— in Peace Corps, Mibicuri Community Developers essay and poster competition

By Marissa V. Foster

ON Friday, 8th February, a Peace Corps volunteer, Korilyn Baudoin collaborated with the Mibicuri Community Developers to host the prize-giving ceremony of an essay and poster competition.

Baudoin is a Peace Corps education volunteer, working to increase literacy rates in Grades 1-4. She loves to make learning fun and easy, and she enjoys taking care of the library at the school where she works. Korilyn is from Mississippi and is a graduate from the State University with a degree in Psychology. The Mibicuri Community Developers is an NGO headed by Jacklyn Johnson. It is based in Black Bush Polder and it serves the needs of its people through various projects and initiatives.

Participants of the competition include students from the following schools: Lesbeholden Primary, Yakusari Primary, Mibicuri Primary, Joanna Primary and Black Bush Secondary. The students had a duration of two weeks to complete the posters and essays. The essay questions are as follows: 1. How do you see women’s empowerment in your home, community and country? 2. What role do women play in society and how does that affect family life?; and 3. Why is education important for girls and women? All of which were answered by the students truthfully, based on their surroundings and experiences in Black Bush Polder. The posters were creatively designed to convey the topic: “Gender equality is for everybody.”
Sonja Sampson (social worker), Marissa Foster (writer), Julia Kyriakides (Peace Corps volunteer) were the three esteemed judges of this competition. They based their judging of the essays on grammar, grade level ability and word count while the posters were judged off of creativity and conveyed messages.

EDUCATE AND INSPIRE
The objective of this event was to educate and inspire pupils about the role women play in society, while fostering an awareness of the stereotypes and challenges that women face in Guyana. It was also to give pupils the opportunity to express their own views and ideas on gender equality, women’s empowerment, and girl’s educational rights through essays and artistic displays on posters.

At the prize-giving ceremony, there were four main speakers: Fiona Persaud (Peace Corps Education Manager), Denica Henry (Radio hostess), Marissa Foster and Shazeeda Razak (Speaker from GBTI). Three of the speakers educated the audience (students, sponsors and teachers) on International Women’s Day, the importance of gender equality and opportunities while the speaker from GBTI highlighted the loan opportunities the bank provides for women, especially single mothers.

Yugeeta Singh and Sanita Mangru from Lesbeholden Primary placed fifth and fourth; Nervanie Mohabir from Yakusari Primary placed third; Devika Arjune from Mibicuri Primary placed second; and Sarah Babulall from Joanna Primary placed first for the essay competition.

Chandanie Duki from Yakusari Primary placed first in the poster competition; Joshua from Joanna Primary placed second; Arefa Nazir from Yakusari Primary placed third; and Bridglall Amar from Black Bush Secondary and Kirani Raghauth from Yakusari Primary placed fourth and fifth respectively. The audience was also allowed a chance to listen to the fifth and first place essays and to also view the submitted posters.

Korilyn and the Mibicuri Community Developers thanked the students for having the courage to participate, and the teachers and parents for encouraging the students to tackle the problem.

Korilyn would like to create workshops for parents to get skills necessary to help their children read and write. She would like to organise a woman’s group in Mibicuri and possibly host a summer camp that will be focused on building leadership skills. The Peace Corps ended the ceremony by adding, “Together we can bring balance for a better community, together we are better.”