It is said that ‘Giving is as good for the giver as it is for the receiver’ and this was once more proven at Joshua House Children Centre when 15 volunteers with the U.S. Southern Command team visited the children there.

The U. S. team visited Joshua House carrying the promise of support to supply educational materials for the children and sports gear, as well as to facilitate minor infrastructure work at the centre.

The U.S. volunteers are in Guyana to oversee the completion of several projects under the New Horizons Guyana programme, managed by the U.S. Southern Command.

This initiative is in keeping with the U.S. Southern Command’s ongoing commitment to strengthen ties with partner nations in Central and South America, through combined quality-of-life improvement projects.

The projects include the construction of a health centre in La Penitence and a school house site in Bel Air, Georgetown, as well as a school house renovation project in Timehri, a dental outreach at the Diamond Secondary School, and medical assistance to several health care institutions.

The undertaking of these projects will be facilitated through the efforts of 650 American soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen, the total expected to travel to Guyana by the time the projects are completed.

Task Force Commander Lt. Col. Patrick Keenan explained that the volunteers are people from all walks of life, with different careers, outside of service with the United States forces, who take two weeks from their schedules to come to Guyana.

This ‘assistance’, yesterday, brought the U. S. team much happiness and fulfillment as they were treated to true Guyanese hospitality by the very individuals, into whose future they were investing their energies.

Keenan stated that visiting with the children brought something different, not just to him, but also to his colleagues.

“We get to experience the culture from their perspective,” he said.

And experience the culture they did, as the children of Joshua House taught the U.S. volunteers how to play cricket or rather tried to teach them cricket and engaged them animatedly in ‘creolese’ conversation.

Known for transcending boundaries, one aspect of common ground that the two groups found was Michael Jackson’s song ‘Thriller’, which they both sang, a little off key, but having fun anyways.

One volunteer, Mr. Artis Weaver, stated that being with the children was “a little bit of home”.

“Anywhere in the world you go children will be children, and they always manage to bring something to one’s life,” Weaver said.

According to Mr. Clifford Accra, guardian in charge at the home, the children’s Sundays are more quiet compared to the hullabaloo they managed yesterday.

Accra explained that the children’s Sundays are usually spent at Sunday school and Church, followed by a movie and playtime.

The House Father expressed his gratitude to the U.S. team for bringing a change and joy into the lives of the children, if only for one day.

This sentiment was returned by the U.S volunteers who concurred that they too enjoyed their time with the children.