THE South Friendship Community Development Council (CDC), East Bank Demerara (EBD), is blazing the trail for community development and representation and believes more communities should follow its lead.

Before recent years, the community was without water, electricity and roads, but all this changed after the official launching of the CDC in 2015 and its lobbying efforts to the government.

This would not have been possible without CDC chair, Doreen Matheson-Scipio, a former social worker of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport.
When she moved to the community over 17 years ago, Scipio had described the South Friendship area as “a depressed community devoid of infrastructure, electricity, water and garbage disposal services.”

The area, often referred to as the ‘Friendship Squatting area,’ was teeming with land ownership disputes over what the CDC chair refers to as “ancestral lands.” Portions of the area had not been regularised, although many persons have lived there for over 30 years.

However, describing herself as a people-person with the “gift of mobilisation,” Scipio used these qualities to round up youths and other community members for self-help and developmental efforts.

Kicking into action, Scipio wrote letters to President David Granger; Ministers of Public Infrastructure, Communities and Telecommunication; heads of agencies such as the Guyana Water Inc. (GWI) and Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL); business owners and other individuals, to draw attention to the community of some 1,800 residents.
Things began to look up when President Granger responded to Scipio’s request for regularisation in 2016.

“I told him everything that pains my heart and he answered and carbon-copied it [the letter] to the Ministry of Communities,” headed by Minister Ronald Bulkan, the woman said.
At the same time, she also wrote Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, about the non-existence of roads in her community and low-hanging, live electricity wires that posed a grave threat to animals and children.

Through her engagements with Minister Patterson and Bulkan, she met with GWI Managing-Director, Dr Richard Van-West Charles and officials at GPL, to whom she and her team made persistent representation for action to be taken.

However, the officials rightfully explained that the community, being a squatting area, would first need to be regularised before the utilities could be put in place. As such, Scipio, with the help of others, worked around the clock in 2018 to garner the required documents — such as bank receipts showing ownership of property– from residents.

WATER AND ELECTRICITY
In April 2018, the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) in the Ministry of Communities embarked on the regularisation of the Friendship Squatting Area and granted GPL permission to provide electricity.

Dr Van-West Charles and his staff also accepted the CDC chair’s invitation and visited the area and now homes have potable water.

At that time, Scipio averages that around 350 households were recipients of electricity and water.

“I, personally, am happy for the people in there, the youths; the elderly who are suffering and the community as a whole,” she said. “I am happy when everyone is happy.”
Meanwhile, fulfilling his promises, Minister Patterson facilitated the upgrading of the Short-cut/Access Road which was previously in very poor condition.

In the place of mud dams, the Ministry of Communities constructed roads at First, Second and Fourth Streets.

SELF-HELP
Scipio highlighted that what was key was the self-help efforts of community members to clear spaces where large bushes once existed to facilitate construction of the roads.
The CDC chair believes that citizens must not always sit and wait on the authorities to do everything, but they must be willing to meet them (authorities) halfway.

With this in mind, the CDC also maintained street humps and pedestrian crossings in the community with paint donated by Director-General of the Civil Defence Commission, Lieutenant-Colonel Kester Craig.

An agreement was also made with the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) for the monthly maintenance of drains and the employment of young men in the community to do so.

The CDC, through donations and self-help efforts, constructed a bus shed outside the Friendship Secondary School and targeted women in craft and cooking classes.
Meanwhile, Scipio in her capacity as councillor of South Friendship, in 2017 advocated and received garbage-disposal services weekly.

She is now in talks with the Ministry of Public Telecommunications for the provision of an Internet hot spot in the community, while the CDC’s next hope is to see the construction of a recreational ground for youths

The CDC does not have its own building, but meets regularly at Scipio’s residence or the residence of executive members.

Apart from these meetings, Scipio had also formed a youth club of over 40 persons, whom she mentored for leadership, self-development and community involvement.

She has given out numerous job recommendations under her title as CDC chair to ensure that youths in her community are given the opportunity to be gainfully employed.
Asked what’s the secret to such efficient community mobilisation, she stated: “A love for people, a love to bring about change in the community, a desire to see your community improve, regardless of the constraints.”

The CDC chair encourages that while it may be difficult for community leaders to lead in the face of criticism from some residents, they must remain approachable and be able to turn every negative into a positive.

“Every criticism, I take it and use it as a motivation,” she stated.
She also believes that if more communities developed active CDCs which push for change, Guyana will collectively see development at a much more rapid rate.