The Tribune

THE crew from the British Royal Navy ship HMS Richmond came out to show their support of the Ican Community, an after-school and summer programme in New Providence.

The 24 sailors showed up ready, able and more than willing to undertake the task of painting Ican’s ten learning pavilions.

Ican Community is a literacy based child empowerment initiative. It seeks to empower children through literacy, enhancing their self-esteem and self-worth.

‘It is simply amazing the things that can happen when a child feels important,” said executive director Tehranique Miller.

“It is absolutely heartwarming when a child comes to realise that success does not depend on circumstance or environment.

“Our communities are suffering the scourge of teenage pregnancy, substance abuse and criminal activity. We are actively losing a war that many are disinterested in or afraid to fight. All the result of negative influences and behaviours that began in the minds and hearts of lost little children.

“It is always encouraging to meet and work with like minded people who appreciate the importance of giving back and helping out.

“We are extremely grateful to Commander Robert Pedre and his crew for making this happen. In a few hours the crew has moved us forward a few weeks.”

Ms Miller thanked Ican’s partners and sponsors, including Rosamund Roberts, Sunrise Rotary Club, the Royal Society of St George, Rotary Inner Wheel, the Hash House Harriers, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Burns House, BahamasLocal.com, Aquapure Water and Lightbourne Trading.

Ican provides six creative childhood learning programmes – iempower, iread, igrow, icreate, idiscover and iprotect to empower children with low self-esteem to believe in themselves, their creativity and their ability to be successful.

• It was incorrectly reported in an earlier article that this initiative by the crew of the HMS Richmond was in aid of a building project at the Bahamas Association for Social Health’s (BASH) Earth Village in Chippingham. The Tribune apologises for any inconvenience caused by this error.