First Lady, Sandra Granger, will be the guest speaker at a Women of Mission International (WOMI) one-day conference on Friday, 24th July at the LEN Building, Republic Avenue, Linden.
“Knowing Your Purpose” is the theme of the conference, which is being coordinated by Linda Felix-Johnson, Chairman of WOMI with assistance from the New York-based organization’s vice chairman, Bonita Primo.
The two women visited the First Lady at the Office of the President on Friday, 17th July, to inform her of WOMI’s vision, mission and commitment to empowering women and girls in Guyana and the Diaspora. Felix-Johnson, who arrived from New York on the previous day, satisfied with the time she and Primo spent in the Blue Room at the Office of the President with the First Lady, told Stabroek News that apart from a general discussion about the conference, she and Primo were able to tell the First Lady “some of the things WOMI has in mind for women and teenaged girls in Linden and Region Ten”.
Primo, who is in the process of remigrating to Guyana after living in the US for almost three decades, said : “We spoke of women and girls in groups in the hope of doing different things that can empower women such as poultry rearing and engaging in cottage industry type projects such as making bottled green-seasoning,”.
In an invited comment after the discussion, the First Lady asserted that the term helpmate may not be appropriate in many cases. “Let us not have the ladies to be just helpers,” she said. “They can be empowered to do. As I sat here and talked with Ms. Felix and Ms. Primo, we were enthused that our ideas dovetail.
We were speaking to the already converted because we all recognize the importance of empowering our women and our girls not only in an economic sense but in a social sense as well, so that they become confident and more able to grow and develop and contribute more to the development of their communities and the country.”
