Kato not taking any chances with COVID-19
Headteacher of Kato Primary, Karen Abraham
Headteacher of Kato Primary, Karen Abraham

–keeping close watch on movements to and from community to prevent an outbreak there

WHILE there are no positive coronavirus cases to date at Kato, in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni), residents and members of the Village Council are doing all they possibly can to prevent an outbreak of the disease there since the village’s Health Centre is not fully equipped to deal with such an eventuality.

The Village Council is strict about persons leaving and entering the community, and is now asking all who want to leave and return to check in with the office first before heading back to the village.
Even with no cases, headteacher of the Kato Primary School, Karen Abraham said she believes that it was a wise decision to close the schools there, as persons are travelling in and out of the village. The primary school has 106 pupils, while the secondary has close to 300 students.

With schools closed, a Kato teacher is exploring the possibility of teaching her children in small groups at a time

Abraham is in Georgetown currently, but would make regular monitoring visits to the indigenous village. Her job includes observing the teachers there while they are conducting classes, and even coaching them on occasion.

Since the closure of schools, the children in Kato are at home, with hardly any alternative learning opportunities to turn to. The Ministry of Education had planned to send in workbooks for them, but even so, Abraham is concerned that there is very little guidance that their parents can give to them.

According to her, Grade Five teacher, Sherlan Salvadora, because of her concern that the children are away from school, is now working on the idea of bringing the children out in very small numbers at a time for classes. For this to happen, though, she has requested help from the Village Council in the form of face masks for the children.

As for shopping in the village, Abraham said an organised system is in place, where a vehicle takes whoever needs to do shopping once a week across the Brazil border. “Things are going to get expensive, because they’re now limiting the number of persons who can go to make purchases. This is one way they’re trying to prevent the spread of the disease,” she told the Guyana Chronicle during an interview on Monday.

Apart from keeping a check on all those leaving and returning to the village, Abraham said the Village Council is also trying to quarantine those going back into the village. “While they have no control over the persons going to work on the ‘hydro’, they ask them to remain on the worksite.”

A view of Kato Village in Region Eight

Closure of schools has also affected the livelihood of some farmers who plant to sell to the school-feeding programme. With school out, the farmers would need to find alternative markets. “This becomes an issue, because everybody in the village plants,” Abraham said.
Apart from assistance with sourcing face masks and sanitizers, Abraham said the villagers need to be educated because many of them do not have access to the Internet, and international news. As a result, she said many are not seeing the seriousness of COVID-19.

“If the disease gets there, we are going to see some unpleasant things, because they don’t have the facilities there to deal with it. I’m not sure there’s anything in place to deal with a possible positive case; they’re not prepared to handle an outbreak there,” Abraham said.
Out of concern for the people in Kato, Abraham said she tries her best to keep them abreast of what is happening.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

All our printed editions are available online
emblem3
Subscribe to the Guyana Chronicle.
Sign up to receive news and updates.
We respect your privacy.