THE New Horizons in collaboration with Guyana’s government, on Monday, commissioned the Yarrowkabra Village Youth Initiative Building.

New Horizons is a training and Humanitarian exercise within the United States Army which started in the 1980’s. Its main aim is to equip the recruits with disaster management training, in the areas of how to administer medical treatment, construction and other skills and trainings, while offering Humanitarian Assistance to third world countries. Their operations are based in Central America, South America and the Caribbean.
The New Horizons facilitated over 40 community outreach events which reached over 20,000 Guyanese citizens, in the areas of medical and dental servicing as well as emergency medical preparedness. Yarrowkabra Village on the Linden Soesdyke Highway, received a Youth initiative Building which cost USD $180,000 and took approximately 14 weeks to construct.

Chairman of The Neighborhood Democratic Council (NDC) of Yarrowkabra, Debra Wong, said the building was initially slated to host reading programmes in an effort to promote literacy within the community. She stated that she now is poised to ensure that the center will be used not only for reading programmes but also for varying other training programmes to equip the residents of the area with life skills that they would use to better their lives.

The center would not only serve as a center of learning for the youth, but the persons trained would use the training they would have received to organize and cater to activities, geared at the older residents, as a way of ensuring that all members of the village have the opportunity to make use of the center.

The center would be hosting events to give the persons who were trained the opportunity to use the skills they have learnt to serve members in the community.
“we want to talk about inclusiveness, we want other people to be a part of whatever will be done here at the center,” said Wong, as she explained that the center would not only be accessible to residents of the Yarrowkabra village but to all of the surrounding villages that could benefit from it.

The government of Guyana had requested the assistance from New Horizons and it also strategically selected Communities within Guyana that are most in need of a boost in the number of resources available at their disposal.

“As you are aware community development is at the focal point of the government’s agenda, and any assistance that it can garner, is welcome,” said Representative of the Ministry of Communities, Eugene Gilbert.

This Center is just one of three centers that were constructed to completion by New Horizons, the other two being commissioned at Amelia’s Ward and Blueberry Hill in Linden.
Colonel Ken Bratland of New Horizons expressed the feeling of accomplishment in the work completed, knowing that their hard work has created something that the residents could use for generations to come, that would be impactful in the lives of many individuals and benefit them positively.