THE Nigerian Student Association of Guyana (NSAG), a body of Nigerian Medical Students being trained at Universities in Guyana, has once again made considerable impact in the humanitarian arena, with a donation of much-needed items to orphans in the city. This time around, the beneficiaries were the West Ruimveldt Children’s Home, an orphanage run by the Wesleyan Church in Guyana and situated in East La Penitence.
The donation was made two Saturdays ago and donors brought immense joy to the hearts of the less fortunate children who beamed as they beheld the items being presented to them. Items included foodstuff, beverages, clothing, and toiletries. Also included was a freshly baked and beautifully decorated chocolate cake for any child at the orphanage who would have had a birthday around that time.
The lucky child turned out to be Roger Neblett, who celebrated his 12th birthday on April 18. The cake was stuck and all the children present, joined by the administrative staff and the 18 student doctors making the presentation, joined in lustily singing the “Happy Birthday” song.
The emcee was Frederick Philemon who joined president of the association, Innocent Eyiazu, in delivering brief remarks.
Eyiazu said that the association engages in such goodwill gestures as often as they could, in order to show love to the less fortunate kids, while playing a part in the community that is hosting them as they pursue their career goals.
“As students, we get a lot from the community and so we try to give back to the community wherever we can, and this is just one of the things we do,” Eyiazu said.
The NSAG president further disclosed that the association has other plans to make a positive impact on the lives of children in Guyana, especially those in secondary schools. To this end, he said NSAG has offered to assist in coaching in science subjects in secondary schools where there might be teacher -shortages.
“We have observed that there is a shortage of science teachers in the country. Some of us here are graduates in science streams and we would be willing to assist a few schools by taking the science courses to the high schools ,” Eyiazu said.
He said the Association has already taken this proposal to the Ministry of Education and is at this time, awaiting a response. “If they approve and assign us one or two schools we’ll be glad. We want to start as early as we can, and if it works out, we probably will start next month.”
Eyiazu said they’ll probably give it a one- year shot in the first instance and see how it works, in terms of judging if there is an improvement in the performance of the children at CSEC who would have been coached by them.
“This is our little way of giving back to the people of Guyana, and we are happy to do that,” the NSAG president concluded.
Meanwhile, Frederick Philemon said that the association recognises every child present at the orphanage as being a potential leader of this nation, adding that they see a future in the institution.
“We are not only interested in ourselves. We believe in social- building, we believe in the people, we believe in humanity. We are here gathered to show an appreciation for what God has given to us; to share with our brothers and sisters. We see a future in this orphanage. We recognise every individual right here as being a potential leader of this nation. We recognise that everybody here , put together makes up a better nation,” he declared.
He congratulated the Government of Guyana for the role it plays in offering subventions for institutions providing care for orphans and vulnerable children, as well as its immensely successful foster care programme, which finances and offers other support for children adopted through the Ministry of Human Services’ foster- care programme.
The children at Saturday’s presentation were also involved in highly interactive sessions with the doctors in training. The association’s social worker, dental student Anyanwu Fortune, engaged them in a Bible Quiz competition and games such as musical chairs, for which the winners were given incentives.
Receiving the items donated was Assistant Administrator of the Home, Ms. Jennifer Babb.
Currently there are more than 100 Nigerian students pursuing medical studies at the University of Guyana, Texila American University and other universities in Guyana.