GGYA students from Lucaya International School and Lyford Cay School on their first day at Aquaponic project
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Freeport, Bahamas - Eleven young adults undertook
a community service project at the Garden of the Groves during their October
break to complete their 5 day Residential for the Gold Level of the Governor
General Youth Award (GGYA). The students from Lyford Cay, Nassau, and Lucaya
International School, Grand Bahama, worked together on the initial construction
phase of an aquaponics system to be established at Garden of the Groves.
During that week the students
worked alongside Wayne Hall, Director of Aquaponics Operations at Garden of the
Groves, and his assistant Damiko Sawyer. Among other tasks they cleared brush,
created a trail and underwent instruction by carpenter John Ash in building and
erecting trusses for the facility. It was impressive to see how much was
accomplished by willing hands during this five day period.
For most of these students
this was their final requirement for the Gold Award. So far they have kayaked
around New Providence, performed countless hours of service and now assisted in
and learned over five long days about the future of agriculture in the Bahamas.
It is hoped that many of the skills learned will benefit them in the future.
Erika Gates, President of
Garden of the Groves shared: “We were happy for these hard-working young
persons to spend the week and hope that it will give them great satisfaction when
they return later this year to witness
our first harvest which will show the “fruit of their labour.”
GGYA students building trusses for Aquaponics project with carpenter John Ash. The participants for the project were: Matthieu Boef, Gabby Hollaender, Michael Mindorff, Tiera Ndlovu, Jana Ward, Ben Willoch, Zoe Brown, Jett Brooks, Jose Renteria, Gareth Kirkby, Gabby Lopez.
Accompanied by David Mindorff and Dr. Sylvia Bateman. Project co-ordinator Wayne Hall, assisted by Damiko Sawyer
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Trusses being installed
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Five days later - a job well done thanks to the young people of Lucayan International and Lyford Cay schools!
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Great leadership of the young people by David Mindorff and Sylvia Bateman
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