Deteriorating and fading into the shrubbery that surrounds it after more than two decades of service to the community, the East Ruimveldt Com-munity Centre will benefit from a facelift through a construction support programme initiated by the US Navy Ship, the USS Kearsarge.
Plans are also on stream to restore the community playground that formerly accommodated countless children, but had over the years been reduced to a sprawling field of thick bushes.
Military personnel from the USS Kearsarge are also planning to erect a fence around the community centre and paint the building among other renovation works.
The East Ruimveldt Community Centre is one of four buildings in Region Three and Region Four that will benefit from construction and engineering work and repairs by US military personnel. The others are the West Demerara Regional Hospital canteen, the Houston Community High School and the Guyana Red Cross Children’s Convalescent Home.
At a simple ceremony yesterday to announce the plans for the East Ruimveldt Community Centre, military personnel from the USS Kearsarge said close to 60 US military engineering and construction troops will participate in the activities planned while pointing out that general construction works will include repairing rooftops, windows, and electrical systems. Painting and other renovations required at specific locations.
Donna Mohabeer, a social worker attached to the East Ruimveldt Community Cen-tre, told Stabroek News yesterday that the centre has been in urgent need of renovation for years.
She said a project had envisaged a few years ago but failed to get off the ground.
Recently, a group working under the banner of the East Ruimveldt Development Pro-ject was formed and efforts were being made to solicit assistance for the centre. Mohabeer noted that they made several unsuccessful attempts until the US Embassy was approached. She said the visit of the USS Kearsarge coincided with efforts to draw assistance and that it worked out in the centre’s favour.
“The ground has been in poor shape for some time but they are going to spruce it up and fix up the centre for us as well,” Mohabeer said. “We are grateful because of what this centre means to the community and to us living in this community.” She said community development is high on the agenda for the centre, adding that in the 40-plus years that she has resided in the area something positive is finally happening for it.
The US military is expected to spend close to two weeks working at the centre.
The USS Kearsarge is here on a humanitarian mission that kicked off yesterday. It is providing free medical and dental care to Guyanese in Region One, covering sites in Mabaruma, Port Kaituma and Santa Rosa.
The ship’s visit to Guyana is the final stop on its three-month operation ‘Con-tinuing Promise,’ a six-nation mission to Latin America and the Caribbean.
The ship’s deployment to the region is modelled in part on last year’s mission of the USNS Comfort which also had a successful visit to Guyana in September 2007.
