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Biggest Swim Team headed to CARIFTA in Barbados this Easter

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By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

 

#TurksandCaicos, March 29, 2022 – Turks and Caicos will be in the water when junior competitive swimming returns to the Caribbean.  Even with the major COVID-19 interruptions, TeamTCI is aimed at making a splash at CARIFTA Swim 2022!

“This is our first opportunity to go back to CARIFTA since 2019…We do have lots of swimmers that are likely to make finals.   All f our swimmers are worth looking out for.   Most of our swimmers are likely to set personal bests.   I think that it’s going to be a very exciting competition to watch.”

The meet is scheduled for Barbados this Easter and Dan Redmond, President of the Turks and Caicos Swimming Federation has complete confidence in his swimmers.

He names Rohan Shearer, the TCIs first CARIFTA swim medalist who did the job in 2019, earning a silver medal in the 50 metre backstroke.  Also on that ‘ones to watch list’ is Tajari Williams who won a bronze medal in the 50 meter freestyle in 2021 at the CCCAN or Central America and Caribbean Amateur Swimming Confederation; still said Redman, there are lots of stars in the bunch.

CARIFTA – whether on the track or in the pool – draws athletes from across the Caribbean region in what is often a springboard for world caliber careers in sports.  Redmond spoke about the extreme level of difficulty expected at the games.

“The standard of competition in CARIFTA is extremely high, just making the final of an individual event is an achievement. Competitors from CARIFTA go on to represent their countries at the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics and so it is a first class standard of competition.” Redmond said.

In terms of future prospects so I may be having our very own TCI swimmers in the Olympics one day, Redmond said.

“It is a long-term process. We have lots of young swimmers that are only going to get faster.”

He stresses the need for proper practicing facilities to augment their training.

“I hope that one day we can see a swimming pool built in the Turks and Caicos Islands which means that we can practice more often on our own island and not have to travel abroad.”

The government has promised an Olympic pool to the swimmers to be completed before the end of their term in office. To this Redmond says, “I hope that happens. It’s a big commitment but I really hope that happens not just for our competitive swimmers but for adults swimmers, for master swimmers, for keep-fitters, for everyone.”

It’s been a rocky road since 2002 when the TCI sent its first delegation to CARIFTA but the team has been regularly attending since 2016 and In the Five years since the TCI began attending the competitions regularly.

Redman says they have only gotten better and this year Team TCI has it biggest ever team.

“We’re sending ten swimmers this time, which is more swimmers than we’ve ever sent before. I hope we stick with the tradition of being better than the year before. It’s a very tough tradition to uphold but I hope we can do it.”

Those ten swimmers are: Sophie Taylor, Angeline Lindenhahn, Danielle Burgess, Thais Burgess, Rohan Shearer, Jayden Davis, Mateo Gardiner, Tajhari Williams, Sean Walters and Ethan Gardiner.

In terms of aid the President said, “We do need sponsorship, without our sponsors we wouldn’t be able to make this happen over the years we’ve managed through the assistance of local businesses that helped us out and this year we need the same kind of support.”

If you are fired up by the passion expressed by the Federations President, or just plain excited to partake in the journey of our swimmers, there is a way you can help.

You can contact them at info@tciswimmingfederation.com

The 2022 CARIFTA Games Swim Championship and Open Water Swimming is being staged in Barbados from April 6th to the 20th.

Caribbean News

CARPHA Progresses to Eligibility for the First Disbursement of Pandemic Funding

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Following a landmark Public Signing Ceremony for the Pandemic Fund (PF) Technical Cooperation Agreement (“Reducing the Public Health Impact of Pandemics in the Caribbean through Prevention, Preparedness, and Response” [RG-T4387] Project) on December 14, 2023, in Trinidad, the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) continues to progress towards the start of implementation.

 CARPHA fulfilled the IDB’s nine conditions prior to first disbursement, achieving full eligibility on March 15, 2024, and is now eligible for the first disbursement. This milestone achievement in just 3 months after the signing speaks to the commitment of both CARPHA, the Executing Agency, and IDB, the Implementing Entity, toward the regional PF project with the objective of supporting the reduction of the public health impact of pandemics in the Caribbean by building pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPR) surveillance & early-warning systems (EWS), laboratory systems and workforce capacity, regionally at CARPHA and in countries.

Since the signing of the Technical Cooperation Agreement and as part of the conditions prior to first disbursement, CARPHA has achieved the following key outputs (i) the development of the PF Project Operations Manual, Multi-annual Execution Plan, Procurement Plan, Financial Plan, Procedure for CARPHA’s Financial Reporting System; (ii) vacancy announcements for two tranches of consultants with the subsequent hiring of five (Technical Coordinator, Financial Specialist, Procurement Specialist, Operations Officer and Project Operations Coordinator) and (iii) the establishment of the Project Execution Unit (PEU) and Project Execution Steering Committee (PESC). The dedicated PEU will be responsible for execution according to its planned timelines, which will be led by the Dr. Lisa Indar, the Project Director (CARPHA’s Director of Surveillance, Disease Prevention and Control Division).

 CARPHA, as the lead regional public health agency and an expression of Caribbean Cooperation in Health is mandated by its Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) to support its 26 CARPHA Member States (CMS) in bolstering national systems and coordinating regional response to public health threats. The Agency works closely with regional and international agencies and uses regional mechanisms, surveillance systems, and networks for coordinating its public health response work.

In July 2023, the PF Governing Board announced that CARPHA’s regional entity proposal, entitled ‘Reducing the Public Health Impact of Pandemics in the Caribbean through Strengthened Integrated Early Warning Surveillance, Laboratory Systems and Workforce Development’ was successfully selected for the first round of financing. It was one of only 19 proposals selected from over 300 submissions and the only regional project. The three priority areas in the proposal are: (i) Comprehensive disease surveillance and EWS, (ii) Laboratory systems and (iii) Human resources and public health and community workforce capacity.

This project is expected to begin implementation in March 2024, starting off with a blended onboarding session. A Stakeholder Meeting with countries is tentatively planned for July 2024.

CARPHA remains dedicated to working together with the IDB, CARPHA Member States and the Pandemic Fund to successfully implement the regional proposal geared toward reducing the public health impact of pandemics in the Caribbean.

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Caribbean News

Men who had Murdered Man, Marley Higgs’ cell phone face Court

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Wilkie Arthur

Freelance Court Correspondent

The prosecution intends to try two young North Caicos men, both age 21 for the offense of possession of property of a murdered man, property that was stolen and landed in their possession.

The phone belonged to Peureton ‘Marley’ Higgs, who is believed to have been an innocent gunned down at his apartment complex in the Glass Shack area in a spray of bullets on February 2 that killed another man and wounded two others, including a ten-year-old little girl.

The cell phone was described as white in colour, an iPhone, in a hard black case. 

On Monday, March 18th, JEFFVANO HANDFIELD of North Caicos pleaded not guilty to the offense, and the matter was adjourned to April 2024. He was granted bail in the matter.

A second North Caicos man was charged similarly.  

SARENO CAPELLAN aka, Kino Williams is the second individual brought before the court pertaining to the said cellphone. He appeared in court a week after JEFFVANO HANDFIELD, the date being Monday March 25th 2024.

The case for the Crown is that both men sometime in February of this year possessed the cellphone knowing or suspecting it to be stolen property.

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Caribbean News

Supreme Court Closed for Easter

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NOTICE is hereby given that the Easter Recess shall commence on Friday 29th April, 2024 and end on Friday 5th April, 2024. During the Easter Recess Judge Selochan will be available to deal only with matters that are urgent or require prompt attention.

Court Business During the Easter Recess

A person who wishes to have a matter heard during the recess must file a certificate of urgency along with an affidavit, which must set out the reasons why the matter is urgent or requires prompt attention. The matter will not be listed during the recess unless the Judge deems it fit for urgent hearing.

Opening Hours During the Easter Holiday

The Supreme Court’s last sitting day for the first term is Thursday 28th March, 2024. The Court will officially resume sittings on Monday 8th April, 2024. The Supreme Court Offices in both Grand Turk and Providenciales will continue to operate while the Court is not sitting during the recess.

The Court Office will be closed on the following public holidays:

  • Friday 29th March, 2024 (Good Friday) CLOSED
  • Monday 1st April, 2024 (Easter Monday) CLOSED

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