News
Five years since Hurricanes & Maria, Waterloo re-opens better, stronger
By Deandrea Hamilton & Dana Malcolm
Editorial Staff
#TurksandCaicos, March 24, 2022 – An enchanted evening at an historical treasure and now the Governor’s residence Grand Turk is once again habitable; Waterloo was in 2017 devastated by the harrowing hit of Hurricanes Irma and Maria.
Five years on and His Excellency Nigel Dakin takes to his Instagram to share highlights from a string of events
designed to showcase local talent and culture and progresses among inmates from the Department of Corrections, formerly Her Majesty’s Prison.
He penned: “A gem of a house, constructed in 1815, its seen 207 years of TCI’s history. Pounded by the 2017 hurricanes it was uninhabitable but last night saw its rebirth.
Back in 2019, in my inauguration speech, I said I hoped to both “preserve and improve” and I hope this wonderful property proves to be an analogy of that. Like TCI it’s bounced back stronger from the adversity of the last few years.
The fabric of the building has been strengthened- better to survive future disaster – but the integrity of the design remains true to the original. Those visiting will not notice a huge, if any, serious change.”
The exterior he said will continue to celebrate the past; inside Mr. and Mrs. Dakin hoped to showcase the bright future for the Turks and Caicos, he said.
“Local artists are exhibited on the walls (their paintings available to purchase) and the voluminous space created by removing false ceilings, and paying respect to the workmanship in the Timbers, helps lift your spirits.
The historic dining room table remains (it could tell some stories) but the furniture is there to be minimalist,
relaxing and hopefully puts people who are visiting at ease.
The gardens, always beautiful, have been tidied and the amount of foliage slightly reduced to provide light and space but framed with verdant green and vibrant colors.”
Guests to the special dinner function were serve what we could only imagine was savory meal, helped by two inmates of the prison.
“… they’ve been brilliant in helping us prepare and we have ambitious plans going forward linked to training those leaving the prison for the hospitality sector using the fantastic industrial kitchen we have in Waterloo.”
On Instagram, where Governor Dakin has some 5,839 followers, there is also announcement about inmate made handbags travelling across the pond for a London fashion debut.
“On that Anya Willique has been collaborating with Mandy to produce a range of bags and totes to be made in the prison out of kites donated by Big Blue and H2O. If all goes to plan Anya has a place secured at London fashion week in September.”
There is also an assertive effort to getting more inmates working with the TCI Community College and the first of many Farmers’ Markets is coming for Waterloo. The produce and the livestock are being grown at the prison grounds.
“I was at the Prison today (Monday) looking at the significant improvement at the Farm. I used some funds available to me from the UK to support this.
The staff and prisoners have done an amazing job at generating a model farm; rearing livestock and growing fruits and vegetables. As well as feeding the inmates we intend to launch a farmers market in the grounds of Waterloo where theirs and others produce can be sold.
The Minister responsible for Agriculture (Hon Josephine Connolly) was there along with Dr. Brown the Chief Vet whose done so much to support the animal husbandry.”
A tour Monday included government ministers for Home Affairs, Hon Otis Morris and Physical Planning and Infrastructure Development, Hon Akierra Missick.
Government is seeking to lead by example in ensuring the rate of recidivism is reduced by ensuring more inmates, once complete their sentence are making a healthier transition to society.
“We now have a proposed way forward – more to follow in future months. And the great news is others are playing their part. Two Hotels have recently employed previous inmates. Thank you.
From education through agriculture to mechanics to textile production to hospitality we’ve started, and we can do that because the prison is now a disciplined place. The present inmates are our future neighbors and stopping recidivism is in all our favor.”
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, April 19, 2024 – In an attempt to move to 24-hour-a-day operations Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA) is steadily recruiting Air Traffic Controllers to work at the Providenciales/Howard Hamilton International Airport, according to Godfrey Smith, TCIAA CEO, reporting to the Appropriations Committee.
Speaking on April 8th Smith said a cabinet paper would be sent soon requesting six more Air Traffic Controllers to make round the clock operation at the Provo International possible and to open the airport in Grand Turk till 12 a.m.
Currently, 17 posts are filled and seven are vacant.
Smith was candid with his responses to recent industrial action from ATCs which led to resignations and firings.
“What we have to do is find systems to mitigate such actions and that has to start with filling these jobs, putting people in that want to
work and doing right by people – and we always try to do right by our staff. Persons may not think that we are but we always do – we ain’t pick no fight,” he said in the meetings held at the NJS Francis building ahead of the National Budget Communication.
Smith indicated that recruitment was an issue across the board, ‘we need to find ways to recruit a little bit better’ he told the committee. Also in need of a push was capital spending or projects according to the CEO, who said the agency had ‘not been very good’ at meeting that mark but insisted they had recognized the issue and could do better.
A very important key performance indicator drawn up by the TCIAA is increasing passenger satisfaction at the Howard Hamilton International Airport. For the TCIAA part of this means a 30 percent increase in seating by Q2 of this year.
When queried on if they could even handle this increase the CEO said,
“The fact of the matter is we already have the capacity there. What we need is to make the service a bit better.”
Staff shortages have become such a frustrating issue that the TCIAA is instituting a scholarship program created by Authority Chairman, Selvyn Hawkins
“What the board wants to do is basically allocate $25,000 annually for a scholarship and they’ve approved it already.”
This process would cover tuition and all other costs for one student.
The student would return as a summer intern and other breaks to work at the TCIAA and upon graduation, assume a role at the company.
“We identify a particular skill we need, we go after it and we build capacity that is in a nutshell the nexus of the program,” Smith said.
The Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA) is allocated $49 million this financial year; over $20 million goes to salaries.
Company delivers fastest speeds nationwide and boosts service reliability
PROVIDENCIALES, TURKS AND CAICOS, APRIL 19th, 2024 – More connections, faster speeds and greater support for customers. This is the promise from communications and entertainment provider, Flow TCI, as it embarks on an initiative to provide households with enhanced connections, greater overall reliability and now, for the first time, speeds up to one gigabit person second.
FLOW TCI Country Manager, Joanne Missick shared: “Our customers are at the heart of everything we do. We listen to our customers and want to exceed their demands, so we are focused on delivering unmatched value with customer centric products and services that are future proof. Flow subscribers on our Fibre Extreme package can now access up to one gigabyte speeds and subscribers on our Fibre Plus and Fibre Max package, as of April 1st, are also now benefitting from up to 5x more speeds.”
This is third speed boost for Flow customers in the last two years. This comes under the umbrella of the the Company’s recently launched “Working for You” campaign, where technicians are going into the neighborhoods across the island to conduct repairs, decommission copper cables, and increase the brand’s visibility in local communities.
“To date several neighborhoods have been served by technicians and the company will continue to go across the islands to ensure each neighborhood receives personal attention. We recognize that over the past few months some customers have experienced issues with the quality and delivery of our services. This is not what we stand for. Flow remains committed to providing technology and innovation
that enables growth and positively impacts lives”, says, newly appointed Head of Technical Operations, Simeon Thomas.
Thomas adds, “We have been closely monitoring and reviewing every aspect of our network and there is room for improvement across each of the islands. Where we find shortcomings, we are taking concrete actions and assigning our technicians to rapidly make all necessary adjustments and improvements for our customers”.
Flow has made significant investments in expanding and modernizing its infrastructure and delivering a more robust and reliable network paving the way for the country’s digital transformation.
For more information on speed increases visit https://www2.discoverflow.co/turks-and-caicos/price-adjustment-speed-increase on our website.
Thank you for your usual assistance in sharing our stories.
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