THE community of Santa Mission, located several miles South along the Kamuni Creek on the Aratack Amerindian reservation, is loud in praise of a Guyana Government initiative that has seen solar panels being installed there to generate electricity.

“Our children could study and we could work more at nights,” Village Elder Marcy Williams told the Guyana Chronicle during a visit this past weekend.
She said one of the immediate benefits being experienced, as a result of the installations, can be observed among the children.
Williams, who also heads the women’s organisation that makes handicraft, said, previously, they would have to use lamps but this led to persons experiencing problems with their eyes.
She said jobs continue to be a major issue and stated that, as the children leave there to attend secondary school elsewhere, upon completing that phase, they would not return.
Williams said that has led to the population being depleted by almost half over the past decade.
Available employment in the area primarily surrounds logging and farming, but the Craft Centre serves as an integral economic hub for the women.

Women earn
Rebuilt with the help of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), about eight years ago, that is where the women earn.
She explained that all of the handicraft items are made by the women and, when sold, 90 percent of the earnings they keep and the other 10 percent goes towards the upkeep of the centre
The products are well received by visitors and tourists and an immediate response is recognition and appreciation of the quality of the work.
Williams also said that, in the long term, they would like the problem of potable water addressed.
“Our need is water,” she declared, adding that when rain falls, the creek water is not good to use.