 The Cosmopolitan Athletics and Social Club has made a very important donation of an ECG machine, trolley, and a wheelchair to the St. Jude Hospital, as well as laptops and mini-projectors to the River Dory Anglican Combined School. These items, which recently arrived on Island, today is being officially handed over to the St. Jude Hospital and the River Dory Combined. So I would now like to invite Mr. Rafael Pier, local representative of the club, who is based here in St. Lucia, to deliver some remarks on behalf of the club. Honorable Minister, I'm the headmistress of the River Dory Combined School and the representative of St. Jude's. My name is Rafael Pier. I am a honoured member of the Cosmopolitan Social Athletics Club. This club was founded in 1966 by six members, six boys from castries, which he used to play football in St. Lucia. It was founded under the name of Cosmopolitan, which was given through the amount of black people who were in England and all the different islands we decided to call the club. Cosmopolitan was after the club. We used to play football, cricket, and our funding was all our funds from having socials, dances, and so forth. We have never received any crowns from the government. Everything we had was acquired by ourselves. We are a very conscientious club. I was a member from 1968, a member from 1968. So I'm a retired pensioner here and I have to look after the day interest. So that is all I could say. Any questions within the club, I should be able to answer. Thank you very much. Go for the do. May I present the hon. to Mrs. Halsey. Honourable Moses Jabattis, acting Prime Minister and Minister for Health, Wellness and Elderly Affairs of St. Lucia. I just need to request your permission to adopt protocol that has been established. Thank you very much. Once again, good morning to everyone. The COVID-19 virus we can say is an intrusive one. It just waltz into our lives uninvited. There was no hint that this unwanted invasion would form part of our lives for a very long time. COVID-19 affected every sector of the global community and St. Lucia was not spared. In St. Lucia, the education system was definitely one of the hardest hit sectors. Schools were closed indefinitely and everyone had to adopt and adapt to virtual teaching and learning. COVID exposed many shortcomings of our education system and revealed to us educators that we were in no way prepared for this new unwanted invader. Students, teachers and even parents had the task of self-tutoring in many instances in an effort to navigate platforms for successful online education. One of the sore points for me as a school principal was the unavailability of learning devices and internet access for students and in some cases teachers. Although the Ministry of Education and other corporate entities were able to provide assistance in securing devices and internet access for students, many were still left wanting. At the Riviera Doree Anglican Combined School, many students were not able to join classes virtually and so packages were prepared for them. Sadly, these students missed out tremendously. The situation was heartbreaking. Therefore, I made it my mission to obtain devices for my students. I went on a hunt. I made contact with several persons right here in St. Lucia and in the diaspora. In June of 2021, a contact in England directed me to the Cosmopolitan Athletics and Social Club and advised that I should pen a letter to that organization. He also indicated that he would get the letter to the right person. This I did without hesitation. Eight months passed and I heard nothing. I thought that my letter was not acknowledged. However, in February of 2022, I was contacted by Mrs. Lucy Mathrain, the organization secretary and things started to fall into place. We had several discussions and eventually I was given the task to select laptops that would be best suited to the needs of our students. I was also able to get too many projectors for use in our infant department. The devices arrived in St. Lucia and here we are today for the official handing over. According to the late Nelson Mandela, education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. So Mr. Pierre, I would like you to please inform the members of your club that the donation is well received and that it will be utilized for our students to ensure that their learning experiences are made better. As a school, we plan to implement programs that will teach our students the proper way to use the laptops to make them literate in the use of technology. This I can guarantee will bring about a change in their mindset, their lives, their community and eventually the world. So on behalf of the manager Reverend Glasgow, the staff, the students and parents of the school, I wish to express heartfelt thanks to the Cosmopolitan Athletics and Social Club for the support. I pray that the good Lord will continue to bless your work. Thanks also to the Ministry of External Affairs, International Trade, Civil Aviation and Diospora Affairs and the British High Commission for their role in making today a reality. I thank you. Thank you so much Mrs. Alty for your kind words. I would also like now to move over to the St Jude Hospital, the donation that we received. So I would now like to invite again Mr. Pierre and Mrs. Liz Alty for our office sign charge so that we could do our handing over and then followed by some words by Mrs. Alty for. It is indeed a pleasure to have you here today and a pleasure to be the recipient of one of the donations by the Cosmopolitan Athletics and Social Club. So Mr. Minister, Honourable Minister Jabatis, Minister of Health and Early Affairs and Acting PM, permit me if I need to adopt the protocol that has already been established. St Jude Hospital and the Cosmopolitan Athletics Social Club have something in common I found out through this interaction that they were both founded in 1966. And it is with elation that this morning we welcome the presence of Mr. Raphael Pierre, the local representative of that club to donate an ECG machine and a trolley as well as a wheelchair to the mutinative department. St Jude Hospital was founded in 1966, like I said, as a charity hospital by the sisters of the sorrowful mother in September of that year. Voluntaryism has always been a major pillar of the operations of St Jude Hospital and that continues even today as St Jude Hospital has transitioned into a statutory organization. We are continually grateful for the assistance and support of philanthropic organizations like yours, Mr. Raphael, the Cosmopolitan Athletics and Social Club, in ensuring that St. Jude Hospital has the necessary tools that it needs to be able to deliver quality care to the patients or the clients who access services here at St. Jude. I want to tell you that your donation, the donation of your club will assist in the delivery of that care at St. Jude Hospital and it will rebound to the benefit of not just the staff but all our patients and our clients. We cannot thank you enough and this morning we are grateful to be receiving after months of communication and months of logistics through the Ministry of External Affairs and the British High Commission, the gift of an ECG machine, trolley and wheelchair which we assure you will be put to good use in the delivery of care at St. Jude Hospital. So once again I say thank you and may your good will continue to live on. Thank you. Thank you so much Mrs. Altifua for your gracious words. I would now like to invite our Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Health Wellness and Elderly as of St. Lucia, the Honorable Moses Jabatis to the podium to give us some remarks. Good morning everyone. Thank you very much for the kind words and the greetings so far. Let me recognize Mr. Raffer, the peer of the Cosmopolitan Athletics and Social Club of Hartfordshire, Hartfordshire. In England also the principal of the River Dury Anglican Combined School, Mrs. Altifua, officer in charge and Dr. Nitram, the medical director. I see we have NUS with us and officers, officer in charge, secretary, officials of the Ministry of External Affairs, Mrs. Nancy. And also we have with us the children of the school. Thank you very much for coming and thanks for inviting me. I want to say thank you on behalf of the Prime Minister Honorable Philip J. Pierre who is out of state and also on behalf of the Cabinet of Ministers for this wonderful gift. Mrs. Altifua mentioned the origins of the St. Jude Hospital and clearly the St. Jude Hospital was built on this old principle of voluntarism and charity. And we know the reputation of the St. Jude Hospital. The St. Jude Hospital has always been a hospital which people claim to be very comforting and the people are warm and so on. And to think that over the years, especially in the early years, that a lot of that was simply charity and people giving and doctors coming from overseas and people just giving food and everybody just coming together to ensure that the hospital kept, we kept the hospital going. It's really amazing in a world today where we have so many challenges and the cost of so many things are unbearable and so forth. And to know that we continue to have individuals, inclusions and others in the diaspora and also far field who continue to assist the hospital is indeed very, very important and very heartwarming. I wish to thank you the St. Jude Hospital and I'm just learning this morning that the Cosmo, Politian Athletics and Social Club of Hartfordshire, these both institutions were formed in 1966, the way before I was born. So it's amazing that you've lasted so long. I was not even conceived by any stretch of the imagination. And to know that today you're still going strong and the hospital is still going strong. I want to thank you for your generous contribution. I'm sure people like Dr. Nitram will tell you how important this kind of equipment is and it will help the people. I want to also assure you Mr. Raphael, when you go back to England, I want you to assure your team, your members that the St. Jude Hospital rehabilitation project is on stream and that very soon the Prime Minister will make some very important announcements. So when you go back to England, you should look out for those announcements. And I think it's very important every time I speak to quickly, it could be 30 seconds to mention that we did go through our processes and the studies were carried out which caused the government to determine that we will go back to the original St. Jude Hospital site at Uji and there are processes that are ongoing as we speak to determine what equipment, what not equipment but what materials, what structures are usable, what structures are not usable and we should be getting a report in a few days and that will determine the cost of the complete rehabilitation of the hospital. And as soon as we get that report, a contractor or company will be engaged to go in and just completely finish and refurbish the hospital. So that will happen and very soon the people of St. Lucia will know what will happen. So we are moving full speed ahead and there are other processes that are taking place, discussions between the ministry, the St. Jude Hospital, transition teams and so on. So you will hear a lot more about that in the coming days. So I wish to assure you Mr. Raphael and also the people of St. Lucia that we are working diligently to deliver the St. Jude Hospital and it is our solemn pledge to do so. I smile because I know it will be done because I have the inside scoop. I know it will be done and so I'm very pleased to tell you that when you go back to England, this is especially for you sir, when you go back to England to tell your club members that we are working on it, so follow and you will see. So just to say thanks, I'm very pleased as soon as I leave this meeting we go to the comprehensive schools to deliver laptops to the children in the next few minutes and I will call Prime Minister and tell him how wonderful this ceremony was and he called me last night to ask me about it. So I'm going to report to him immediately. So thanks very much, I'm pleased to be here and I know the hardworking staff of the external affairs ministry, they are always there to support and I look forward to them getting even more support for St. Jude Hospital. So thank you very much and I appreciate it. Thank you.