Submitted by Chefleur

David

Do you have any idea what’s happening at the YMCA?

After 140 years of stellar service to the local community the YMCA is in disarray and is like a ship without a rudder.

Shortly before COVID I paid, registered and completed courses in Plumbing Installation to the advanced level and Basic Electrical Installation.  I just wanted to be able to service my property and not have to wait on unreliable tradesmen. I left Barbados in a rush in 2020.  While overseas I saw the need to have the certification and began communicating with the YMCA.  When I got here I visited the office.

I was told without any shame or disdain that ALL the records from that time were lost.  That the old building was demolished.  That no one on the staff was around then.

So how do I get my Certificate?

We will look but if there is no hard copy that’s it.

David these people are telling me that they do not know any of the Tutors who worked then.  All of those are no longer with the association.

I suggested I bring my receipts.  That was rejected with the nuance that it alone would not suffice as they need proof that I did complete and passed the courses.

Can you imagine?  So I gave some very sarcastic comments about the current brood of people being elected to manage these established and purposeful organisations are running then into extinction.

I offered to contact the Tutor for Plumbing and have him call the association to confirm that I was successful. 

The issue of payment arose again and The Program Manager suggested he would ask accounts for a statement.

Believe it or not, the Accountant cannot find/remember the password to that period of accounting.

This is an international organization of 140 years and the lady is treating it as though it is her kitchen.

So today I made a follow up call to ascertain what has been done since the Tutor called.  I did not get the Program Manager but the General Secretary.  A very crass unimaginative being who told me not to call back about the issue.  

David she told me she doesn’t know why this matter is still trending.  She reitterated that the old building was demolished and therefore that alone is justifiable reason for the Barbados YMCA to not have any records of anything of this associations history.  She told me that before 2020 is so long ago and she is not responsible for me not having my certificate.

So I said, that’s like Cave Hill Campus telling a student of the 80s they cannot get a transcript because it is decades ago.

Well, here everything disintegrated.  Madam General Secretary went on like a wretch. On and on about the demolition and lack of receipts etc.  I tried to intercede offering to bring my receipts or better yet make her a personal gift of the full cost of the courses again just so that I could get the two pieces of paper.

But having made her realize how ineffectual she was she got cranky and literally hanged up the phone on me after telling me not to call back.

So clearly, its not the payment or lack of.  It is not lack of confirmation of completion of the courses.  IT IS lack of commonsense and the Will to resolve an issue created from within that organization.

What the GS doesn’t know is that she or YMCA has to give me value for my money.  And that is not just the skills but proof that I gained it through them.

I am so baffled.

David, its not only her and there.  I have been trying to get a correct copy of my Records for the last program I did at BCC since 2014 also.  I am being told that they changed their system and are experiencing difficulties.  David BCC changed the system in 2015 when my daughter graduated and that system registered all the courses she requested exemption for and applied the grades to the current calculation of her GPA. I have been asking for the correction since then.  For my Records the corruption is bizarre.  I identified a social science, natural science and liberal Arts course and pursued them as per the invitation Brochure that enticed me apply and register and as I know Associate Degrees should be.  All of those are identified as NA (non applicable) on my Report.  A course title from another program used for exemption is listed in that title rather than the course title for which it substitutes.

David you have to wonder who applies these courses and grades in the system after examination or at the beginning when exemptions are handled.

This is so frustrating but BCC goes on doing what it does best.  Meeting at Meetings and tutoring Associate degrees that do not reach the requirements of Associate Degrees. In the mean time students languish.

I filed a civil suit against BCC in the High Court, as a novice, for all these breaches and inconsistencies as well as for false advertising, especially.  Rather than mediate Madam Velma Newton, the then Chair of the Board, challenged my application on the grounds that I did not provide the Defense Forms (among other things). But why must I if they want to respond and defend?  The Law is an ASS.

Anyway, the matter was struck out on that ground and whatever else.  The Judge ignored the ‘matter of Law” that was set before her. That is that BCC was inviting students to pursue Associate Degrees under one structure but not providing that structure upon registration.  That the content did not reach the standard of an Associate Degree as designed or offered anywhere else. That a Grade Appeal 

I was subjected to was not legally constituted and remains a work in progress and unresolved to this day. One wonders what is BCC’s Goal,Mission and Vision.

How could this be happening to institutions with so much experience?  What is in the wind now blowing?

I called the Girl’s Guide office for information and was taken on a Grand Tour of the history of the incumbent’s medical status and how much she has on her task list.  All I wanted to know was the membership of the association currently. All I wanted was to leave a message for the president or her representative to call me regarding membership.

What the hell is going on with these institutions?

I’ll tell about the QEH in next Round-Up.