OVER 300 children in Annai and surrounding communities in the Rupununi stand to shortly benefit from a new initiative by Backpack International Inc (BPI), a non-profit organisation started in 2016 with a global mission to equip students to do well in school.

A team from the organisation will be in Guyana on September 22 to 27 to distribute items that have already been shipped here in a 20-foot container.

Founder and President of BPI, Oslyn Rodriguez, told the Guyana Chronicle that she is happy that this initiative coincides with Amerindian Heritage Month and that the distribution event in Annai will feature a fun-day with food and drinks for the children.

Being a certified English teacher with a passion for education, Rodriguez, who was born in Linden and grew up in Region Five, wants to help children to obtain the essentials of being successful at school. The goal, she shared, is to equip students with what they need for school, such as books, shoes, clothing, hygiene products, bicycles and more.

And these are the exact items that are found in the backpacks that will be distributed to the children. “We want the children to have all the items they need for the school term,” she offered. They also have thousands of medical scrubs that have already been shipped to Guyana and are coordinating with the Ministry of Health to have them distributed to the various regions.

So far, BPI has served in five of the country’s 10 administrative regions and the intention is to be able to touch the other regions. The team is also working in nine different countries and plans to expand their work even further.

“Guyana is near and dear to my heart. I am Guyanese, and charity begins at home, so we always come back to Guyana. We’ve been invited to some other remote villages to reach some of those children there,” the Alabama-based founder said.

Having worked in Surama Village last year, BPI met with some Annai Council members and began talks of a library construction there. Work has already started to repair a vacant building there and books for the library will be shipped by the end of the year.

BPI and the South Colonie Central School District subsequently hosted a book parade to celebrate the philanthropic efforts of the students at Sand Creek Middle School.

The Student Council had launched a school-wide service project to collect 5,000 books to benefit the new library in Annai. The students, though, have already collected over 12,000 books to support the library.

The children in New York were happy to help, Oslyn Rodriguez shared. “They were so excited. They wrote posters to the children of Annai, and we are overjoyed and grateful for what they have done for the children in Guyana, despite never having met them.”

BPI is also looking to train a librarian and help the residents at Annai develop a catalogue system to assist the library users. Furthermore, some 200 chairs will also be donated to the library.