21 October 2016
An Evening of Music and Reading, a fundraiser for Jamaican Self-Help
by Stacey-Ann Morris
On Friday, October 21, 2016, under the patronage of her Excellency of the High Commissioner for Jamaica to Canada, the Jamaican Self-Help (JSH) Ottawa committee hosted a fundraiser, “Evening of Music & Reading” at the Ottawa Mennonite Church. Jamaican Self-Help (JSH) is a non-governmental, registered charitable organization based in Peterborough, Ontario. It was founded in 1978 by John & Rosemary Ganley, two teachers from Peterborough. In 2004, the JSH Ottawa Committee was established, and has been involved annually in raising funds for the organization. Despite the rainy evening, the Ottawa Mennonite Church was filled with warmth, laughter, music and literary magic. The event’s Master of Ceremonies, was no other than the talented and co-host of CHUO’s public affairs program Black on Black, Denise Moore-Isaacs.
Under the direction of Ashton Hughes, the Nepean Panharmonic Steel Band beautifully ushered guests in the room and also closed out the show. To kick off the event, the High Commissioner of Jamaican to Canada, her Excellency Janice Miller, addressed the crowd and spoke about the importance of supporting projects in Jamaica such as JSH. The night included soulful songs from The Three Sisters (Ife, Ire and Seun Oluwasola), the Congolese group, Kabungulu Music Gang and Rudy Braithwaite (Flash) and Jerome. Margaret Tucker brought the audience down memory lane as she read poems from Miss Lou and other Jamaican pieces. The gifted writer Obi Simic, read excerpts from her debut book, Getting Over Yonder, and shared a glimpse into the life of her protagonist, Olivia Ugochinyere on her self-discovery as a young Black Canadian. Finally, surprise performer, Karl Gordon, one of the co-founders of the Ottawa-based theatre Group, Third World Players, entertained the crowd with a few of his poems and stories.
President of JSH, Cathie Morrisey, travelled from Peterborough to Ottawa, to share updates and photos from the remaining partner schools in Jamaica. As some may be aware, three years ago the former Government discontinued funding some of the large number of non-governmental organizations involved in international development, among them JSH. The termination of CIDA funding adversely affected JSH so that it had to withdraw its support from most of its local partners except for two schools. St. Margaret’s Human Resource Centre and St Anne’s Primary School. Procceeds from the event will help support these two partners.
After the event, performers and guests, partook in refreshments and networking. A huge thanks to all the perfomers and those who attended and supported the event. As well, thanks to Karl Gordon, who kindly donated the purchases of his book, “Man of Colour – And other poems”, the Oluwasola family who donated sales from their natural organic soap bars from Ghana, and refreshments donations from Farm Boy and Loblaws.
For those interested in assisting Jamaican Self-Help, you can contact Ute Gerbrant ([email protected]) and Irvin Stewart ([email protected]).
About the writer
Stacey-Ann Morris, Ed. M. was formerly with the Human Rights Commission, and has also been an active volunteer with her local church. While earning a graduate degree at Harvard University, she was the winner of the Intellectual Contribution/Faculty Tribute award in the Technology, Innovation and Education program. Stacey-Ann is a JSH Ottawa Committee member