TRICHRIA Richards may not have won in the last Local Government Elections when she switched from A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) to the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), but a single day barely goes by without people in her community – Laing Avenue, West Ruimveldt, where she grew up – going to her for help with various matters.
They know her more than they know the elected councillor, and they are able to receive help even though she may not exactly be serving in a government position. The vibrant 33-year-old has always been up for any kind of work that would make her community a better place, and that would improve lives.
In fact, this is the reason she got into politics in the first place. She’d always be doing some sort of community work back in the day and even formulated a small group to get things done, hosting fundraisers and approaching others for help to finance such initiatives.
But after a while, it became taxing, especially when it came to raising money for these projects, so when the opportunity came to run in the Local Government Elections, she jumped on it. “Persons recruited me to run for local government and I ran on the basis of getting more help; I found that I really liked it,” Richards shared with Pepperpot Magazine on Friday.
She spent about seven years with APNU, but after a while, she realised that she was not very in tune with what was happening, and she started drifting; she’d participate less and less when she found that she did not like what was happening.
“When I decided to leave APNU, I resigned and I was asked to run for the PPP and I said yes. When the news came out, it was more of an uproar on social media than it was in the community,” she recalled. Although people did not appreciate this in the beginning, they eventually came around to the idea, especially when they could see positive things happening.
To Trichria, it was more about serving and helping the community than it was about politics. She just couldn’t ignore the progress she saw taking place and felt she wanted to be a part of it.
“I have always had a passion for wanting to develop our community and wanting to give back. I can’t sit idly by and see things happening and can’t be a part of it, or change it, or help,” she expressed, adding, “I saw the different developmental things that the president was doing and I wanted to be a part of it…so even though I didn’t win, I am still happy that I can make an input and help.”
As she engages in community development on behalf of the government, Trichria is happy that support has been forthcoming. “The Vice President made some promises and almost 90 percent of those have been fulfilled. He said he would come and visit and he did,” she shared.
A special $50M grant for individual households was approved, and beneficiaries received $350,000 for household renovations. Further, over $200M in road works were done in East and West Ruimveldt, giving jobs to persons in the community.
According to Trichria, who is a Liaison Officer with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, one hundred GOAL scholarships were given out, and skills training also commenced, which saw a class of young women in the community graduating from Kevin’s Reflections. “We went to them and got them to sign up because not everyone will take the initiative to sign up; this year we are looking to see how many more we can include in that.”
Trichria is passionate about getting a community building for East Ruimveldt up and running. It is a multi-purpose facility where children and community members can go for play and relaxation.
“I like to be a part of things that help to develop the lives of persons in my area. Sometimes we have so much stigma and we are working to remove that from our community. We are happy that we have government support and are getting things done.”
