Whistle Alert seeks to protect kids

A whistle passed from sister to sister that was handed down by their mother has become more than a family keepsake for 23-year-old law student and child rights advocate Princess Ford.

It has become the foundation of an initiative she hopes will help protect children across Jamaica. Ford, founder of the Whistle Alert Jamaica Initiative, is now urging parents, guardians and schools islandwide to equip children with whistles and, just as importantly, learn to recognise the different sounds as a signal that a child may be in distress.

“The whistle was something that was given to my sister, and then my mother passed it down to me as a safeguard for our family. It was something we could use to alert someone if we were ever in trouble,” Ford explained.