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Monday, August 29, 2011

National Council on Drug Abuse continues outreach to homeless with "Tek it Dem" program while LGBT advocates continue ban on our msm homeless

An outreach program originally started in April of this year towards the homeless in the mainstream including drug addicts is to continue as was brought on a Jamaica Information Service news item this morning, below was the original news from the Observer, yet our LGBT advocates continue a ban to our homeless MSM brothers see posts below regarding this awful period in our LGBT history.

A DRIVE by the National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA) to help scores of homeless persons in Kingston and St Andrew get their official government documents to boost their chances of getting a job is being hampered by their inability to acquire national identification cards.
People who have no fixed address are automatically disqualified from being registered with the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ).

Homeless persons wait in line to register for services at the National Council on Drug Abuse Health and Wellness Fair for the Homeless, which was held recently at the Marie Atkins Night Shelter in downtown Kingston. (Photo: Lionel Rookwood)

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/NCDA-reaches-out-to-the-city-s-homeless_8616679#ixzz1WORS1XPT

Apart from the identification cards, the NCDA is also helping the street people to acquire birth certificates, National Insurance Scheme (NIS) cards and Tax Registration Numbers (TRN).
Collete Browne of the NCDA's Tek It to Dem Programme, which organised the first ever health and wellness fair for more than 140 homeless persons last week, said one of the biggest challenges for some of these persons to obtain jobs was their inability to qualify for identification cards. "One big thing that they need to get a job is an identification card but they are unable to since there is no longer any national IDs," she told the Observer.

Browne told the Observer that they were hoping to have the EOJ onboard but it was not possible since persons need to have a fixed address in order to be registered on the voters' list and receive a voter's ID.
According to Browne, one objective of the fair — which was held at the Marie Atkins Night Shelter in downtown Kingston, was to create a holistic approach to helping these persons to receive employment in order to have them reintegrated into society.
As such, in addition to accessing medical and dental services as well as a hot meal, agencies like the Registrar General Department (RGD), and the NIS provided an opportunity for these persons to begin the application process. Additionally, the homeless persons benefited from presentations from the HEART Trust/NTA and the Jamaica Foundation For Lifelong Learning.
Some of these homeless persons, according to Browne, would receive employment if they had the requisite documents.
According to Browne, many of the street persons were not mentally ill but have became homeless because of various circumstances. It was under some of these circumstances that documents such as their birth certificates and IDs were misplaced leaving them without any form of identification.
The majority of the persons who applied for birth certificates at the RGD's booth at the fair were only able to provide very basic information from which a search will have to be made for their records.
Males, whose ages ranged from 25 to 60 years, made up the majority of the homeless persons who benefited from the fair.
Acting inspector of the Poor for Kingston and St Andrew, Elaine Walker said it was a historic day for the city's street people.
"The homeless are like invisible persons and to have them coming here and being able to apply for these things and to see the doctor and dentist is historic," she beamed.
Walker also expressed delight that the Marie Atkins Night Shelter was able to facilitate the event and said she looked forward to seeing these homeless persons receive the requisite documentation.
Oneil Smith, regional manager at the NCDA, said there were persons who had expressed a willingness to employ some of the homeless.
"We have had persons say they will give them jobs and so we want to help in whatever way we can," he said.
Daniel Brown, field officer at the NCDA said the Tek It To Dem programme has been very effective in reaching out to the street people.
The Tek It to Dem programme, implemented jointly by the Ministry of Health and the NCDA, targets mainly the homeless, HIV infected persons and substance abusers in the Corporate Area.

The project offers services such as counselling, testing and care in addition to food, clothing and transportation to medical facilities and shelters.
Between August 2009 and July 2010, the programme is said to have mapped over 50 locations and tested 333 homeless persons for HIV and 82 for substance use. Of that number, a total of 40 persons were tested positive for HIV.
Brown said that the aim is to take the various services to the homeless, providing them with nutritious meals as well as medical services.
"A lot of homeless persons won't go to main health care facilities because they were being looked down on and so they were dying in the streets," he said.
He explained that money from the Global Fund was used to purchase a bus, which is used to transport them to clinics across the Corporate Area.

also see the JIS Report as well

please see also:



Maurice Tomlinson (right), legal adviser, Marginalised AIDS-Free World Group, Jamaica AIDS Support for Life, and Jamaica Forum for Lesbians All-Sexuals and Gays representatives staging a peaceful stand in front of the Hilton Rose Hall Resort in Montego Bay during the Caribbean HIV/AIDS Regional Training Network, Caribbean Cytometry & Analytical Society (CCAS), Centers for Disease Control Third Joint Meeting and Eighth CCAS HIV/AIDS Workshop last Wednesday morning. -  Photo by Janet Silvera
ironically or something else the very organizations who were in a protest in western Jamaica complaining of being excluded from an international AIDS conference held there over the past week yet they have an all out ban on homeless msms due to "bad behaviour" all this in the absence of resident counseling and psycho social services and long term interventions.

audio commentary
On Stands and Inclusiveness 28.08.11 by glbtqja3

Can we really ask the nation to be tolerant or have unconditional love when here the advocates exclude the least amongst us? this is their message via the rejected ad campaign launched recently.

Peace and tolerance

H

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Let he who is without sin... another post from "Pensivemoods"


Brian Paul, blogger on Pensive moods wrote the following:

Let he who is without sin...


Pensive Moods

I was a bit miffed by the tone of the pronouncements of my dear friend Maurice Tomlinson at his latest stand for tolerance in Montego Bay.

He and his colleagues staged what the Gleaner described as a 'peaceful protest' outside The Hilton Rose Hall, site of the Caribbean HIV/AIDS Regional Training Network, Caribbean Cytometry & Analytical Society (CCAS), Centers for Disease Control Third Joint Meeting and Eighth CCAS HIV/AIDS Workshop.


Maurice Tomlinson (right), legal adviser, Marginalised AIDS-Free World Group, Jamaica AIDS Support for Life, and Jamaica Forum for Lesbians All-Sexuals and Gays representatives staging a peaceful stand in front of the Hilton Rose Hall Resort in Montego Bay during the Caribbean HIV/AIDS Regional Training Network, Caribbean Cytometry & Analytical Society (CCAS), Centers for Disease Control Third Joint Meeting and Eighth CCAS HIV/AIDS Workshop last Wednesday morning. -  Photo by Janet Silvera

They were protesting the seemingly deliberate exclusion of Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) and organizations that work closely with them such as JFLAG and JASL from this important workshop.

I must admit that upon first hearing of this conference I was taken aback by its scale as at face value it seemed to spring out of nowhere, larger than life. I therefore expected that all the major players would be scrambling to participate. It was a surprise to learn that they were left out of the process.

The article went on to say:

The workshop was held under the banner, "Harmonising Quality Clinical Care and Laboratory Diagnostics on Behalf of Persons Most at Risk of HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean, however, international NGO, AIDS-Free World, and local partners from Jamaica AIDS Support for Life and the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians All-Sexuals and Gays were not invited to attend.
"No members of the Jamaican MSM community were invited to participate in this conference, despite the 2009 UNAIDS findings that the HIV prevalence rate among Jamaican MSM is 32 per cent against 1.6 per cent in the general population," lamented Maurice Tomlinson, legal adviser, Marginalised AIDS-Free World Group.
Tomlinson criticised the organisers, stating that the way they had gone about the workshop flew in the face of the internationally accepted principle requiring the Greater Involvement of Persons Living with HIV/AIDS in designing and implementing HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support interventions.
"While we hope the conference participants enjoyed their stay at the luxurious resort, we, therefore, question their commitment to the populations they purport to serve," said Tomlinson.

Que le fuq???
While I agree with his position in light of the facts, I can't help but point out that this is a criticism that is levelled at JFLAG and JASL quite frequently and that for many (myself included) I think this is a time for the major players to pause and reflect and remove the beam from their own eye.
The huge regional MSM community consultation that the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVC) recently concluded at the Iberostar was by all reports a grand holiday for technocrats and NGO administrators and deliberately excluded those providing the true front-line services, including JFLAG's own crisis intervention officer with her immense practical knowledge of what is happening on the streets of Jamaica. CVC also deliberately excluded the street boys, the transgenders, the entertainment promoters (and I must disclose that I fall into this category lest I be accused of having a secret axe to grind) and the other allies that make up the rainbow coalition.
What kind of planning and strategizing can possibly take place without the input of those that live on the streets and do not live in comfortable offices or their passports?
How can the strategic plans emerging from such a regional meeting be worth the paper they are printed on if they exclude the input of those with first-hand knowledge of the major issues influencing the vulnerabilities of LGBTs?
These are the kind of questions we need answers to.
Because if the community is not satisfied that our 'leaders' understand the issues in their entirety, how then can we support a campaign for them to have their voice amplified at the highest level?
p.s. I guess the cat is out of the bag based on the headline "Gays Stage Peaceful Stand Against Discrimination". No more hiding behind AIDS Free World.