GERMAN companies, Eerepami Regenwaldstifung Guyana, Senior Experten Services (SES) and DenialSozial, on Monday, donated $1M in kitchen equipment to the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport Youth Entrepreneurial Skills Training (YEST) Programme for the New Opportunity Corps (NOC).

The German companies handed over the equipment in a ceremony at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport compound, Main Street. Eerepami, SES, DenialSozia and the Ministry of Culture are working together under the theme “enhancing training opportunities for young Guyanese.”

Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony said the partnership with Eerepami and other German Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) is an ongoing one. He said, “This is one of the many activities that they have endorsed over the past couple of years.”
“They have been very kind to us and at times when we have difficulties and challenges in some of our institutions, in terms of acquiring resources, they have always willingly stepped forward to assist,” Dr. Anthony said.
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According to him, with the assistance provided by Eerepami, students have been able to graduate from their various institutions and were able to become very productive citizens. He recalled that a few years ago, the Kuru Kuru Training Centre’s only source of water was the creek, but with the contribution of the NGOs artesian ground water was made available to the school and the community.
He noted that the German organisations are not only interested in training but education in general. “We had this great idea of showing people in Guyana that 10,000 years ago we had prehistoric animals that roamed the land of Guyana, when we discovered some fossils. The discovery of a piece of bone does not really explain the story to the people, so we decided to recreate the animal. We approached Eerepami and the other guys… they were able to recruit a number of universities and professionals in Germany and in a very short time we got a 40 feet container coming to Guyana with a giant sloth inside,” he explained.
The Minister mentioned that Eerepami was aware of the challenges at NOC and while reviewing the curriculum with experts, suggested cooking being implemented at NOC. Dr. Anthony expressed his gratitude to the Eerepami and the other organisations for providing the resources necessary for cooking classes at NOC.
He also extended his thanks to the volunteers in Germany for enabling the expansion of the NOC’s curriculum. “Young people in Germany would normally do volunteer work and raise this money. The young people over there are showing great responsibility; they are raising this money by doing voluntary work and then give it to worthwhile causes. We should be very thankful to those young people, they give up their time, and they are very responsible people. They have enabled us to extend our classes at NOC,” he said.
Brian King, Assistant Director (ag) of the YEST Programme, in an invited comment, said that the equipment donated was only a part of the contribution made by the companies. “Eerepami, SES and the other NGOs made a contribution of $2.5M of which $1M was given in equipment for the cooking class at NOC,” he explained.
According to King, the remaining funds will be used for the refurbishment of a classroom, the establishment of catering classrooms, establishment of two child-friendly classrooms and rehabilitation of dormitories.
He also highlighted that they have received a container with furniture and other items from the Food for the Poor.
Robert Spitzer, the proprietor of Eerepami, indicated that his company and the other companies will continue to support the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport in their future endeavours.
He mentioned that cooking is a very important skill to have, “if you can cook, you can take care of yourself and your family.”

(By Sandy Agasen)