Social Impact with Emma » NGO : A Jamaica Gleaner Blog

The Nature of Violence, Youth and Broken Windows

December 27th, 2018

I was astounded to read in the New York Daily News that for five days over Christmas, there were no murders at all in that city of 8.6 million. Zero. Now, New York is a deep, dark, gritty city – everyone who has been there will agree. It is bursting with energy, day and night. It […]

Building Skills for Integrity With WROC: Respect for Life and What it Brings

September 15th, 2018

“Let our own light shine.” Nikeisha Sewell Lewis, Executive Director of the Women’s Resource and Outreach Centre (WROC) always inspires confidence and a sense of belief – in self, but especially, belief in others. In this case, it is the over 60 young people WROC has worked with over the past six months under the […]

Landscaped Tourism In a Sea of Plastic

May 25th, 2018

Several weeks ago, the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) showed a short documentary related to its Nuh Dutty Up Jamaica campaign. Now, this is (or was) more than just a catchy tune and a strong public education message. It was about ongoing projects on the ground, which will now dry up as the Tourism Enhancement Fund […]

Earth Day 2018: Can We Win the Battle Against Plastic?

April 23rd, 2018

This Earth Day, I found myself struggling with some philosophical truths. We humans are in danger of destroying everything around us (and thus, inevitably, ourselves) with situations that we have ourselves created (and one material in particular, which was this year’s Earth Day theme: plastic). Climate change has now been acknowledged by most scientists as […]

Bird Notes, Part 1: Jamaica

April 12th, 2018

As some people may know, I am rather addicted to birds – of the wild variety, that is. I am a member of BirdLife Jamaica, the local branch of a global entity called BirdLife International. It changed its name from Gosse Bird Club in 1998. The history of ornithology (that is, the study of birds) […]

In Need of Care and Protection: At the SOS Children’s Villages

October 15th, 2017

Towards the end of the summer, I had the opportunity to visit two SOS Children’s Villages in Jamaica: one in Stony Hill, St. Andrew and the other in Barrett Town, near Montego Bay. On both occasions, the villages were relatively quiet; most of the children were out enjoying themselves at summer camps, before the new […]

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