State- of-the-art School Under Construction in Dominica; To Receive 13 th Sabbath Offering Funding
Seventh-day Adventists on the island of Dominica recently broke ground on the new Ebenezer Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Primary School and Resource Center - a modern, wheelchair-accessible three-story building to be outfitted with ten classrooms...
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Cover Photo: Honorable Mirium Blanchard (first from left) President of the East Caribbean Conference Pastor Anthony Hall (third from left), Principal of the school Ursula Leslie (fourth from left),Treasurer of the East Caribbean Conference Valrica Harrison-Dottin (fifth from left)and Executive Secretary of the East Caribbean Conference Terence Haynes (sixth from left) participating in the ceremonial ground breaking for the new school. Image by East Caribbean Conference Communication Department.
Seventh-day Adventists on the island of Dominica recently broke ground on the new Ebenezer Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Primary School and Resource Center - a modern, wheelchair-accessible three-story building to be outfitted with ten classrooms, computer lab, resource room, auditorium, principal’s office, staff room and kitchen.
Today, following several fundraising activities from 2017 which netted the $850,000.00 needed to pay off the building site, the project is poised to receive special infusion from next year’s Thirteenth Sabbath offering, thanks to Dr. Daphney Magloire, Education Director of the Caribbean Union. During her tenure as education director of the East Caribbean Conference (ECC), Magloire submitted a successful proposal to the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, requesting that a portion of the 2024 Thirteenth Sabbath offering should go to the school building project.
The Honorable Mirium Blanchard, minister for Labor, Public Service Transformation, Social Partnership, Entrepreneurship and Small Business as well as the Parliamentary Representative for Roseau North Constituency standing with President of the East Caribbean Conference Pastor Anthony Hall after the ground breaking ceremony. Image by East Caribbean Conference Communication Department
The Thirteenth Sabbath Offering represents a special day of celebration when churches all around the world put aside their local needs to give to the construction of the school,” explained Pastor Samuel Telemaque, himself a Dominican and director of both the Sabbath School Department and the Adventist Mission in the Inter-American Division.
Now the project is working out to be the biggest undertaking from a determined constituency to promote Christian education on an island where the influence of Christian education has made an immense impact, according to Principal Ursula Leslie (formerly Ursula Edwin), who also leads the fundraising committee.
Faced with growing enrollment in limited space, Principal Leslie expressed determination that the school should move from the basement of the Roseau SDA Church to a structure that could be called its own. “This monumental edifice in the city of Roseau will be a testament to Adventist presence on the island. This is our project. We are the arm of God, and He will see it through to the end,” Leslie said.
Principal of the school Ursula Leslie is joined by students to participate in the ceremonial groundbreaking for the new school. Image By East Caribbean Conference Communication Department.
ECC Education Director Andrea Hudson-Hoyte was pleased that the school “will be able to accommodate more students in conditions that are more conducive to learning. That isimportant for Christian education in Dominica,” she said.
ECC President Anthony Hall, who was among the many participants at the January 29, 2023, ceremony, said that leaders were “delighted to share in this groundbreaking ceremony in which so many people have contributed so much to make it a reality. This will not just be another academic building, but one that will remind us each day to follow God’s command as we prepare people to save souls and serve others,” Hall said.
The original primary learning center was the vision of the pioneering Devorce Alexander, Beatrice Barron, Liege Jerome and Akma Trocard and, under the leadership of its first principal, Pastor Mozart Serrant, the school was organized in 1976.
Students from the Ebenezer Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Primary School choir singing during the ground breaking ceremony. Image by East Caribbean Conference Communication Department
Plans for the construction of the new school were introduced in 2010 during Pastor David Beckles‘ tenure as president of the East Caribbean Conference. “He envisioned it not just as a school, but also as a resource center for the island church,” Leslie said.
The Honorable Mirium Blanchard, minister for Labor, Public Service Transformation, Social Partnership, Entrepreneurship and Small Business as well as the Parliamentary Representative for Roseau North Constituency, presented remarks on behalf of the Dominica government.
There are 23 Adventist churches and five companies, three primary schools (Ebenezer Primary, Western District SDA Primary, and Temple SDA Primary), and one secondary school, (Arthur Waldron SDA Academy).