-Thanks to NJASHM’s Pt. Suresh Sugrim
THE GREATEST single achievement of this current government is the provision of opportunities for the poorest of the poor in Guyana to own their own homes and properties, which can in turn serve as collateral to jump-start entrepreneurial activities.
From a devastated economy and infrastructure to where we now have stable macro-economic fundamentals correlating with fiscal growth, the development landscape of Guyana has changed dramatically over a relatively short span of years.
Government has sought to address all the needs of all the people of Guyana by planning and implementing various programmes and initiatives through the various sectors of the governmental construct.
However, there is still much more that is needed to be done that have not yet been addressed because of diverse constraints inhibiting Government’s programmes.
And this is where the Diaspora and the Private Sector have played an important part, most times working in collaborative initiatives with Government in efforts to ameliorate, if not completely eradicate, the pockets of poverty-stricken families scattered countrywide.
The New Jersey Arya Samaj Mandir Inc. Humanitarian Mission (NJASHM) is one such organization, originating from the Guyanese Diaspora, that has initiated and sustained a programme since 2005, whereby selected members of communities identify needy cases, then further the particulars to the Mission’s Headquarters in New Jersey, USA.  Pt. Suresh Sugrim then spearheads fundraising drives to acquire the necessary resources before coming to Guyana to work with the local chapter of the Mission, which is headed by his brother, Dr. Ramesh Sugrim, in implementing the programmes that provide relief in several ways to families in need.

Some of the persons receiving monthly care packages/monetary assistance from the NJASHM
The Guyana Chronicle was taken on a tour of Berbice to visit some of the families who have been helped by the NJASHM and was moved immeasurably by the plight of many who would have fallen through the cracks in society, were it not for a helping hand – or sometimes a voice of advocacy, provided by the NJASHM.
In Reliance, Canje, Gladys Sancharie Madramootoo, aged 73, and her husband have one son, David, who suffered a mental breakdown and roamed around aimlessly for approximately 15 years.  Her husband became incapacitated after being afflicted with a stroke, and, although David obtained a job working with the NDC and assisted financially, his father’s care and supporting three adults wiped out his meagre earnings, so he could not afford to repair the absolutely dilapidated structure in which they lived.
Then, appearing out of the blue came what an emotional Gladys described as “an angel sent by God.”  Pt. Suresh Sugrim had heard of the family’s plight and, with assistance from various other bodies and individuals, the NJASHM constructed a sturdy two-bedroom house for the very vulnerable mother and son – one old and suffering from many ailments, and one middle-aged and not-quite-well, but who speaks fluently and exhibits great powers of recall, because he recognized me from when I lived nearby in Rose Hall as a very young girl, whereas I could not remember him at all.  The house, which was built subsequent to the passing of Pt. Prakash Gossai, is appropriately named ‘Shri Prakash Gossai Bhavan’.
Sixty-year-old Iris Latchana of Rose Hall Town, New Market Street, was deserted by her husband, who refused to help her to care for her two sons and two daughters.  Working as a domestic help she brought up her children, but poverty disabled her from providing them with proper nutrition and both boys are mentally-retarded, while her daughters are not in much better condition.  Both daughters were married, with one still living with her husband, while the other daughter, Chandra, was abused to the extent where she was forced to return to her mother with the additional burden of four children – ages six years to six months.  Chandra joined her mother to work as a domestic help. When high winds knocked down their shack the impoverished family had nowhere to go.  It was then the NJASHM stepped in and built them a home under the guidance and leadership of Pt. Suresh Sugrim , the New Jersey Arya Samaj Mandir, Inc. Humanitarian Mission and its donors.

Iris Latchana standing in front of her new home.  Daughter Chandra is seen backing the camera.
The story that 23-year-old Andrea Giddings told would melt the hardest of hearts.  When her father refused to provide for his family her mother took her out of school to work at any menial task – such as fetching cow dung and mud to daub bottom houses and firesides; and when Andrea had reached thirteen years of age she was even forced by her mother to sell herself.  In this way she supported her parents and siblings.  She then became pregnant and was forced to discontinue this means of earning a living, so she started to help others with their domestic chores, but this was insufficient to support everyone, so she began living home with someone, whom she thought would have provided support for herself and her unborn child.  After three more children and suffering years of abuse, by which time Andrea’s mother had died and her father had suffered a stroke, Andrea moved back into the broken-down structure that was her parents’ home to take care of the incapacitated old man, who is still abusive to the only one of his children who takes care of his needs.
With the pittance that she earns, she takes care of her four children – aged eight years to a year old, and she was doing somewhat well until the old house collapsed and she was forced to move her family into an abandoned horse pen.  That is when Pt. Suresh Sugrim stepped in and provided Andrea with a two-bedroom house.   Andrea was lost for words when she tried to explain what this humane act meant to her, but her copious tears said it all.  Pt. Sugrim, along with a monthly monetary assistance by his organization, is trying to access some social assistance for Andrea’s young children.

The abandoned horse shed where Andrea once lived with her family.

Andrea and her four children outside their newly-constructed home
Single mother Desiree Patterson and her family of three sons, two daughters, and several grandchildren were left homeless after her house was burnt down and they were forced to live in the open under someone’s house, until the NJASHM built them a brand-new house.  Patterson says she blesses Pt. Sugrim every day for the kindness he has shown her.

Desiree Patterson with one of her daughters and some of her grandchildren

Desiree’s little granddaughter needs help to straighten her legs. Another project for the NJASHM?
There is not enough space to document all the stories – such as polio-stricken Indroutie Coddette, in sole care of her single mother, who picks shrimp to support her and her mentally-retarded brother; polio-stricken 21-year-old Narendra, whose single-parent mother was forced to abandon her job in a restaurant to provide him with 24-hour care as he grew older, leaving now 19-year-old sister Nanda Singh to support the entire family with her earnings as a store clerk, which she has been doing since she was 13-years-old. This family includes a 10-year-old sister who needs orthopaedic intervention to correct a painful limp.  The sadness and frustration of young Nanda is evident as she speaks about her father’s refusal to help the family, and the overwhelming burden she has to carry as a result and, responding to this frustration, Pt. Sugrim has promised Nanda assistance to provide her with a skill to earn a better income.
Instances of assistance range from care packages and monthly monetary help sent on a monthly ba
sis to individuals and families in need to building homes for the homeless in dire straits, and advocacy for the needy and vulnerable.
The social assistance package was discontinued for a polio victim who is in the sole care of his grandmother and Dr. Sugrim sought the help of Dr. Mahadeo, whereupon the latter immediately dealt with the issue and re-instated the young man’s Public Welfare Assistance.

Upon Pt. Sugrim’s intervention, Dr. Mahadeo arranged Public Welfare Assistance for this polio victim, seen in picture with his Good Samaritan.
According to Dr. Mahadeo, because of abuse of the system some legitimate cases get re-shuffled.  He said that many persons who have been receiving Public Assistance as underaged children continued collect the monthly payments, even when they became adults, so the processes for payments is now being thoroughly examined.  Dr. Mahadeo outlined to Chronicle the several methods that would shortly be employed to ensure that the really needy cases do not fall through the cracks.  Currently a register of geriatric patients and shut-ins is being prepared to effect home visits by medical personnel.
The funds for the humanitarian projects undertaken by the NJASHM come from the Guyanese Diaspora in the USA, and although life is not a cakewalk and the donors work very hard in the States, they have over the years provided generously and proven their love for their fellow Guyanese and their homeland – what Pt. Sugrim calls Matri Bhoomi “ – the land of one’s birth is one’s motherland, and should be served accordingly”. Local volunteers, such as Dynita Ramsaywack and Vijay Ramo, also contribute to the charitable efforts of the organization.
Pt. Sugrim, who revealed that he spends his own money on travelling and related expenses on these trips, says that His fifteen-year-old daughter and son, Staff Sergeant Yogeshwar Sugrim of the US Army, are fully active in the Mission.  He has even infected his boss, who is a white American, with enthusiasm for the projects undertaken by the NJASHM.  He is adamant that Puja – the act of worshipping the Lord, is best done by serving mankind, because “serving hands are holier than praying lips.”
The organization is currently trying to acquire some land that it proposes to partner with the Government in providing homes, through an interest-free revolving fund, for single mothers and other persons in genuine.
They are not interested in giving charity, said Pt. Sugrim, but in empowering people – like Bhanmattie Mohabir, whose diabetic husband lost both his legs and who was being forced to move from the temporary quarters she occupied. She received a piece of land from the Government, was provided a house by the NJASHM, and her sixteen-year-old son has worked side-by-side with her to build a fence with discarded material from a lumber yard.  She has saved enough money to buy two dozen chicks to begin a poultry business.  This, said Pt. Sugrim, is what the NJASHM is about – empowering people to help themselves.

Bhanmattie Mohabeer and her son working together to build a better future.