FORTY children from the St. Mary’s Church in Albion, Corentyne will directly benefit from a children’s vegetable garden, to be launched today by Dr. Faith Harding. The former central executive member of the People’s National Congress Reform One Guyana, travelled to the area yesterday, in keeping with her aim to assess progress of her work with young people in the Berbice area.
Dr. Harding has been spearheading several initiatives aimed at ensuring young people become economically viable; and today she will be meeting with some of those young people she began working with since June of last year.
She has been reaching out to individuals through “The Faith Harding Quick Impact Programme (QIP)”, established in June 2011, and has since been able to provide assistance to those who face challenges and unfortunate barriers of almost every kind. They have been able to access counselling in the areas of healthy, productive living, and even HIV/AIDS. Job placements, distribution of food items, clothing, and educational materials have also been part of the package.
Dr. Harding has, so far, been able to provide a service to those living at Corriverton, Albion, Long Creek, Dora, Sophia, and Goed Intent in 2011. She hopes to start life skills training very shortly, and has begun developing agro-based and agro processing projects in a few communities. She hopes to start a sorrel production programme in Long Creek; a machine shop, chicken farm and fish farm in Corriverton; and empowerment programme for teenagers and women, to reduce gender-based violence in Sophia, Georgetown.
She explained that in promoting QIP, the facts are clear that agriculture is one of the most resourceful avenues for the economic viability of small communities. It can bring wealth as it increases national production and export. As much as QIP is encouraging large scale farming to meet international markets, it is also promoting in young children an interest in the production of food by way of creating children’s vegetable gardens in communities.
Today, Dr. Harding will visit the St. Mary’s Church in Albion, where she will be launching the first Children’s Vegetable Garden. Forty children from the community are going to benefit from the programme in its initial stage. Moreover, equipment and sports gear will be issued to youngsters of the community.