Kerrian Johnson, Western Union Marketing Development Manager for the Eastern Caribbean Markets. - Peta-Gaye Clachar/Freelance Photographer
This is a sponsored feature by GraceKennedy Money Services
THE NEW school year has begun in earnest, and many students as well as parents are still in the process of adjusting to new schools, new schedules and, for some, even new countries. If you are a parent who had a plane ticket on your child's back-to-school list, you are also going to need a way to keep in touch and a way to provide for your child long distance.
One reader wants options to stay connected. She wrote: "My husband works in the United States and our son has now gone on to university in Trinidad. We want to be able to send money for his living expenses. What's our best option?"
Kerrian Johnson, Western Union marketing development manager for the Eastern Caribbean markets, says Western Union is still the easiest, most convenient way to send money across the Caribbean. "It's easy for her son to go to any one of the 53 locations in Trinidad to collect a money transfer. All his mother would have to do is visit a Western Union office here in Jamaica, or his father in the United States, fill out a form and send the funds. The money gets to their son in minutes," Johnson says.
Card convenience
She adds that each party - both parents as well as child - can sign up for a Western Union card that allows them to transact business without using forms.
Johnson says the convenience of being able to send money easily is just an added bonus to being able to maintain that link with a child studying overseas.
"Western Union is actually helping to maintain and build relationships. We can help you ensure your child gets the resources he needs to do well in school, or help you care for sick relatives. It's keeping those family bonds that tie us together," she asserts.
Psychologist Dr Leahcim Semaj agrees. "When you're studying in a foreign country and you don't have aunty, uncle or cousin to call on, that money transfer coming from home becomes your only lifeline. For a student overseas, minor setbacks could turn into real tragedies if you can't get some money in a matter of hours," he contends. Semaj says when children call, it's often an emergency and parents usually want to be able to act immediately. "Think of banking hours and security features. Cheques take days to clear and mailing funds isn't fast or safe."
Semaj adds that parents also want to be able to send money for another reason.
"Oftentimes, it's a collective effort to send children overseas to study. They go to stay with an aunt or cousin or other relative, and regardless of the financial assistance a child might get from that relative, parents still want to honour their obligation to support their child although it's a sacrifice," he says.
Similarities
It is the kind of sacrifice families all across the region have been making. Johnson agrees, saying she has found many similarities among the islands.
"Each island has its own unique culture. You go into St Vincent and it's definitely a more laid-back attitude than we have here in Jamaica, but you find the same sense of community, the same sense of family, the same sense of friendship," she says.
Johnson discloses that the Western Union outlets in Trinidad, Guyana and the Eastern Caribbean (EC) are all operated by Grace-Kennedy Money Services based here in Jamaica.
"We're actually in seven islands - Antigua, Anguilla, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Montserrat in the Eastern Caribbean, along with Trinidad and Guyana. We've been in the EC (Eastern Caribbean) for close to three years now, and a little longer than that in Guyana and Trinidad," she states. Johnson points out that GraceKennedy Money Services has been growing rapidly with close to 60 locations in Guyana, eight in St Vincent, five in Antigua, three in St Kitts and Nevis, and an outlet each in Montserrat and Anguilla.
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