Students of the Kingston-based Franklin Town Primary School beamed with pride as they entered their newly painted building.

The grounds of the institution received a well-needed facelift as the final phase of the Embassy of the Dominican Republic’s ‘Dom Rep School Adoption Programme.’

This initiative, which was the brainchild of Dominican Republic Ambassador to Jamaica Angie Martínez, saw the mission adopting a public school and developing an academic curriculum, with its primary focus being the promotion of the Spanish language and the fostering of sharing the best of the Dominican culture; its people, customs, history, geography, national symbols, food, music and dance, as well as improving the school’s infrastructure.

“This is the culmination of the Embassy’s yearlong commitment to this wonderful institution, Franklin Town Primary School, which we adopted during the 2021-2022 academic year as part of our adoption program. For us, it is a matter of social responsibility and an opportunity to share who we are as a country and people with the students,” said Ambassador Martínez.

“My hope is to see more Jamaicans speaking Spanish as a second language. This can only happen by introducing it to them at a young age, making them familiar with the language. Eventually, interest will be created in the kids as they transition to the secondary level and beyond and they will likely continue on to learning the language.”

She continued by stating, “the Dominican Republic and Jamaica are close neighbours and as such, as a way of bringing our countries and cultures closer, we have to engage the students, showing them that although there are differences in our history, language, and culture, there is a lot that connects us as Caribbean people.”

As part of the yearlong activities, students were taught words and phrases in Spanish; learned about merengue and bachata, the national music and dance of the Dominican Republic; played the national sport, baseball, and also learned about the baseball players who have represented the country throughout the world; tasted the local gastronomy; all this in an effort to strengthen and deepen, even more, the excellent bonds of friendship that unite our people.

“For me and the Embassy’s team it was truly exciting to see the natural talent of the children and how eager they were to learn baseball. We were surprised to see how quickly they caught on to the rules and the concept of the game. It could be attributed to its similarity to cricket, a sport they already know so well. It was also inspiring to see how enthusiastically the children from this school took an interest in our language, and our culture on a whole; how much they enjoyed tasting our food and how much they enjoyed dancing to our national rhythms, playing ball, sharing their experiences and learning from ours,” declared Martínez.

Franklin Town Primary had sections of its infrastructure in need of painting, repairs and upkeep, so the embassy, along with corporate sponsors, undertook the mandate of ensuring that the school campus, its exterior, classrooms and murals receive a much-needed sprucing up before the new school year began, thus leaving a positive mark on the infrastructure, the staff and students, the community and the life of the school overall.

To mark the official culmination of the Embassy’s 2021/2022 commitment to Franklin Town Primary, and the recommitment of its continued support to the school throughout the 2022/2023 school year, the mission joined Rohan Treleven, principal of the institution, to welcome the students, parents and staff, red carpet style, on their first day back, and handover to them their newly painted school.

“On behalf of the board of governor, the staff, students and parents of the Franklin Town Primary School, we would like to say thank you to Ambassador Angie Martínez and the members of the Embassy for choosing our school as part of their adoption program and for the huge impact they have had on the school community and infrastructure and look forward to another year of working together for the benefit of our wonderful student. It has been a real honour having the team from the Embassy of the Dominican Republic sharing with us. Their presence has truly made a difference to our students, who look forward to their every visit,” said Treleven.

The Embassy of the Dominican Republic extends its sincerest gratitude to the corporate partners on this project, without who, the beautification exercise would not have been possible: Newport – Fersan (Jamaica) Limited, Hyundai Jamaica Magna Motors, IMCA Jamaica Limited, Therrestra Limited, Jamaica Producers Group Limited, Bashco/MegaMart, SYGNUS Group and Pepsi Jamaica.

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