We is We in the community

Ryan Forde, Founder of We Is We: Community Development Foundation, recently partnered with Danny Atwell, director of One Builders to upgrade the entire Internet setup at the Arthur Smith Primary School in St. Matthias.

Forde wanted to assist students by providing new routers that would allow the entire school, including students, teachers and the immediate surrounding community, to benefit from an upgraded system.

Given the greenlight by the principal Wilma McClean, Forde advised that this would facilitate the school with better connectivity for everyone at a time when online learning has become a major component in the education system. Earlier in the year, 13 tablets were also sourced to assist children at the school with their online assignments as part of the IT Revamp Project.

One Builders pledged to continue their commitment to the community. This is the second project that they partnered with Forde on his We Is We programme.

Forde explained: “The concept of We Is We is that everyone can pitch in their fair share of effort with members of the community to help the community develop. The focus is mainly on pride in self-help where members of a community identify what is needed and work together to get results.

“Young people are encouraged to be ‘hands on’ and to use their skills and not rely on Government or private sector to do it all but together. I always say, ‘if we don’t take a risk then we never have a chance to begin with’. So in this case, take the risk and do what you can to help each other.”

Earlier in the year, Forde and We Is We led their first project which was the Clean-up Drive in the St. Matthias area. A proposal was subsequently submitted to the Government to transform it into an Agro/Sport Community Complex and they are awaiting approval to begin phase two of this project. (PR)