Three of the interns along with a resource person from the Ministry of Health (at right) before their departure for the hinterland last week.

A number of University of Guyana students are currently participating in an internship programme in gold mining areas sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

The students are drawn from the Nursing , Environmental Health, Agriculture and Forestry programmes and they are currently based at two hinterland locations. The programme will allow them on the ground exposure to environmental health issues and also participation in reforestation of mined out areas, a CIDA Official said.

The programme is being executed by the Guyana Environmental Capacity Development Project (GENCAPD) as part of Canadian Government assistance, and aims in part at ensuring good health practices among miners and within mining communities, as well as rehabilitation of closed mine sites.

Apart from the internship programme, GENCAPD also funds environmentally friendly mining practices, dry mining and tailings management, malaria reduction and diet in pregnant women in relation to avoidance of mercury poisoning .

GENCAPD is being managed by the Canadian Centre for Minerals and Energy Technology (CANMET), a division of Natural Resources Canada.

Resource persons for the current internship programme are drawn from the Ministry of Health and the University of Guyana, GENCAPD and the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association(GGDMA).

Head of CANMET, Mr Rischard Couture, disclosed that the interns are ten in number and are divided into two groups: one comprising those studying health care and environmental health, and the other those pursuing forestry.

Under the guidance of resource persons from the Ministry of Health, the environmental health interns are currently inspecting mining camps at Mahdia, Region Eight (Potaro/Siparuni) with a view to making recommendations for better sanitation practices at these locations.

They will spend one week there and then move on to Micobie, another mining area also in Region Eight to conduct similar investigations with similar objectives.

Their overall aim is to determine recommendations which can eliminate poor camp sanitation practices which can cause diseases such a leptospirosis and typhoid fever, and their programme lasts for three weeks, up to month end.

The intern foresters , five females, are staying at Mahdia where they are receiving training in resuscitation of sterile lands using composts and where they are also taking part in the reforestation of mined out areas at St Elizabeth, a heavily mined location near Mahdia,Couture said.

Those involved in the health aspects will remain in the hinterland for three weeks, while those involved in the compost making and reforestation exercise will be in the hinterland for six weeks.
Couture added that a secondary aim of the CIDA funded internship programme is to get the participants to develop an appreciation for the natural beauty of the hinterland.

“We want them to see that the hinterland is a nice and not necessarily dangerous place,” Couture said.