THE Caribbean Voice (TCV), in collaboration with Saint Matthias Church of Buxton Middle Walk, East Coast Demerara, reached out to 12 elderly mothers in the Buxton area on Sunday.

These mothers who were identified by St. Matthias Church were either
bed-ridden or stay indoors at all times.

They benefitted from baskets with commodities such as personal self-care and basic food items.

Some also received diapers, walkers, walking sticks and /or wheel Chairs.
The Caribbean Voice was represented by Bibi Ahamad, Managing Director, while St. Matthias delegation was led by Reverend Desiree Watts.

Among the elder mothers visited was Evadney Talbot, who celebrated her 107th birthday on Friday to much fanfare, Ruby Blair, an 84-year-old senior citizen, Ms Huntley, 98 years old and Ms Francis, 95 years old.

Reverend Desrey Watts of the Saint Matthias Church said the programme was launched in keeping with the church’s 30th anniversary.

“All these years we would invite the elderly at the home or wherever we are doing a programme, like August 1st programme; we do a programme with them. But instead of just feeding them like that, the children would dance and do different things to entertain them. So we continued doing it all the years and as time goes by I started to think about other things to do,” she said.

Meanwhile, TCV Managing Director, Bibi Ahmad, explained that her organisation was not only collaborating with the Saint Matthias Church, but also with the Buxton Fusion School of Music and the Youth Empowerment and Faith Group, in order to carry out the exercise.
“Wherever we can make a difference, we go,” she explained. “We are not just about suicide prevention, or bringing awareness about abuse. We also partner to do humanitarian work; we have the distribution of pampers, wheelchairs, walkers and walking sticks.”

She continued: “Primarily the activities were coordinated by the reverend and I collaborated with her to supply things to give to elderly mothers. These mothers we are visiting are more or less the real elderly mothers, such as the shut-ins.”

The Caribbean Voice, a Non-Governmental Organisation, has more often been associated with its work on suicide prevention and its partnership with other bodies, including the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) last year.

Last year, it conducted a community mental health workshop at Yakusari, Black Bush Polder, and two student workshops at a high needs high school at Ash Youth Developers Education Learning Institute, Vigilance, ECD.