…from sales of her coffee table book on Amerindian way of life
A PRIVATE fund  set up to provide financial support  to Amerindian girls from hinterland areas who are  studying at the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) to become teachers will  become operational in the new school term in January 2012.
The fund is named the Hinterland Teachers Support programme and has been organised by Mrs. Annette Arjoon-Martins, Environmentalist and Chairperson of the Guyana Mangroves Restoration Project(GMRP).
Martins disclosed recently that herself and husband Dave had raised approximately $4.8 million and will be making this sum available for assisting the young people in acquiring study materials, transportation and other materials essential to their successful completion of their training.
The support will work through a Committee made up of Arjoon-Martins, Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Minister Pauline Sukhai,  IPC Chairperson Yvonne Pearson, and Ms. Jennifer Wishart  of the Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology.
Giving a rationale for the effort, Mrs Martins said that it had been observed that many of these young people who were aspiring to return to their hinterland communities as teachers have had to drop out of the College of Education because they could not afford the basic expenses associated with their studies.
“Our intention is to help them to purchase the essential school supplies which are often beyond their means,” said Arjoon-Martins,“and in their second year, when they have to do practical work away from Cyril Potter, we will also give them a transportation allowance.”
The assistance from HTS will run for the full duration of the students’ time at the CPCE.
Arjoon-Martins  raised the G$4.7M for the project from the sale of a coffee-table book on the Amerindian way of life, produced in 2010 by herself and her husband.
Financial support for the coffee table book was provided by Demerara Tobacco who had supported an earlier effort by Arjoon-Martins in her Shell Beach work, in a protected-areas-awareness programme in Region 1 (Barima/Waini).
Sales of the book, still available at the gift shop of the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs and the Walter Roth Museum , produced the $4.7million now being used to help the young Amerindian teachers.
Martins recently disclosed that her early years in the Pomeroon, growing up with a maternal Arawak grandmother, Rosalyn Murray, had made her sensitive to the severely limited avenues for young women in hinterland communities.
She had subsequently developed a keen interest in helping women struggling with scant support to make a way for themselves as evidenced in her work in developing and establishing the North West Organics group which last year grossed $7.5 million in local and foreign sales.
Martins, who won the Anthony N. Sabga Caribbean Award for Excellence in 2008 for public and civic contributions in Guyana, said that the financial help aside, the committee is also intended to serve in a mentorship role for the students as they seek to improve their lives and their communities.