A new roadway linking three of Wakapoa’s island communities in the lower Pomeroon area, in Region Two, built by self-help, was recently opened.
A release from the US Embassy in Georgetown said the $73.4 million project was made possible through the hard work and dedication of the people of Wakapoa Mission, US Peace Corps Guyana Volunteer Lesley Allenby, and US non-governmental organisations Builders Beyond Borders (B3), Friends and Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Guyana and Digicel Guyana.
Representatives of B3, the Regional Democratic Council of Region 2, US Peace Corps Guyana, and the US Embassy joined community members at a ribbon cutting ceremony on May 16, marking the official opening of the road.
The release said that Region Two Vice-Chairman Vishnu Samaroo spoke on behalf of the Government of Guyana, extending thanks to the contributors and the people of Wakapoa for completing the largest project ever undertaken in the community. B3 Executive Director Amy Schroeder-Riggio, thanked Allenby for her commitment and hard work, and handed over a plaque to the community. Flavio Rose, of the US Peace Corps in Guyana, repeated the agency’s commitment to aid in the development aspirations of the people of Guyana.
The release said that the aim of the project was to connect Waipaqua to Yarashima and Myrie, where the majority of the residents in Wakapoa live, by constructing a new roadway to facilitate safe passage between the islands. The length of the road from Myrie to Waipaqua is approximately 1,700 feet, while the section from Waipaqua to Yarashima is approximately 1,200 feet.
The Wakapoa Health Post for the community is at Waipaqua and was accessible only by boat or by a dangerous, narrow footbridge. Village elder Seaford Fredericks said that construction of the road has been a major goal of the community for more than two decades and they had explored several options for possible funding.
Help finally arrived in the form of US Peace Corps volunteer Allenby, who was assigned to the Wakapoa Health Post as a community health volunteer in March 2012. After assessing the needs of the community and meeting with village elders, Allenby approached B3 with a project plan. B3 engages US high school students in local and global community service projects.
A group of 37 US high school students arrived in country in February to work alongside community members to start the road construction process. A second group of student volunteers followed in April.
Both students and villagers laboured to pull logs with ropes and carried sand bags through the savannah swamps to the project site to build the road surface.
Financial contributors to the project were B3, Friends and Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Guyana and Digicel Guyana.
Eighty-eight percent of the labour cost came from the community members contributing through self-help labour. The new roadway was named ‘Lesley’s Memory Lane’ in honour of Allenby, who spearheaded the project.
At the commissioning, the US Embassy also donated books on America and the environment to the Wakapoa Mission School and gave backpacks to the students to support education in the community.
