“This is not just a Pan space with a com­put­er room, this is a Cen­tre of Ex­cel­lence, a space that al­ready has an in­flux of youth on a night­ly ba­sis, now you have an av­enue to pro­pel them.”

The de­c­la­ra­tion was made by Pres­i­dent of Pan Trin­ba­go, Mrs. Bev­er­ly Ram­sey Moore, at the open­ing of a tech lab at the To­ba­go Pan-Thers Pan The­atre in Gold­en Lane. 

The tech space was opened to the com­mu­ni­ty at a warm func­tion on No­vem­ber 16, 2022.  The To­ba­go Pan-Thers is one of four com­mu­ni­ty groups that part­nered with the Dig­i­cel Foun­da­tion this year to im­ple­ment com­mu­ni­ty com­put­er labs. 

In an ef­fort to close the gap be­tween those with and with­out ac­cess to the in­ter­net and the tech­nol­o­gy need­ed for ac­cess­ing it, the Dig­i­cel Foun­da­tion part­nered with the To­ba­go based group to im­ple­ment the TT$73,000 com­mu­ni­ty project.

The new computer lab space at Tobago Pan-Thers Pan Theatre, Golden Lane, Plymouth, is now outfitted with five computers, one printer, furniture as needed and 1-year of free high-speed internet courtesy of Digicel+ through the Digicel Foundation TIE (Technology In Education) programme. [Image courtesy Digicel Foundation]

This par­tic­u­lar build­ing re­quired the con­struc­tion of a room to fa­cil­i­tate the com­put­er lab.  In ad­di­tion, the com­put­er room is now out­fit­ted with five com­put­ers, one print­er, fur­ni­ture as need­ed—desk, chairs, ta­bles, shelv­ing, an AC unit—and 1-year free high-speed in­ter­net cour­tesy of Dig­i­cel+.

Present at the open­ing was Min­is­ter of Sport and Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment, Sham­fa Cud­joe MP, who is Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment for To­ba­go West.

“Dig­i­cel has been a beloved and trust­ed part­ner as it re­lates to Hu­man Cap­i­tal De­vel­op­ment ca­pac­i­ty build­ing in rur­al com­mu­ni­ties,” Min­is­ter Cud­joe ob­served.

She added, “This may look like a sim­ple task, just putting some com­put­ers here, but it goes be­yond a Home-Work Cen­tre. It’s a place for young­sters to teach, to learn to share their ex­pe­ri­ences and learn from oth­ers.”

Manager, Tobago Pan-Thers, Brian Thomas, addresses a small gathering of invitees during the official launch of the Digicel Foundation TIE (Technology In Education) Centre at Tobago Pan-Thers Pan Theatre, Golden Lane, Plymouth, on November 16, 2022. [Image courtesy Digicel Foundation]

Man­ag­er of To­ba­go Pan-Thers, Bri­an Thomas, point­ed out to the small gath­er­ing of op­por­tu­ni­ties the lab presents for the com­mu­ni­ty.

“This project will open a door for res­i­dents and peo­ple from near­by vil­lages to come and fin­ish their home­work and as­sign­ments with the as­sis­tance of a vol­un­teer, such as a sixth-form stu­dent, a re­tired teacher, or even a big sib­ling or par­ent,” he said.

Bri­an Thomas re­mind­ed the lis­ten­ing au­di­ence that the el­der­ly should not be left be­hind, since some of them al­ready have ex­pressed an in­ter­est in learn­ing the com­put­er.

L to R – Minister of Sport and Community Development, Shamfa Cudjoe MP; Manager, Tobago Pan-Thers, Brian Thomas; Digicel Foundation Board Director, Georgina Peterkin; and President of Pan Trinbago, Beverly Ramsey Moore, have a chat about plans for the newly constructed space. [Image courtesy Digicel Foundation]

In 2021, the Dig­i­cel Foun­da­tion com­mis­sioned four sim­i­lar cen­tres—three on the North Coast and one in Ch­agua­nas. This year, these four ad­di­tion­al spaces, through the Foun­da­tion’s TIE pro­gramme, aim to in­crease on­line ac­cess in rur­al and mar­gin­alised com­mu­ni­ties.

The project was a part­ner­ship with Di­vi­sion of Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment, Youth De­vel­op­ment and Sport in To­ba­go, and will be man­aged by the To­ba­go Pan-Thers Pan The­atre.