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BOBIE-LEE DIXON
(bobie-lee.dixon@guardian.co.tt)
As the Sunday Guardian continues to shine the spotlight on unsung community angels, this week we feature Quota International TT who has been working tirelessly with the hearing impaired community as well as creating initiatives to enhance the development of women and children.
Following last year's annual Region 10 meeting which was held at the Hyatt Regency, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain, the decision was taken by a group of working professionals led by expat Solange Kohinor, to install the first club in T&T as the official local arm of Quota International Inc—a service organisation founded in 1919 by Russian born-American Wander Frey Joiner. The club provides basic needs to women, children, and the hearing impaired communities around the world.
The establishment of the club has made it the first club in the English speaking Caribbean.
Current president Michelle Low Chew Tung said with the club in its second year of existence, it has executed a few projects in collaboration with the T&T Association for the Hearing Impaired (TTAHI), including a ‘back to school initiative’ which was held in September 2018, where stationery packs were provided to all the students attending both the Cascade and Audrey Jeffers Schools for the deaf.
"In July, we also participated in TTAHI's 75th Jubilee Expo where the club showcased its services and interacted with stakeholders and members of the local hearing impaired community” Low Chew Tung said.
She said in an effort to build capacity and to work more effectively with the community, the club, also in September, attended a sensitisation awareness workshop and introduction to sign language session. Members, Low Chew Tung said, would now move to attend sign language classes.
She explained that emphasis has been placed on the development of and working with the hearing impaired community, because of Quota International Inc's mission, which is to create a world of inclusivity where all have equal opportunity.
"Therefore our work with the hearing impaired community is to close the gap by providing equal opportunities for them so that they and everyone else could realise their full potential,” Low Chew Tung said.
As it pertains to women’s issues, Quota International Inc began as a full women’s service with the intention of gaining female employment and empowerment—this arising out of the first World War, where women had to join the workforce and organise campaigns to support troops abroad.
Low Chew Tung disclosed clubs of Quota International Inc across the globe have moved to now include men and youth, but remains dedicated to its first focus of empowering women and continues to create initiatives that lend to this cornerstone.
She noted that some of the initiatives undertaken include working with the homeless and abuse shelters to create safe spaces that allow women to gather and seek support; providing jobs skills and vocational training which equips them with the tools necessary for pursuing their career goals and creating platforms whereby women can make their voices heard and celebrate their successes. She said the club has even engaged in cancer research and education to promote the health of women and girls.
"Quota TT’s work have already begun in a few of these areas mentioned above. It includes our ongoing work with the Mary Care Centre, a sanctuary of teenage mothers and their babies. Recently, the club provided garden benches to improve the recreational space at the facility for the girls and their babies in fulfilment of a request made by the management of the home,” Low Chew Tung said.
"During Quota Cares Month, the club visited the home and spent time with the girls, babies and care givers and provided hampers, clothing and baby supplies, as well as spa services for the girls. The girls at the home will be participants at Quota TT’s Leadership and Empowerment Programme for young women and girls which will be launched in March 2019 during International Women's Day celebrations and implemented during the July vacation period."
She indicated once launched, the programme would have ten modules that include life skills, mentoring, self-esteem, and body image as well as violence against women and children among other initiatives.
"We believe that by empowering women, we are asserting that women have the same rights as men and should be able to pursue their personal, familial, and career goals with equal liberty and opportunity,” Low Chew Tung added.
First Christmas market
This year the NGO which is funded through fund-raising activities, will host its first grand Christmas market fair on November 24, which Low Chew Tung said would benefit Quota TT’s educational scholarship for the hearing impaired and its Ear Plug Campaign geared towards children, which would be launched during Carnival 2019, in collaboration with the T&T Association for the Hearing Impaired’s Protect Your Ear Campaign.
“We did it last year, but sort of very low key, but we intend to be out on the streets next year distributing earplugs to children who would be parading and it is really just to raise awareness of the need to protect their hearing,” Low Chew Tung said.
She said the market fair scheduled to be held at the Chinese Association of T&T, St Ann's would be a free family event with lots of children’s activities and over 80 vendors booths displaying craft, jewelry, cuisine, cosmetics, and live art to name a few.
For more information send emails to quotachristmasmarket@gmail.com