Dear Editor,
I AM a hardworking and proud indigenous woman who provides for and takes care of my family of three, while my husband is away in the interior region.

Sometimes it’s difficult for me to send my children to school and put a nutritious meal on the table, but I make do with what is at my disposal.

Recently, I read in the newspaper that the government intends to give us a cash grant of $25, 000 to assist us with easing the effects of the hardship brought about by the rise in the cost of living.  As one of the intended beneficiaries, I must say that this is welcome. So too will be the $800M in total which will be placed into the hands of residents from the hinterland and riverain communities like myself.

I want to therefore thank the Peoples’ Progressive Party/ Civic Government and President, Dr Irfaan Ali for this impending relief and gesture.

I am grateful to them because they saw us, Amerindians and indigenous people, as important and worthy of such an allocation at this time.

I am proud to say that had the sum been $15,000 or $20,000, I would have quickly joined any line and collected it.

Some $25,000 will go a far way in ensuring that I can meet the shortfall I am experiencing in the household with groceries.

This grant is the sort of intervention needed by hinterland families to help us withstand the hardship brought to bear by many factors. We suffered as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, then our suffering was made worse by flooding and the rise in fuel prices and essential food items.

In closing, I wish to urge all Guyanese to work towards making President Ali’s vision of a One Guyana come through.

Every single affected resident or family must get this cash grant.

They must feel, as I do, that the government cares and is trying to make our lives more tolerable as they fight off the effects of the rising cost of living.

This thing is not about politics.

It is about the people surviving the storm caused by the prices.

Yours sincerely,
Annalise Humphrey
Kwakwani, Region 10