The Office of the First Lady yesterday partnered with the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in George-town to conduct a medical outreach at the Baridi Benab, State House for 142 children from ten orphanages, according to a release from the Department of Public Information (DPI).
It was explained that the initiative aimed at easing the challenges that many orphanages encounter when attempting to access medical treatment for the children under their care.
During the outreach, a team of Chinese specialists performed specific medical examinations on the children of various age groups to generate their medical baseline records. This also included eye screening.
The release pointed out that the medical information recorded during these examinations will be included in each child’s personal medical file and shared with the specialists for the children’s future care and treatment.
This initiative is part of First Lady, Arya Ali’s adopt-an-orphanage initiative, which began in 2021.
“When I launched the adopt an orphanage initiative two years ago, I mentioned that we wanted to ensure that we were providing holistic support to our children in institutional care, and to do so in a sustainable way. I remember appealing to corporate Guyana and other groups to join our efforts, to provide a better life for these children; children who are national assets to our beautiful country,” the First Lady said at the outreach.
China’s Ambassador to Guyana, Guo Haiyan, presented the First Lady with a contribution to support this effort.
“I am proud to have participated in some of [the First Lady’s] projects. Last year the embassy supported three orphanages and will continue to support two this year and will participate and make contributions to other projects,” the ambassador was quoted as saying
The First Lady started the ‘Adopt an Orphanage’ campaign in June 2021, with the intent that monetary donations would assist with covering the significant monthly expenditures of orphanages across Guyana. This idea was inspired by a conversation with Guyanese-American rapper SAINt JHN during his visit to State House in October 2020, the release added.
