Trenchtown Reading Centre

Trenchtown Reading Centre, Kingston 12

Some might know about the ghetto area in West Kingston from songs where Bob Marley describes his birthplace and the terrible social conditions. Poverty, violence, hardship, hopelessness and a lack of opportunity still dominate the living conditions in ghetto areas like Trenchtown. The Trenchtown Reading Centre (TRC) is a community-based initiative, founded and operated by the Canadian Roslyn Ellison, which is dedicated to provide opportunities and chances for the kids.

The Trenchtown Reading Centre opened in 1993 and provides a constantly growing and outstanding collection of Caribbean and international children’s books, schoolbooks, books on Black history and culture, about nature and science – books for all ages, abilities and interests. It offers programs focusing on young readers and literacy at all levels. Additionally there are programs like after-school tutoring and home-work assistance, reading courses, spelling contests and parental courses. The centre provides space for various community activities and the positive development of young children and youths – the future for a change! It tries to provide ways out of the cycle of poverty, violence and lack of opportunity, trying to exchange violence for the power of knowledge. Focusing on education, literacy, mentoring and the learning of life skills it provides open and free access to information, encourages the exchange of ideas and thus creates a foundation for personal development and the upliftment of the whole community.

We support the TRC financially and help to make it become more popular in Europe to secure the offered programs and educational courses for the kids can be continued.

To find out how we support the Trenchtown Reading Centre – check out the ‘Activities & Events’ Section.

www.trenchtownreadingcentre.com
Contact in Canada: reading_centre@hotmail.com

Read more about the TRC. The article is written by Sarah Bentley and was originally published in the Riddim Magazin (05/2008) in German language