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Basseterre, St. Kitts, December 6, 2019 (S.T.E.P.) — Trainees at Ade’s Place in Basseterre’s Greenlands, a safe haven for adults with disabilities, are now successfully working on income generating projects and at the institution’s annual Open Day held on Wednesday December 4, an array of craft items they would have produced were on display.

“It is the time when we put the skills and talents of the trainees on display,” said member of Ade’s Place Board of Directors, Ms Clarice Cotton, as she welcomed parents and visitors to the Open Day which was observed under the theme ‘Impacting lives, Teaching skills, Forging friendships’. “We want to show the public what they have been working on, and some of the things that they have been learning.”

Ms Cotton observed that Ade’s Place has fulfilled one of its goals, because the trainees have fine-tuned their talents and are now working on income generating projects producing a variety of high quality craft items that were snapped up by the impressed visitors.

“We want to thank the public; we want to thank government institutions like the Skills Training Empowerment Programme (STEP), and we want to thank the Embassy of the Republic of China on Taiwan for all their support over the years,” said Ms Cotton. “We could not be here without you. We want to thank the parents, and we just got a new partner on board, the Wesleyan Holiness Church – we want to say thank you for adopting Ade’s Place.”

Chairing the day’s proceedings was Ade’s Place Director, Ms LaToya Merchant, who said that apart from teaching art and craft, trainees have also been taught to save and all have been encouraged to open savings accounts at the St. Kitts Cooperative Credit Union.

“Many persons do not know but we do recycling here,” added Ms Merchant. “We actually collect plastic bottles and we bag them and we take them to Admiral’s (2008) Limited. So the trainees are doing their part to help the environment.”

The Skills Training Empowerment Programme (STEP) which in 2017 took on board trainees at Ade’s Place on its national training programme, where they are paid weekly stipends, was represented by Quality Assurance Coordinator and Consultant/Acting Director, Mr Emile Greene, and Field Coordinator Mr William Phillip.

The Wesleyan Holiness Church had a delegation led by Superintendent of the Wesleyan Holiness Church St. Kitts, Nevis and Saba District, Rev Spencer Watts, who also gave remarks. Others were Pastor Rev Sylvester Herbert of the Basseterre and Conaree Wesleyan Holiness Churches and Mrs Sonia Herbert, and Pastor Renecia McDonald of Basseterre Wesleyan Holiness Church, who offered the opening prayer.

Others present included Mr Ruben Mogollon, First Secretary at the Embassy of Venezuela; Ms Grace S.C. Wang from the Embassy of the Republic of China on Taiwan; Mrs Joycelyn Archibald-Pennyfeather, Dean of Education at the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College (CFBC); and Ms Rosemarie Munroe, and Ms Tamiqua Douglas from the St. Kitts Spectrum Centre.

Ade’s Place was set up in 2005 to accommodate students graduating from the Cotton Thomas Comprehensive School, who are adults with disabilities, where they could learn skills instead of them remaining at home. It was named Ade’s Place when one of the first trainees, Ade Chaderton who was born with a condition called Cornelia De Lange Syndrome, passed away in 2005.