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local Friday 30 September 2022
National Archive with innovative project to make our cultural

heritage more accessible

ORANJESTAD – On the 28th With help from different necessary information.
of September, which is the funds, including from Mon- It is very important to know
International Day of Access driaanfonds, ANA has the history of Aruba, since
to Information, the minister been working on this proj- it helps us understand our
of Culture, Xiomara Madu- ect, which tells a part of present and positions our
ro attended a presentation the history of Aruba that is future. Every effort to pre-
of the National Archive of not well known. ANA used serve, restore and archive
Aruba (ANA) together with modern techniques to digi- historical documents is ex-
the National Library (BNA), talize the colonial archive, tremely valuable for the
during which an explana- like Optical Character Rec- collective memory of our
tion was given on the work ognition (OCR) and Hand- country. This project by
that is being done in order written Text Recognition ANA is innovative and at
to preserve our cultural her- (HTR), that greatly facilitate the same time provides us
itage. the process of searching for with information about our
information. past, making this informa-
This regarded a project to With this advance, the user tion digitally accessible on make valuable information driaanfonds and every oth-
restore, digitalize and make – for example, local stu- the internet for everyone more accessible. er organization that made
the Colonial Archive for the dents working on a thesis who is interested in know- funds available to make
period 1816-1939 in Aruba on the history of Aruba – ing more about our history. Minister Maduro thanked this important project a
digitally accessible. can have fast access to this In this way, ANA helps to the staff at ANA, BNA, Mon- reality.q

Preparations underway for the Month for Older Persons

ORANJESTAD – The ministry on Monday 12th of Sep-
of Older Persons Affairs is in During a meeting with the tember. The minister is also
the middle of preparations Organization of Public Pen- in conversation with Hora-
for the launch of Directie sioners Aruba (OPPA), they cio Oduber Hospital to give
Ouderenzaken – the De- brought forward different the care homes access to
partment for Older Persons points of concern, among a geriatric doctor.
Affairs. The goal is to cen- others, accessibility for
tralize all efforts to improve wheelchairs, funds for ac- Regarding funds for activi-
the response to the variety tivities and control at care ties, the Government of Aru-
of challenges faced by the homes. ba invested in the project
60+ community. It will also Arends informed them “Safe Barios” to allocate
ensure to increase acces- about a pilot project cur- more funds to neighbor-
sibility to services for care, rently ongoing in the care hood organizations to or-
and to stimulate participa- homes to ensure quality ganize more activities. This
tion and wellbeing of our of service. This project was includes activities for our
older persons. September he visited Fun- visit, care in a home envi- presented to the groups in older persons to stimulate
dashon Hospice Atardi and ronment. STA currently has charge of these institutions positive participation.q
During the past weeks dif- Stichting Thuiszorg Aruba 27 clients and they showed
ferent meetings were held (STA), where he received they are focused on con-
and visits were paid to a tour of the installations as tinuous improvement of
stakeholders to present the well as information on the the quality of care offered
policy for older persons. service offered by each of to our older persons.
Minister of Older Persons Af- these organizations. Hos-
fairs, Mr. Ursell Arends elab- pice Atardi is specialized “Once we have a family
orated on his vision, which in palliative care, 24/7 for member in a care home,
is directed on optimizing people in the last stage of it’s up to us as family to visit
participation in the com- their life. A place to allevi- them, take care of them
munity, in a wide sense. ate suffering with respect and continue giving them
for the privacy of the guest the love that they deserve”,
On Wednesday the 21st of and where family can also minister Arends expressed.