Pastor appeals for better wages for garbage collectors
By Pauline Waruguru
Nevis Reporter, SKNVibes.com
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Pastor Pemberton
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CHARLESTOWN, Nevis – WHILE garbage collectors were highly praised, management of the Nevis Solid Waste Management (NSWM) was urged to recognise the importance of these workers to island and to demonstrate it by raising their salaries.
This call was made by Pastor Eversley Pemberton of the New Testament Church in Bath Village on Sunday, December 22.
“Garbage collectors should be paid very well. If we are dependent on tourism, people doing this job should be paid very well and so should be teachers and nurses. Pay people who work on the trucks good,” the Pastor said.
He said hiking the pay for the truck loaders and drivers would ensure that they enjoy reasonable amounts of money when they get their Social Security dues and pension.
Pastor Pemberton said hiking the pay would attract other persons to the job, and he mobilised his congregation to collect a special love offering that was donated towards the truck loaders and drivers’ Christmas Party.
Many employees of the NSWM were among the congregation and they thanked the Pastor and members of thee church for the kind gesture.
It was announced that Toelsiedash Bhola was the NSWM’s Employee of the Year and Popular Jerry also received special mention for interacting warmly with members of the community.
Also present at the service were Board members of the NSWM and officials of the Ministry of Health, including Deputy Premier and Minister of Health Hon. Hensley Daniel and his wife Sonita, as well as the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Joslyn Liburd. 
Pastor Pemberton thanked the Authority for celebrating their “party” in the House of God and described the exercise as a good gesture. He said the most important ministry in any nation was the Ministry of Health (MOH) and called on household residents to respect garbage collectors.
He said one way of showing respect was to put out garbage on the day the trucks would pass so as to avoid stray animals from littering the surroundings. He said tourism drove the economy and it was important that Nevis is kept clean, noting “godliness and cleanliness go hand in hand”.
General Manager of the NSWM Carlyn Lawrence said the Authority’s Board had chosen to attend a church service to thank God for the hard work carried out by the staff and to request continuous prayers for the establishment. She declared that Christians often pray for the police but rarely for the Authority’s workers.
She said staff members, especially the loaders, normally face unique challenges. They have to withstand all sorts of odors and collect all types of litters and they constantly required peace and stability of mind.
In his Christmas sermon, Pastor Pemberton talked about the mystery of incarnation and explained that during Christmas Christians remember that God was manifest in the flesh and the mystery of the incarnation was “beyond our human comprehension”. “It was God becoming flesh and living among us. He came onto the earth,” the Pastor said.
He said the manifestation of God in the flesh came through the Virgin Mary who became pregnant through God’s infinite wisdom. He said the purpose of God’s coming on earth by becoming flesh was to get rid the world of sin: “Sin was in the world. The devil destroys people’s life. The Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the power of the devil.”
“There is hope for us all. The savior of the world was born for all people, for every nationality,” Pastor Pemberton said. He told the worshippers to take the savior of the world seriously, adding, “He can eradicate every type of sin from our life…let us remember the meaning of incarnation.” ~~Adz:Left~~
