LAST Thursday saw 140 women graduate from the Women’s Progressive Organisation’s (WPO) Women of Excellence programme, which was held for a period of twelve weeks at the Mon Repos Community Centre, East Coast Demerara.

The women were taught by four teachers for five days a week in such areas as cosmetology, cake decoration, curtain sewing, and catering; and an exhibition was also held to display the various items made.
Speaking at the ceremony held at the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre in Kingston, Georgetown, WPO President Mrs. Indra Chandarpal said that women in Guyana are now living under better conditions in terms of policies and programmes.
She explained that not only does the constitution provide for women to excel in all areas of endeavour through provisions such as equality, but there are also various organisations which are working for women, among which are the Women’s Affairs Bureau and the Women and Gender Equality Commission.
Mrs. Chandarpal pointed out that women are taking up leadership positions in both the public and private sectors, and are taking their place in society by playing an important role.
She urged the graduands never to settle for what they have, but to continue aiming higher, since within all of them is a burning desire to improve themselves.
She charged that each must be the person to control her own destiny, and if they want to make their lives easy and want to be better persons, then that is entirely up to them.
Mrs. Chandarpal noted that even though some of the women did not have the opportunity to attend high school or university, they should not have to stop thinking about how to educate themselves.
She said a lot of the women have talent which they themselves sometimes do not know that they possess, but what was missing is that they did not have the opportunity to let that talent come to the forefront.
Once they get that opportunity to so do, she opined, they can shine; and this is evident from the fact that they graduated from the programme.
She encouraged the women to have self-confidence because, if they do not believe in themselves, they would not be able to realise their own potential.
Mrs. Chandarpal said that not only has the programme presented the women with opportunity to bond with their fellow women, but it has also empowered them, since they are not the same as before they started.
She indicated that she has always taken an interest in the centre; it was recently visited, and it is publicly acknowledged that there are a lot of things that they have to do for the centre.
According to her, resources and funding are being sought to improve the centre, and a way has to be figured out for its increased promotion.
Also speaking at the graduation ceremony was coordinator of the Mon Repos Centre, Ms.Padmini Singh, who expressed her pride at all of the women who participated in the programme, which was established in 2005.
Ms. Singh said the Centre is happy to know it has imparted knowledge to the women, and she said that all of the teachers did an excellent job.
She noted that attendance at the programme has grown in number since the first graduation, which had seen six persons graduating.
According to her, participants had made tremendous sacrifice to be on the programme, and she expressed hope that the next round of the programme would see many more persons participating.
She thanked the ladies for their cooperation, congratulated them, and wished them the best in their future endeavours.