–just to give them away to charitable organisations, and the needy

By Clifford Stanley

A SEAMSTRESS at Bath Settlement in West Coast Berbice, has been using her skills and background in sewing to make hundreds of face masks and then donate them free of charge to several organisations and the needy in Region Five (Mahaica/Berbice) and beyond.

Ms. Chandrawattie Singh, popularly known as ‘Sherry’, has been making masks for free for the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha (GHDS) since March, and in light of the growing demand for the item, given the spread of the coronavirus, she has since extended her service to make masks for a wider cross-section of people, including the Regional Health Emergency Operation Centre in Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) as well as the needy in Region Five, all free of charge.

In the majority of cases, except for official requests, she uses materials acquired at her own expense to produce the masks.

Mrs. Singh, a mother of five, has been a seamstress for 20 years, but for the past 18 has been sewing school uniforms for several schools in Regions Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and Five, as her main means of generating an income, usually between the months June, July and August, before the start of the new school year.

At the time, she’d never given a thought to making face masks, much less thousands of them at a time.

She explained that at the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, GHDS President, Dr. Vindhya Persaud approached the Pandit at the Bath Mandir with some raw materials, asking him to find someone who could turn it into face masks.
And, knowing of her reputation as a skilled seamstress, the Pandit, in turn approached her with the idea and the materials, asking her if she would be willing to do it for the GHDS, which would retrieve and distribute them.

Soon, word of her mask-making activity spread, and members of her community, as well as the needy, and those who could not afford to buy a mask, would drop by, asking if she could help them out.

“Of course, I had to refuse them, because I couldn’t give them masks made using materials provided by the GHDS,” she said, “but being the person that I am, having to turn persons away bothered me, and I soon decided that hey: ‘I would buy my own materials and make masks for needy persons and give them free of charge.’”
And so began her extended act of charity.

LATE INTO THE NIGHT

Working up to late at night, she currently produces about 100 masks per day, with the help of her sister, ‘Shelly’, and her two daughters, Ameika, aged 13, and nine-year-old Savika, who does the packaging.

They would often leave a box with masks outside the gate so that passersby can help themselves to one, should they need it.
As she jocularly said, young Savika hasn’t really bought into the idea of doing something for nothing, so she the mom often has “to stump up” with a soft drink or an occasional Smalta as an inducement to get the little girl into the work mood.
She disclosed that she has a close family friend called ‘Uncle Joku’, who often provides her with materials such as cloth and elastic, at his own expense, in support of her charitable activities.

The free masks end up on faces all over the coast, and as far as Parika, on the East Bank Essequibo.
She even made a few recently for the COVID-19 Task Force in Region 5. “The Officer there, Dr. Alanna James,” she said, “provided the materials, and I sewed the masks free of charge.”

She is currently putting together 1000 masks for her own NDC, with their own materials, of course, while she will be providing the labour free of charge.
Mrs. Singh said that she has always been a generous person by nature, a trait she inherited from her Dad, the late ‘Kit’ Singh, who for years worked with the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).

Her knack for sewing she got from her mother, who is also an expert seamstress.
She said she sometimes prompts Savika by telling her that money is not all.
“I tell her, and this, I believe, is about understanding our common humanity as human beings; this is about a sickness that can happen to anybody at any time, so if we have the tools and the resources, and can help in this crisis, let us help,” she said in closing.