Representatives of Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association Education Foundation (CHTAEF) were in Grand Bahama Island to fulfill a promise made to assist in the recovery of the tourism industry in The Bahamas post Hurricane Dorian.
Approximately 250 tourism workers will be gifted Electronic Tablets to provide tourism related recipients with the tools to access continuing educational resources; virtual training opportunities; and other online skills enhancement modules etc. through the internet by way of the tablets. The CHTAEF worked in partnership with The Grand Bahama Island Tourism Board (GBITB) and The Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) to identify the resources most needed and the beneficiaries of the tablets. Aliv joined the partnership by ensuring that each tablet was loaded with two months of service. This initiative will focus on Grand Bahama and Abaco, as these two islands were hardest hit by Hurricane Dorian which exacerbated the financial fallout from the ensuing COVID-19 pandemic.
Chairman of CHTA Education Foundation, Karolin Troubetzkoy, said in her presentation to the on-island representatives that the foundation and its donors were pleased to present 250 tablets recipients in the tourism industry in Grand Bahama and Abaco as they sought to assist in the continuing education goals during this very difficult time.
The President further stated, “we hope this gift will help you achieve your fullest potential in school and help you excel in whatever field you choose in the future”.
One of the recipients of the gifted tablets shared their story;
Marie Boulet shared, “I have 6 kids, I have worked in tourism my whole working life. My kids and I were all living a normal day to day life that we had created. Before that catastrophic category 5 hurricane Dorian brought so much damage on our beautiful Abaco and Grand Bahama.
At the time of the storm we lived in Heritage, somewhere we always assumed we were safe during these types of situations, but we weren’t this time. Beyond the fact that the water made it in the house within just minutes forcing their dad to put everyone in the ceiling and waiting for rescue for hours, having to chap a hole in the roof to seek some type of chance to staying alive. After enduring such a mentally stressful situation we lost everything we ever knew as there’s or should I say home.
After trying to return things to normal here came the pandemic and this threw everything back some more. Trying to make their lives normal anticipating school and then to only learn that that too would be paused and turned into virtual learning which became a serious setback because this would mean that my kids would all need individual tablets to get their schoolwork done and all were taken in the storm. And as I mentioned also was currently working with tourism that left me without a job. These last 2 years have been very trying so when I heard about this opportunity, I was beyond excited and say big thank you for choosing us.”
The CHTA Education Foundation’s primary goal is focused on education and training for hotel and tourism students. CHTAEF have raised more than US$2 million through the generosity of our partners and Caribbean hotels in the last 10-years alone. These funds have been awarded as scholarships and training grants to students and industry professionals in the hotel and tourism industry in the region. Today, CHTA Education Foundation is the largest pan-regional charitable program in the Caribbean hospitality industry.
