward which houses 45 chronically ill male residents. The members of the club purchased paint and repainted the entire ward and recreation room. This made the staff of the female ward A2 very jealous, and as a result the members painted that ward as well. For the past ten years the 8000-gallon water tank at the hospital was non functional. The upstairs units always experienced great difficulty in obtaining an adequate supply of water on a daily basis especially during the dry season when there were water outages in the community. The staff was forced to carry buckets of water upstairs to take care of the hygiene needs of the residents.

In the year 2006-2007, the club undertook the task of repairing the water tank, replacing the two pumps used to pump the water from the main and repainting the pump house. This kind gesture has made life much easier for the residents and staff of the institution since they no longer suffer from a shortage of water. They have also pledged to provide free maintenance to the system for the first six months. During the year 2008-2009, they also ensured that the ward was fully equipped with cable television.

Young Children: Priority One

Marion Hall Day Nursery

The Kiwanis club of B’dos South has been associated with Marion Hall Day Nursery and has assisted them with several projects over the past years. It was agreed that since Barbados Steel works is situated in the area, the two entities could assist the children at Christmas.

Marion Hall Day Nursery has a roll of seventy-one (71) toddlers all aged 4 years and under. Barbados Steel Works provided toys for 50 children and K. Jean provided books/toys for the remaining twenty-one (21). An annual Christmas party was held on December 15th, 2011 and a joint presentation was made to the children who thoroughly enjoyed their gifts.

No one would ever believe there is a Children’s Home in the quiet neighborhood of Farm Garden, St. Philip. Unlike the traditional children homes, Campwood is referred to as a small group home because of its limited space to accommodate about eight children. Under the outstanding leadership of the House Parent/Supervisor, the staff ensures that the children are clean, safe, healthy and happy.

The Day Nursery was experiencing very low water pressure for several months. The members of the club were asked to lend some assistance in erecting a water tank. Within five weeks the 9ft foundation was built to facilitate 400 gallons of water. The staff at Campwood Day Nursery was very pleased with the project since days of filling gallon bottles with water are finished.

One would agree that being a parent is a challenging but rewarding task. A parent’s job is never finish therefore constant care of the child is necessary. A woman’s nutritional status before and after pregnancy contributes to a significant degree to the well being of both herself and her infant. Therefore, what a woman consumes before she delivers and while she carries the fetus is of vital importance to the health of succeeding generations. Likewise the advice and the example parents set will be detrimental in the child’s life and the choices made.

The Antenatal Lecture Series is designed to educate pregnant mothers about the prenatal care, nutrition, health and the well-being of their babies during pregnancy. This programme executed in collaboration with the National Council on Substance Abuse (N.C.S.A) is presented over specific periods at selected polyclinics. Guest speakers include doctors, nurses and officers from the National Council on Substance Abuse. At the conclusion of each series, an evaluation is done, reports are formulated, and certificates and gifts of appreciation for attendance and participation are issued to the participants. All sessions are interactive, with the mothers participating fully, and showing a high level of interest and responsibility for their unborn children. Exhibits, handouts and samples are supplied by the facilitators.

The remarkable thing about this project is that a member of our club, President Elect David Rawlins conceptualized and executed this program as Chairperson and Coordinator. He is a retired health worker with twenty years of experience in the Ministry of Health.

Rasonte' Parsons was a seemingly healthy child at birth on November 6th 2001. At 8 months old she developed a swelling to both hands and feet. Her parents took her to almost every doctor and to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, St. Michael, Barbados, only still to be unaware as to this medical condition and severe pain.

On February 23, 2003 she was finally diagnosed with Sickle Cell Disease and was due to start the Sickle Cell Clinic at the hospital on Monday March 3, 2003. On March 14th Rasonte had bilateral below knee amputation and on March 21st, bilateral below elbow amputation. As a result, she spent one (1) month in the hospital with the majority of the time in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). At the tender age of 17months, she was discharged as a quadruple amputee.

Following the 2005 Fundraiser and many generous donations, Rasonte has now been fitted with new below knee prosthesis and her first myoelectric below elbow prosthesis. The second hand will be fitted once she has fully adjusted to the first one, but these would need to be replaced as she grows. It is estimated that her prosthesis would have to be replaced every 3-4 years, but adjustments will have to be made every six (6) months in Houston, Texas.

The members of the Kiwanis Club of B’dos South learned of this sweet little girl with this unfortunate story and immediately became concerned. As a result, they adopted Rasonte and with the assistance of the management of Southern Palms Hotel raised $15000.00 during 2007-2008 to assist with her medical expenses. Today at eight (8) years old, Rasonte' is growing at such a phenomenal rate that her prosthesis limbs have to be change quite often; in addition, she is still experiencing some illness. The club is committed to assisting Little Rasonte and will endeavor to support her through this unfortunate situation.

This project provided first time young mothers with a basic layette for a newborn. The recipients were selected from expectant mothers attending the Antenatal Clinics at the three polyclinics where the Club assists with conducting bi-monthly sessions on Nutrition and Substance Abuse. This assistance alleviated some of the anxiety faced by these young mothers who were unable to provide adequate supplies for their newborns.

With the assistance of the nursing staff at the polyclinics, twenty five mothers were chosen to benefit from this venture. The items in the layette included clothing, toiletries and disposable diapers in a diaper bag. The presentations were made in June 2011and the recipients were very appreciative and satisfied with their good fortune.

This project entails reading to toddlers for one hour on Saturdays at the Oistins Public Library commencing at 11am.

The project grew out of the need for reading to the toddlers ages 9 months to 4 years at the library where there was already a programme for reading to the children ages 5-8 years on Saturday mornings.

The reading commenced in February 2011 and to date 22 children are registered. Each week members of the Club read and tell stories for about an hour and at the end of the session snacks are served to the children.

Youth Services

St. Martins-Mangrove Primary

In the preliminary rounds, Bayley’s primary defeated Hilda Skeene and St. Martins Mangrove triumphed over St. Bartholomew. Vauxhall and St. Christopher won by default against Christ Church Girls and Milton Lynch respectively.

The quarter final rounds resulted in victories for St. Christopher, Vauxhall, St. Martins Mangrove and St. Bartholomew over Bayley’s, Belmont, Hilda Skeene and Blackman and Gollop Primary Schools respectively.

St. Bartholomew's Primary

In the final, St. Martin’s- Mangrove defeated St. Bartholomew. The final result was St. Martin’s Mangrove 130 points and St. Bartholomew’s 100 points.

It was a keenly contested competition as the margin of victory or defeat was for the most part quite narrow. None of the teams was head and shoulder above the others, but in the end it was fitting that St. Martins Mangrove won the contest as that school put up a consistently good performance in every round.

Akelia Greenidge, a first year student at the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill, Barbados, is the proud recipient of the Peter Jones Memorial Grant donated by the Kiwanis Club of Barbados South. Akelia, 20 years of age is currently pursuing a Bachelors of Science Degree in Banking & Finance at the University of the West Indies.

The former student of Queens College and the Barbados Community College expressed her gratitude for the assistance with her studies. She noted that with the financial assistance she will be able to complete her studies and pursue a career in banking.

The "Peter Jones Grant" was developed through the much appreciated work of Peter Jones a former Kiwanian of the Kiwanis Club of Barbados South. Peter Jones was an active Kiwanian and Chairman of the Service Leadership programme, who demonstrated outstanding leadership skills and a great desire to work closely with the youth of Parkinson, Lodge and Foundation schools. Peter however, died at the early age of 36 from Pancreatic complications.

In his memory, this grant is donated to a student each year that needs financial assistance and have the academic ability and the aptitude to pursue a career.