GUYANA
I have long felt that Amerindian schools for a variety of reasons have not been accomplishing what they should and as a group we decided to show that these children had the potential to accomplish great things once they are playing on a level playing field and have adequate supplies, teachers and opportunities.Over the past eight years we have been fortunate to have two headteachers with the same vision, drive, innovation and sagacity to help guide the school into uncharted territory. In a stunning reversal of fortunes after going for thirty plus years without any passes in the National Grade 6 examinations to List A Secondary Schools, Mashabo has had passes for 5 consecutive years to these List A schools.
In 2022 Mashabo had its best ever performance with 5 students going to List A Secondary Schools and all the others going to List B Secondary schools. No student went to List C Schools or needed remedial programs.We have provided a smorgasbord of supplies including laptops, tablets, microscopes, listening devices, board games, math manipulative devices along with over 500 books and dictionaries.We have had in person training sessions with the teachers along with virtual seminars via Zoom with some of our teaching experts in North America all of whom because of their Caribbean backgrounds understand how to reach the children.
Our Medical outreach has somewhat lagged behind our educational thrust in Jamaica. We have previously donated Medical equipment to various hospitals and Institutions including Automated External Defibrillators and some of our members have taken part in Medical Missions and indeed our Vice-President, Mrs. Claudette Powell has been in the forefront with the involvement of the Diaspora in helping Jamaica improve its health care delivery.
Our involvement along with the Denbow family in the adoption of the Rollington Town Health Center with a significant financial commitment over the next five years in the first instance, marks a significant escalation in our foray into the Health Sector in Jamaica.We look forward to significantly increasing our footprint in this sector in the not too distant future and certainly we expect to expand our involvement with the Rollington Town Health Center including outreach into that Community in terms of Wellness programs.
Our Medical interventions in Guyana have consisted of two Medical Symposia, in 2016 and 2019 at the Arthur Chung Convention Center where we gave 4 Free Continuing Medical Education credits, first for Women and Health and then Nutrition and Disease.We were pleased to have more than 200 participants from all ten regions of Guyana attend both Symposia which were highly successful. In addition we have gifted medical equipment to Suddie Hospital and Anna Regina Medical Center and held clinics in both places.
