SERVOL’s Junior Life Centre in Cascade provides education for children who were not placed in a secondary school following the SEA (Secondary Entrance Assessment) exam. In a typical school year, 40 students attend, ages 11-16 with the majority being male. The students are taught basic math and English but do not really have exposure to sports, art or music.

Having the belief that education should not just be about academics and that exposure to more varied activities can lead to the discovery of undiscovered talents and overall personal betterment, IAMovement began facilitating extra curricular activities at the school where possible based upon its volunteer availability and participation, where these were coordinated with teachers amongst other school activities during the day. These included music drumming, skateboarding, mural painting, and basic environmental awareness activities such as gardening and garbage cleanups.

These activities were carried out for several months in 2015, but were eventually stopped based upon inconsistency in volunteer availability.

Global Dignity Day at SERVOL Cascade in 2015
On Wednesday 28th October 2015, together with The World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community – Port of Spain Hub, IAMovement facilitated a Global Dignity Day event at SERVOL’s Junior Life Centre in Cascade. Global Dignity Day is an internationally celebrated day aimed at empowering the youth by encouraging them to voice their challenges, growth experiences and resolutions through different activities; and in this way bring dignity to their individual stories. Typically on Global Dignity Day, a local role model is invited to share their own experiences in facing fear and experiencing failure along their path to success. West Indies cricketer, Daren Ganga, shared his story and generously donated a cricket bat to a young cricketer at the school.

Earth Day in 2017
IAMovement celebrated Earth Day at SERVOL’s Junior Life Centre in Cascade on Monday 27th March 2017 with some environmentally conscious and fun activities. We started a school garden project with the students and showed and discussed our documentary “Small Change” and “A Quiet Revolution”, a short film about permaculture and organic farming in Trinidad. We also talked about recycling and bio-packaging alternatives to styrofoam with the support of Hello Green. Prizes were given out during Q & A sessions about the topics discussed and the students had fun tie-dying t-shirts, mural painting, slacklining and being moko jumbies. It was both a fun and educational day. Thanks were given to the High Commission of Canada to Trinidad and Tobago for supporting IAMovement’s Climate Talk series and Earth Day at SERVOL – and to all the volunteers who made the day extra fun and possible!