AFTER some 50 years of contributing significantly to the Mortice Primary School, located in the village of the same name at Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara in Region 5, the Moosaie family may soon be rewarded for their unwavering support. That is, if the PTA (Parent/Teacher Association) of the school has its way.In recognition of the Moosaies’ contributions, the P.T.A unanimously agreed, at a meeting on October 30, 2013, to rename the school ‘Moosaie Primary School’. The proposal was submitted to the Regional Education Officer of the Region Five Education Department at Fort Wellington, West Coast Berbice.

The Mortice Primary School was built in 1963 on a land space of seven acres, which were donated by Chandra’s paternal grandmother (Agee in Hindi), the late Mrs. Keewali Moosaie.

Many of the family’s members have migrated, but Chandra Natheram, nee Moosaie, who came back in 1993 to care for her aging parents, picked up the baton of contributing to the school’s academic and extracurricular activities, and spoke on behalf of the family.
Not surprisingly, Chandra herself attended the Mortice Primary School, which she recalls in the sixties was a private school run by an Indian national. It was handed over to the government when that national remigrated to India. Chandra’s parents, Mr. Ramrattan Moosaie, also known as John, the eldest male child in the family; and her mother, Pohmatee, better known as “Sister Chul”, still reside at Mortice. They are reportedly overjoyed by the efforts to rename the school in their family’s name.

The owner of a hardware store in the city, Chandra is mother of only one in the biological sense. She says that helping out the schoolchildren makes her feel like a mother to many. She
recently involved herself, as is usual at this time of the year, in the school’s annual Christmas party, where the children were treated to Church’s Chicken (a special treat in the rural community), personalized stockings filled with goodies, gifts, and a special visit for Santa Claus.

Little ones in the city take this for granted, but many of the children had never previously seen a Santa in person! Smiling, Chandra recalled that the effort was worth it, as she remembered the happiness on the children’s faces, and wished that the others who helped had been there to see it.

And it is not just at Christmas that the family remembers the school. Over the years, contributions have included sports gear, scholarships for children who need help to attend secondary school, and sponsorship of prizes for the annual prize-giving ceremony.

She also uses her influence in the business community to cajole others to support the worthy cause.
The blood of strong women runs through Chandra’s veins, as both Agee Keewali Mososai, whom we mentioned previously, was a very intelligent woman, as well as her Nani or maternal grandmother, according to her. Chandra In fact goes on to note that, in her family, the women were the ones who played the dominant role in being breadwinners, and became shrewd business persons; while the men preferred to be more passive and just work for a wage.

Chandra also notes that her grandmother, Keewali Moosaie, never believed in racial discrimination. She recalled an incident wherein her grandmother had risked her own life to conceal persons of African descent on her premises during the ethnic disturbances of 1964.

Currently, she is also recruiting other family members to support the worthy cause. In the document submitted for approval to the authorities, the P.T.A, friends of the school, associate institutions and the wider community expressed confidence that the effort to rename the school would see even larger investments by the Moosie family at Mortice Primary.