–elderly Herstelling woman says in reaction to President Ali’s intervention to enhance her living conditions

JUST days after promising to reconstruct a house and build a walkway for an elderly woman from Fourth Street, Herstelling, President Dr. Irfaan Ali returned on Thursday with a team of volunteers from the Men On Mission (MOM) to dismantle and begin the reconstruction of the dilapidated structure.

Led by President Ali, representatives of MOM, together with the Guyana Police Force (GPF), the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), and the private sector put their shoulders to the wheel to get the job done.

85-year-old Meena Bafan has been living in Herstelling for about 42 years, and, according to the elderly woman, she has never seen a President in the area before.
Not only was she happy to see President Ali, but the woman told the Guyana Chronicle on Saturday that she was lost for words, because of the President’s immediate commitment to improve her living conditions.

Equipped with his gloves, hard hat and hammer, President Ali returned to deliver on his promise to the elderly woman.

He said: “This morning, we are very pleased to be back here. As you know, we were walking through this community, and a number of issues were raised in relation to the drainage, the roads, the garbage… This old lady was living here, and MOM decided to take this project up, like we’ll be taking many projects up across the country.”
He said that they intend to complete the new home for “granny” by next Friday, December 9, 2022.

“We’ll be back during the course of the week to update you on the progress, but this is something that in every community, we want men to gather their efforts and come together, helping others create positive impact, not only on the social side, but also in relation to uplifting the lives of people,” the Head of State said.

Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat, who was also at the site on Thursday, said that they have already dismantled the old structure, and within a week, the new one would be up so that granny and her family could spend the holiday comfortably.

“This is a project that is being taken on by the private sector, MoM, the government, the NDC… So, it is a collaborative effort; the community is also involved in it, and we would like to thank the community for being a part of this project,” the Natural Resource Minister said.

He said that this is a project which will be replicated throughout the country, and that if anyone is aware of persons in vulnerable situations, they should inform the relevant authorities so that they could assist.

Police Commissioner (ag) Clifton Hicken, also assisting at the site, said that an elderly woman is considered vulnerable, so they intend to move to all communities to identify the vulnerable to provide help.

“Because of their vulnerability, they may not be able to defend themselves, so, like we identified here, we are going to go to the other communities and have those identified. And MOM, in collaboration with the police and all the other stakeholders, we are going to continue to build capacity,” Commissioner Hicken said.

Member of Parliament Sanjeev Datadin related: “This is what MOM means; it doesn’t mean that we just say things, and we make grand promises; this is what it actually means.”

He added: “There is a granny who lives there with her grandson in conditions that are very difficult, obviously, not by choice, so we decided that we would do everything we can to make it better.”

He said that the authorities all came together following the President’s visit to get plans into motion, and to have approved plans so that construction could be started.

A participant in the project said he was happy to participate, and to get “granny” a new home for Christmas.

“Today, we start filling the environment here, and tomorrow we pretty much will be casting the base, and start preparing the wall, so we can have this building completed by next Friday,” Datadin said.

He implored those persons wanting to do something for somebody’s Christmas: “Come out here from tomorrow; come out here with your hammer and participate in helping to put up this new structure for granny.”