As a taxi driver, Shamiak Nick Haniff often had a first-hand look at children at their most vulnerable. Driven by the desire to help, he enlisted his wife, Christina Ramasami and together they now assist wherever they can.
Ramasami is good in the kitchen and in the beginning, providing food and snacks for children was how the couple reached out. But their desire to do more saw them also helping older folks, including pensioners.
Not satisfied, and with the advice of others, the Berbice couple formed the Little Angels Feeding Programme. The journey has not been easy. Ramasami said there has been some negative feedback, but they have remained focussed on their goal to give help where it is needed and where they can.
“My husband normally drives taxi and… he would see kids and when he come home, he would discuss it with me. He has this emotional feeling and he would say let’s pick up some of our children’s clothes and toys and take it for them and we also started to cook and take food for them,” Ramasami told Stabroek Weekend.
Initially, they made the rounds on the birth dates of their family members and other special occasions. This went on for about three years and then last December they decided to set up an organisation and have it registered.
Ramasami recalled that a friend had asked her to cater for about ten children in one class, but her husband decided that they should cater for 50 children from the school instead of just children in one class. They provided meals and toys for the children and it was during that exercise that they were encouraged to form the organisation.
She was also advised to create a Facebook page and it was then the organisation began to grow as others saw the work they were involved in and wanted to help.
“We started get support and some would sponsor a whole programme, some would just give a small amount of donation and that is how we started,” Ramsami said.
At first, they focussed their work in Berbice, from New Amsterdam to Crabwood Creek to Moleson Creek, but they have now branched out to Crane, Parika, Linden and the Linden-Soesdyke Highway. Before taking a feeding programme to an area, she said, they would conduct a survey to determine if it is needed and whether it would be accepted. “There are a lot of kids out there who are not in orphanages, they live at home, but they just need a little help,” she said.
Explaining how it works, Ramsami said they try to do a programme every Sunday or Wednesday and they would alternate between providing hampers for children and hampers for senior citizens and others in need. Apart from food, they also help children with school supplies.
Then there is also the pensioners’ project, which sees the organisation providing snacks for pensioners on the first two days of the month at nine of the 11 post offices in Berbice. Initially, they started with three post offices and one vehicle was used but after they incorporated more post offices, they were forced to have more cars involved.
Ramasami gets up early in the morning to prepare the snacks and by 7.30 am, all of the post offices are covered. This project was started in July last year and Ramsami said while they receive assistance from individuals, they also do fundraisers and then there are also days when they go out and ask for donations; persons are issued with receipts for whatever donations they make.
The organisation has a treasurer, who ensures that the accounts are up to date, and it now has 18 active members, including six board members.
Ramasami is the secretary of the organisation and the other members hold various positions, but they are all volunteers.
Stay-at-home mom
Ramasami described herself as a stay-at-home mom of four children who likes to cook. She also does some catering for friends and this helps her with some income. Her husband also helps a lot.
“To be honest, if it wasn’t for him, I don’t think I would have been this person I am today because he started it and he keeps pushing it. It causes a lot of problems sometimes in the house because I get irritated when he pushes me, but he would say he pushes me because he knows I can do better,” she shared.
She said their children are also very supportive of the organisation and her eldest is the youngest member of the organisation. And even though she has been bullied because of the work of the organisation, she would tell her to be proud and she would go out and assist in the work. “Because of the work, she is seeing how some people live. Now she doesn’t want to waste stuff and so on and she trains her brothers and sister,” the mother said.
Apart from her daughter being bullied, Ramsami said, there has been some negativity, as according to her “people would try to bring us down.” She has had people approach supporters and attempt to discourage them from helping, so they take time to show supporters the books so that they are aware of how their donations are being used.
“People would say we are doing this to get fame or to get money and that is one of the reasons I got a board because of all of the negative energy. To be on the safe side, I did what was right and I got a treasurer and an assistant treasurer as well and they could see how the money is spent; they handle it, I don’t deal with finances,” she explained.
While at times she gets emotional and the tears would come there is always that little voice at the back of her head which says don’t worry, everything is going to be alright. “I always listen to that. We started getting a lot of negative vibes from January of this year and to be honest from then to now we have risen tremendously. The organisation has gotten bigger and my members they are very pleased with what they are seeing, and we have a lot of plans.”
At the end of August, they plan to visit Region 10 to take back-to-school supplies to children in some communities there.
Since they started the initiative, Ramsami believes, they have touched the lives of over 1,000 persons. But it has not always been positive. She recalled them trying to assist a sick child who eventually died, and this took a toll on all of them as they had become very involved and attached to the child.
“We love what we do, and it helps us to feel good about ourselves that at the end of the day we have helped so many persons,” Ramsami said.
“We have grown closer as a family because of this organisation, myself and my husband and our four kids, it got us to spend more time with each other and it also helped us to be better parents and help them to value what they have,” she added.
Little Angels can be found on Facebook and the founders can be contacted through that medium.
