Sheikh Hamdan receives Cannes Award for Education (July, 2009)

                               Bridges, Connectors of the World!

Bridges are a very important part of our world, connecting us were it seems rather impossible for us to be connected. Often taking us over large and small body of waters, and very deep and shallow valleys where meeting and greeting other persons seems quite impossible. These, sometimes large and other times small structures has allow us the ability to travel to work, do business in unreachable places, and has helped us to take trips beyond our communities in times when trouble struck and we desperately are in need of emergency assistance.

Many of the poorer communities in Jamaica and other Caribbean Islands in the region has been facing this serious problem of commuting back and forth in and around their neighborhood and surroundings areas. And this is only because their are no bridges for the citizen to commute back and forth or wherever they might need to travel to outside of their communities.

It is simply because the government claims that they do not have the funds to bring this essential commodity to the people. Causing many of the citizens, especially the young children who has to travel to school five days of the week to fearfully walk into the river bed with their shoes in hands and their clothing stuck into their underwear, to prevent their clothing from getting wet id the river should ever go a spade.

Time and time again, persons can be seen on the evening news, begging their politicians or community representative to help them install or construct a bridge across the river, so they will be able to safely travel across the river without fearing injuries or death. And just as the needed bridges took forever to come to a place of discussion, so were the tremendous waiting period for the bridges to be constructed. Majority of the time it's only after the citizen has protested and made their pleas known to the politicians representing their communities numerous times that they would see any progress of a bridge being constructed. Some people has even gotten sick and gone to their graves before seeing that reality of a bridge being placed over the river separating them from the rest of the civilize world and their community.

Whether literally or metaphorically, brides are very important to us all, because they connects us to people or places that we would find very difficult to visit or be a part of in our daily lives and travel.

Personally, I would like to see a brand new structure of a bridge in every community or neighborhood that are in need of one; which are made of concrete and steel and very strong to carry heavy loads back and forth into a community. which would be allowing safe and easy access to and from remote areas to develop areas where business is thriving and needed services are available. So persons in these remote areas will be able to travel out safely and receive the services they sometimes, are so desperately relying on to make a change or improve in their lives; especially their health.

There are many of these community members who are willing to do some if not, most of the work themselves once the relevant authorities provide the needed material for them to construct a decent bridge in their communities, which would be easing the purse of the government. Away from the construction material, they will need a professional foreman to oversee their work and guide these workmen as they carryout the building of these needed bridges.

Hence, it is now time in 2018 for politicians, community representative, investors and charity organization to start pushing forward to make sure that these communities that are badly in need of bridges get them. And now, start their actions of putting funds together, so these bridges can be implemented wherever needed on our island, to ease the burden of fear and the constant marooning of people living in these communities where these important infrastructures are so badly needed.