— praise gov’t support in past three years

RESIDENTS of Hiawa, in the South Rupununi, have expressed gratitude to the ministers of government for their visit to the region and the special interest shown in their community over the past three years.

The remarks came on Sunday at the Hiawa Primary School, where Ministers of Telecommunications Cathy Hughes; Public Infrastructure David Patterson; and Social Protection Amna Ally met with residents for a meeting.

‘They had moments ago completed interactive presentations about the forthcoming construction and telecommunication and solar energy plans for the village.

When it came to the question and answer segment, resident Joseph Abraham first took to his feet and asked the ministers for a moment to speak of the many “blessings” the community has received in the last few years.

‘“Our dear ministers, I’d like to tell you that today, your visit to Hiawa has been very refreshing, very informative to us and it leaves us with a lot of food for thought,” said Abraham.
“In these three years… if you have your eyes open and you were alert, you would see how many blessings we have been getting.”

He listed the government’s Hinterland Employment Youth Service (HEYS) programme; the construction of houses for the villagers; the Nappi Reservoir; and the $6.3M sheep rearing project under the Sustainable Livelihood and Entrepreneurship Development (SLED) programme.

“There was training and these youths they were given some capital to begin their project and that has been very helpful to them… they were promised another $50,000 soon – if they haven’t already — so that their projects can be successful,” he said regarding HEYS.
Abrahams, who is spearheading the sheep-rearing project, said the facility to house the animals is 75 per cent completed and should be done by March month-end.

Following these remarks, he requested assistance with a nearby road some two miles from Hiawa, which residents had begun to construct by self-help, but are now in need of culverts
Minister Patterson agreed to support the residents with the conduits before the rainy season.

He will also arrange for batteries to be provided for the existing solar panels at individual homes, to help National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) students to study at nights.
Meanwhile, Minister Ally agreed to assist the villagers with their plans for a multi-purpose building, provided that they present a financially, feasible, project proposal.

The villagers’ plan is for the building to hold a meeting place; village office; village assets; HEYS office; women’s group and a place for Hiawa’s residents to sell their products and produce.

Headmaster of the primary school, Dave Jeffery, appealed for the regrading of the school; the gazetting of the nursery school; the renovation of the teachers’ quarters; the provision of equipment for the school’s Information Technology (IT) laboratory and for attention to be paid to the furnishing and lighting system of the head teacher’s quarter.

Minister Patterson, who inspected the IT lab and the teachers’ quarters to assess the situation, prior to leaving the village, pledged to make efforts to address the concerns that were highlighted.

Upon a request, Minister Ally also promised to provide sports gear to the residents. The ministers also agreed to inform the Guyana Water Inc. (GWI) of the concerns raised in relation to water and how it affects the community’s sports ground.
All other concerns were well received and noted by the ministers, who agreed to assist in whatever way they could.

Sunday marked the final day of the massive weekend ministerial outreach to Region Nine, which saw the delegation of 19 ministers visiting 28 villages.