With gift kites…
FOR the average child, Easter would not be Easter without kites and so, last Sunday, when Flight of Hope Hinterland Outreach Ministries made an unexpected landing at Sand Creek airstrip, with a gift of hundreds of kites for children in the remote hinterland community of Region Nine (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo), it was a joyful occasion. It was the second such trip by the local humanitarian organisation, following the first to Maruranau, where they distributed dozens more kites to children and established what promises to be a lasting and rewarding relationship that will redound to the good of the community.

At both locations, the excitement was evident and, although it was late in the afternoon, the appreciative children almost immediately began kite flying.

The gestures were the brainchild of the 32-year-old Flight of Hope Director, Captain Orlando Charles, a, Air Services Limited (ASL) pilot but the flights to the two communities, to take cheer to the children, were made possible through Captain Praimnauth Mohanlall, Managing Director of L’ Mart Exclusive Furniture Store, on East Coast Demerara, who used his private aircraft in support of the venture.

Having experienced, first hand, some of the hardships suffered by the people of those communities far removed from Georgetown whose needs are many, Charles is appealing to civic- minded people to make donations for their benefit to Flight of Hope, the contact number for which is 231-0144.

He said, on arrival at Sand Hills, nothing he saw looked like Easter and, when he asked why there was no kite flying, everybody said they had no kites.

“Naturally, that was very touching for me,” Charles said.

He and Mohanlall did the distribution to the children present and left more for the Village Toshao to deliver to others.

Following that goodwill mission, Charles and Mohanlall now plan to donate two computers and other to the community, compliments of the latter.

In an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, Charles said what they began about a year ago targets deserving hinterland communities and more than just making material presentations, it is their intention to invest in the education of children, as well, by way of scholarships, teaching young people assertiveness skill and arranging programmes that would impact the values, morality and lifestyles of the beneficiaries.

” In fact, the letters that spell hope in the name of organization mean helping other people excel,” he explained.

Charles is a member of the Assemblies of God Church, whose mother, before he was born, made a dramatic change from Hinduism to the Pentecostal religion and feels bound to live in obedience to God.

He lost his father, tragically, at the tender age of four and, knowing what it is to have to forego many essential things in life, it has become easy for him to identify with the less fortunate and help make a difference in their lives.

Charles, therefore, naturally gravitated towards humanitarian work in his spare time, as, for him, it is his special calling that he must pursue relentlessly.

Consequently, guided by his conviction, he is confident that, with God’s blessings, the programme will progress from strength to strength.

(Next week, we’ll bring you a personality profile, highlighting the resilience of this remarkable young man , who, even after his father was murdered had, to continue living – not just any kind of life, but who, at a very tender age, had to make a choice. In fact he made two powerful choices – to serve God and to work resolutely at one day becoming a pilot.