Help Jamaica! e.V.

About me:

HELP Jamaica! e.V. is a registered non-profit organisation founded 2008 in Germany and 2009 in Jamaica with an international network of supporters in Europe, the US, the UK, Japan and the Caribbean.

Our primary goal is to raise funds in order to support and establish library- and education projects in Jamaica! We aim to build libraries and education projects in deprived Jamaican communities and aspire to provide free education – especially for children and youths who otherwise don’t have access to books and computers and do not have the means to provide adequately for their education. These education facilities will be inspired by our role model, the Trenchtown Reading Centre (www.trenchtownreadingcentre.com - founded and operated by R. Ellisson)

We will appoint skilled and caring staff in our programs to teach advanced reading- and computer-skills, a necessity for success in school and life! Our programs will encourage talent, ambition and excellence. We believe in inspiration and qualification! We aspire to provide the youths who are attending our facilities with education and counseling and encourage them to believe in their talent and skills.

This will increase their chances to find a job, encourage them to use their creativity, inspire them to become entrepreneurs and start businesses or support them in their aim towards higher education. Our programs wish to encourage young people to develop alternatives to a lives determined by frustration, drugs and violence and thereby help them to find ways to break the vicious circle of poverty, violence and crime in which so many young people grow up in the inner city communities. Education for a change!

To be able to pursue our goals we cooperate with our partner organisations in Jamaica and the US and our international network of supporters in Europe, the US, the UK, Japan and the Caribbean. We are thankful for the generous support of soundsystems, artists, promoters, music and clothing labels, companies, embassies and dedicated individuals who help us accomplish our aims.

For detailed information please see: www.helpjamaica.org

How to HELP Jamaica!

You can help us with donations, fundraising in your own town or region by organising charity dances, with creative ideas how to access funding, with active help and work in our association, or simply spread the word… there are many ways to support the youths in Jamaica!

Bank: Postbank Essen
Name: Help Jamaica!
Account Nr: 900 143 431
Bank Code: 360 100 43
IBAN: DE82360100430900143431
BIC: PBNKDEFF

If you have a Paypal account you can easily donate towards our association using the following e-mail address: paypal@helpjamaica.org

The History of HELP Jamaica!

In October 2007 during our stay in Kingston we met the founder of the Trenchtown Reading Centre (TRC), Roslyn Ellison from Canada. Amazed by the concept we went down in the next days and we were overwhelmed by what we saw: a light inviting room with fans, bookshelves with an amazing collection of new and suitable books for children and adults, related to the life and surrounding of the people.

Caribbean, African American, African children books, biographies, nature and animal books, scientific literature, music books – a fascinating collection for various levels of age and knowledge you wouldn’t expect in a library in one of Kingston’s most notorious ghettos!

Immediately we were convinced that we wanted to support the Reading Centre, which is a private and non-profit organisation, build from the ground up together with the community. We kept on visiting it and found out how they got started in 1993, how they work, which problems the institution faces and we soon started to think about how we can help the TRC…

Back in Germany our enthusiasm was met by others and we founded the registered non-profit organisation HELP Jamaica! e.V. This organisation legally set the foundation to raise funds to help the TRC. Encouraged by the success the vision of establishing more similar libraries and education centres all over Jamaica developed. We will continue to support the TRC and additionally started to work towards building our own HELP Jamaica!-operated education centre in the near future!

In March 2009 we founded and registered a local branch of HELP Jamaica! in Jamaica. This non-profit organisation shall first and foremost direct and guide the implementation of our aims in Jamaica and secondly be involved in raising funds with the organisation of local charity events and the acquisition of local sponsors and companies to support the work of HELP Jamaica!

Right now we are in the final process of registering a next branch of HELP Jamaica! in the US and are approaching the step of building our first own HELP Jamaica-operated center in the Community of ‘Cassava Piece’ in Kingston.

Check out the projects section for updates and to see what we are currently working on and which future projects we plan to establish.

www.helpjamaica.org