Dear Editor,
My attention was drawn to an article headlined ‘Community development remains a dream for the hinterland‘ published in the Stabroek News dated Thursday, December 1, 2011 and written by Shaun Michael Samaroo, a former journalist of your newspaper.
In the article, we derived that Mr Samaroo visited the various regions of our country and described the homes built for the residents of Saint Cuthbert‘s Mission by Food for the Poor (Guyana) Incorporated in collaboration with our donors, as “one-room structures” that are “no more than tiny single-family shacks.”
We take umbrage with Mr Samaroo who obviously did not take the time to tour the village properly and is therefore totally and completely misinformed. We do however agree with Mr Samaroo that these homes in Saint Cuthbert’s are the best in the community.
The fact of the matter is that Food for the Poor constructed forty two-bedroom houses, forty sanitation blocks and shower enclosures and a community centre valued at over $43M, thereby making life very comfortable for the villagers. Regular and timely distributions of various items are dispatched to the community to help sustain the residents.
Over the past two years our organisation has built over three hundred homes in five villages in Essequibo, Region 2, namely Onderneeming (Lil Red Village I), Siriki Sands, Pomeroon (Lil Red Village II), Princeville, Mainstay/ Whayaka (Lil Red Village III), Georgeville, Capoey (Lil Red Village IV) and Tapakuma (St Deny’s).
These buildings in these villages include sanitation blocks, schools, community centres and wells to provide potable water for residents.
The construction of fifty houses with sanitation blocks, a community centre, water project, trade store and the implementation of self sustainable projects for the village of Mashabo, Essequibo Coast, Region 2, is almost complete.
In collaboration with the Little Red Village Foundation, Food for the Poor built a baker’s shop to be managed by the residents of Little Red Village I, Ondereeming, Sandpit, Essequibo.
Four secondary schools, Aurora, Charity, Anna Regina and Abram’s Zuil in Essequibo, are already enjoying the benefits of our computer training kits to boost their information technology programmes, even before the introduction of the government’s One Laptop per Family Programme was introduced. Our organisation continues relentlessly in its efforts to satisfy the needs of the nation and help alleviate poverty in our midst.
Yours faithfully,
Leon Davis
Executive Director
