Bunkers Hill flushed with joy

An extraordinary day it was at the Bunkers Hill Primary School in North Clarendon when Digicel officially presented students and staff with several new flush toilets, an upgrade from the pit latrines they were once accustomed to. A team from the telecommunications company journeyed from Kingston into the hills of the parish to make the school's longtime dream a reality.

Principal Nardel Henry was elated. "It is indeed an extraordinary day here at Bunkers Hill Primary School. We are extremely grateful to Digicel for such a wonderful gift. The school has been built from 1972 and it's the first time that we are using flush toilets, so its a wonderful day," said Henry.

However, Digicel did not just select the school out of a hat. It was all the doing of past student and social media enthusiast Albert Anderson who saw picture of the telecommunications company handing over a bathroom facility to a school in Portland, and reached out for assistance for his alma mater. Digicel accepted and contacted the school's principal and a few months later, they were being presented with 'flushables'.

The school however, does not have the luxury of piped water so they depend on rainfall for water. The rain water harvesting system which is in place at the school empties into two large tanks, one of which is used for the kitchen and canteen and the other will be used for the bathroom facility. The school was also surprised to receive a brand new Rhino tank which will assist greatly in storing water for use. This school is one of 33 schools that has received a water tank through another Digicel initiative that was started several months ago.

Both the boys and girls bathrooms were fitted with two flush toilets with one remaining pit just for emergency. The entire facility was not completely condemned but transformed to accommodate the flushables.

Senior sponsorship and development manager at Digicel, Kamal Powell said Digicel was proud to hand over brand new bathroom facilities to the Bunkers Hill Primary School. "It is a great opportunity for us to be a part of community development and it is important for the students to have a very clean environment to operate in. We love to invest in community development and working with institutions and schools such as Bunkers Hill Primary is important to our development as a nation." Powell said.

Digicel Brand Ambassador, Tifa was also in attendance to witness the handing over. She shared her life story in a motivational piece encouraging the children not to give up on their dreams and goals in life no matter how much negative comments are being hurled at them.

Henry said: "This initiative by Digicel is a wonderful one and the community will be ever grateful because we couldn't have afforded such a facility at a time like this."

Going forward, Henry advised the students to use the facility with care and implored the community to take care of it as it was there for their children to use.