African Heritage Foundation
Donation protected
Recently I bought some t-shirts from a man I met on Facebook. Since then we have been in communication and I have discovered the sale of the shirts was attached to a much larger humanitarian cause.
The man I was talking to was Paul Rock, and he currently resides in the Barbados. Paul is the founder a charity called the “African Heritage Foundation” (AHF). In September 2016, a legal case that was brought to his attention. in which two parents were found guilty of homeschooling their two children (aged 9 and 12) without permission from the state. Added to the previous criminal charge, another case had been brought against them by the Barbados National Child Care Board to remove the custody of the children from the parents and give the kids to the state. After reading about the case in the newspaper Paul went to look for this family who he had never met before. He found them after a few days of searching. Upon hearing their side of the story, Paul offered his assistance through his organization.
Paul then spoke to the son who is 12 years old and made a video on his phone. The video was of the young man reading a section of the Barbados Constitution that pertains to religious freedoms. He then shared this video on Facebook and a national outcry of injustice ensued. This outcry came because previous local media reports led the nation to believe that the children were not being educated adequately at home. The boy’s fluent reading of the text brought comments from the public such as “he reads better than a lot of children who do attend public school.” Because the family are Rastafarians it is felt by many in Barbados that this case was founded on discrimination as it was now clear to them that the children were being properly educated at home. Paul then organized a community meeting and a plan of action was put into place to help this family.
After the community meeting Paul and his organization rallied assistance from some of the better legal minds on the island. The family returned to court with this representation and the magistrate ruled that the case should have never been brought against the parents. He then threw the case out and the couple exited the court that day victourious.
Following this victory they were now facing the outcome of the custody hearing. That case has now been discontinued due to the fact that the AHF has organized classes and the children now receive instruction in Spanish, Math, English and Information Technology in addition to what the parents have been teaching. The AHF has also recieved written permission from the Ministry Of Education for these two children to be homeschooled.
The AHF is now in the process of opening a homeschooling service for other people in Barbados who would like to pursue this alternative means of educating for their children without incurring the wrath of the state.
I am of the opinion that Paul and his charity the AHF deserve our assistance. I designed this campaign as an avenue for people that live in the UK, USA, Canada and other such places to give our support to this very worthwhile mission.
The AHF needs to purchase equipment and supplies to effectively and efficiently operate its homeschool service which is officially slated to be opened September 2017, although it has already unofficially started.
$20,000 is what is needed by the AHF to facilitate the start of operations. The homeschooling service will carry a fee, to facilitate its self-sustainability and growth. Agriculture and other business initiatives by the AHF will also be initiated to further facilitate the self-sustanability of its homeschooling service.
The AHF intends that this service be used as a model for our government in the creation of a national homeschooling service. They believes a service such as this will help to transform the education system in Barbados. You are asked to help us create that model by making a donation to this campaign.
Should you want detailed information on the legal case and the AHF’s involvement, I have provided a list of links to their website chronologically compiled that tells the full story. Also please see our updates for local news coverage of the discontinuance of the custody case.
Thank you for your time and donation.
http://www.afrikanheritage.com/7366-2/
http://www.afrikanheritage.com/justice-for-home-schooling-the-people-must-act-government-needs-to-care/
http://www.afrikanheritage.com/samson-on-the-wall-you-are-not-alone-shaka-shaka-we-are-family/
http://www.afrikanheritage.com/home-school-advocates-take-action-with-the-ahf-in-support-of-victimized-rastafari-family/
http://www.afrikanheritage.com/samson-on-the-wall-keep-calm-education-revolution-in-progress/
http://www.afrikanheritage.com/dem-nah-deal-with-the-real-issue-a-case-of-the-people-vs-the-system/
http://www.afrikanheritage.com/child-care-board-still-wants-rastafari-children-to-made-wards-of-the-state-why/
http://www.afrikanheritage.com/the-battle-is-won-but-the-war-is-not-over-rastafari-family-fights-on/
http://www.afrikanheritage.com/barbados-independence-educational-system-challenge-50yrs-and-moving/
http://www.afrikanheritage.com/the-evolution-of-education-in-barbados-you-are-invited/
http://www.barbadostoday.bb/2016/12/06/too-soft-2/
https://www.barbadostoday.bb/2016/12/09/insulting-2/
http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/91536/private-classes-rastafarians
The man I was talking to was Paul Rock, and he currently resides in the Barbados. Paul is the founder a charity called the “African Heritage Foundation” (AHF). In September 2016, a legal case that was brought to his attention. in which two parents were found guilty of homeschooling their two children (aged 9 and 12) without permission from the state. Added to the previous criminal charge, another case had been brought against them by the Barbados National Child Care Board to remove the custody of the children from the parents and give the kids to the state. After reading about the case in the newspaper Paul went to look for this family who he had never met before. He found them after a few days of searching. Upon hearing their side of the story, Paul offered his assistance through his organization.
Paul then spoke to the son who is 12 years old and made a video on his phone. The video was of the young man reading a section of the Barbados Constitution that pertains to religious freedoms. He then shared this video on Facebook and a national outcry of injustice ensued. This outcry came because previous local media reports led the nation to believe that the children were not being educated adequately at home. The boy’s fluent reading of the text brought comments from the public such as “he reads better than a lot of children who do attend public school.” Because the family are Rastafarians it is felt by many in Barbados that this case was founded on discrimination as it was now clear to them that the children were being properly educated at home. Paul then organized a community meeting and a plan of action was put into place to help this family.
After the community meeting Paul and his organization rallied assistance from some of the better legal minds on the island. The family returned to court with this representation and the magistrate ruled that the case should have never been brought against the parents. He then threw the case out and the couple exited the court that day victourious.
Following this victory they were now facing the outcome of the custody hearing. That case has now been discontinued due to the fact that the AHF has organized classes and the children now receive instruction in Spanish, Math, English and Information Technology in addition to what the parents have been teaching. The AHF has also recieved written permission from the Ministry Of Education for these two children to be homeschooled.
The AHF is now in the process of opening a homeschooling service for other people in Barbados who would like to pursue this alternative means of educating for their children without incurring the wrath of the state.
I am of the opinion that Paul and his charity the AHF deserve our assistance. I designed this campaign as an avenue for people that live in the UK, USA, Canada and other such places to give our support to this very worthwhile mission.
The AHF needs to purchase equipment and supplies to effectively and efficiently operate its homeschool service which is officially slated to be opened September 2017, although it has already unofficially started.
$20,000 is what is needed by the AHF to facilitate the start of operations. The homeschooling service will carry a fee, to facilitate its self-sustainability and growth. Agriculture and other business initiatives by the AHF will also be initiated to further facilitate the self-sustanability of its homeschooling service.
The AHF intends that this service be used as a model for our government in the creation of a national homeschooling service. They believes a service such as this will help to transform the education system in Barbados. You are asked to help us create that model by making a donation to this campaign.
Should you want detailed information on the legal case and the AHF’s involvement, I have provided a list of links to their website chronologically compiled that tells the full story. Also please see our updates for local news coverage of the discontinuance of the custody case.
Thank you for your time and donation.
http://www.afrikanheritage.com/7366-2/
http://www.afrikanheritage.com/justice-for-home-schooling-the-people-must-act-government-needs-to-care/
http://www.afrikanheritage.com/samson-on-the-wall-you-are-not-alone-shaka-shaka-we-are-family/
http://www.afrikanheritage.com/home-school-advocates-take-action-with-the-ahf-in-support-of-victimized-rastafari-family/
http://www.afrikanheritage.com/samson-on-the-wall-keep-calm-education-revolution-in-progress/
http://www.afrikanheritage.com/dem-nah-deal-with-the-real-issue-a-case-of-the-people-vs-the-system/
http://www.afrikanheritage.com/child-care-board-still-wants-rastafari-children-to-made-wards-of-the-state-why/
http://www.afrikanheritage.com/the-battle-is-won-but-the-war-is-not-over-rastafari-family-fights-on/
http://www.afrikanheritage.com/barbados-independence-educational-system-challenge-50yrs-and-moving/
http://www.afrikanheritage.com/the-evolution-of-education-in-barbados-you-are-invited/
http://www.barbadostoday.bb/2016/12/06/too-soft-2/
https://www.barbadostoday.bb/2016/12/09/insulting-2/
http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/91536/private-classes-rastafarians
Organizer
Nadira yassin
Organizer
Salt Lake City, UT
