THE Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs will honour its fourth set of outstanding persons today at the Umana Yana while celebrating the life and work of the late Stephen Campbell.
The honourees are persons who have made outstanding contributions to their particular fields or communities. Most of the recipients have already retired with decades of service under their belts.

Senior Social Worker with responsibility for Welfare and Health, Pauline Welch, told the Guyana Chronicle that 11 persons from various fields will be honoured at the event this year.

She said the recipients, who are from Regions One, Two, Four, Six, Eight and Nine have contributed to various sectors, including health, education, community development, language, culture and politics.

“The ministry would want to recognise their contributions towards the development of their indigenous communities, as well as towards their development of Guyana.”
Welch added that the idea was not to wait until the outstanding individuals were no longer alive to honour their contributions.

Ten of the participants are alive, while the other will be honoured posthumously.

Amanda Mahadeo from St. Cuthbert’s Mission; Janet Yaymochi from Masakenari; Morris Jeffrey from Bethany and Sylvie Henry from Moraikobai are all retired medical workers; while Edward Jarvis is originally from the Waini River; Dianne Abraham from Monkey Mountain; Olga Chacon from Mabaruma and Lloyd Andrews from St. Cuthbert’s Mission have all contributed decades of their lives to the education sector.

The group also includes long-serving former toshao of Orealla, Gladwyn Rudolph Peneux; former toshao of Nappi John Alfred; and the late Jonathan Jackson, who was instrumental in the development of the community of Kwebanna in the mid-20th century.

Over the years, dozens of persons have been honoured, including the likes of artist George Simon; politician Philip Duncan; sports personality Stephanie Fraser and media personality George Isaiah Chappelle.