Seychelles Chamber of Commerce chips in with Miss Seychelles Beauty with a Purpose project

The Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) has pledged to seek support from its members to finance the construction of a children’s playground at the Montagne Posee Prison. The children’s playground, which is a major component of Miss Seychelles Linne Freminot’s “Beauty with a Purpose” children’s restoration project, costs around 96 thousand rupees. The reigning Miss Seychelles met with Marco Francis, Chairman of Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Juliette Sicobo-Azais; the SCCI Secretary General; and Nadine Telemaque, Personal Assistant Trade Promotion Officer, to present her project and seek the association’s support. After giving a brief overview of her project and a break-down of the project’s cost, Mr. Francis said the association will get “its members on board” to give either financial aid or provide in-kind support for the building of the children’s playground. Miss Seychelles… another world Linne Freminot said the playground would allow the offenders to have more quality time with their children during visiting hours.

Giving inmates quality time with their children through the building of the children’s playground at Montagne Posee Prison has been one of Miss Seychelles… another world Linne Freminot’s greatest dreams. Since beginning her reign, Linne has been knocking on doors to get financial support to have the playground built before October, so that she can carry that success with her to Miss World in China, but most importantly, the project conceived by the Prison Department, which was until then dormant because of lack of financial support, can get back on track. Linne Freminot’s children’s restoration project and her willingness to use her title to gather funds for the children’s playground have received the blessing of Charles Bastienne, Minister of Home Affairs. She has also undertaken site visits to Montagne Posee Prison and has met with key representatives at the Home Affairs Department to drive the construction forward. Linne Freminot remarked that it hasn’t been easy to gather the total sum of 96,000 for the project and that with the Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and Industry coming on board to give its backing, it’s a value added to the building of the children’s playground.

The next step is setting up an association, and Linne Freminot is now thinking of setting up this association to gather funds for the children’s restoration project. During her meeting with Marco Francis, Chairman of the Seychelles Chamber of Commerce, she was advised that having a registered association would go a long way to advancing her children’s restoration project. After the building of the children’s playground, Linne wanted to move to the next step. Having Father Brian as her mentor and counselor, Superintendent Maxime Tirant as a close collaborator, and Louisna Neamtu as a supporter of the children’s restoration project, Linne has already been introduced to three children of offenders, all of whose mothers are offenders. Linne also had a chance to meet with the mothers, listening to their pains of being separated from their children. “All they wanted,” said Linne, “is to be united with their children. The offenders showed remorse for their actions. Their only hope is to maintain good behavior while imprisoned and earn sentence reduction.”

Linne said during the time the offenders are serving their sentences, children of the offenders should feel there are people in the community willing to help them. She said there are a number of children in Seychelles whose parents are in prison. In the coming months, Linne plans to meet with all of them, to understand their needs, and spend some quality time with them. Through the setting up of her association, she plans to collect funds to cater to their needs. It has been proven and Linne said, “When you reward these children for something good they’ve done – in school, at home, or in the community – they feel there are people out there who love and care for them.” Linne said she will try to rally former Miss Seychelles… another world in her association to bring her Beauty with a Purpose project to the next level. She said even after handing over the crown to her successor, she will keep on working for these children.

Seychelles is a founding member of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP) .