« Home | Sunday 16 April 2006 Leeflang made a suggest... » | Caribbean environmental leaders to meet in TTSunda... » | Education reform funding dilemmaMore taxation, NH... » | PublicationsInvolving Citizens in Public Budgets... » | A Global Island Partnership launched by the Presid... » | The Case for Contamination, by Kwame Anthony Appia... » | The End of Poverty: An Interview with Jeffrey Sa... » | Affected by HIV? Show us your story...The HIV epid... » | 14 April 2006New Agreement Aims To Help Caribbea... » | Department of Economic and Social AffairsPopulatio... » 

Sunday, April 16, 2006 

April 16, 2006

Caring Friends donate computers to Mahaicony youth group
By Clifford Stanley

THE Canadian Charity, Friends Committed to Caring (FCC) Thursday last donated six computers to the United Youth Group (UYG) of Mahaicony, Region Five (Mahaica/Berbice).The computers were handed over to the members of the UYG by FCC member Mr. Matthew Abraham at the end of a ten-day computer training programme at a Centre at Mahaicony which saw attendance and participation by more than 40 persons, the majority of them youths.

The systems were brought into the country on March 31 last by members of the Canadian-based FCC who had travelled here to carry out a two-week programme of free dental and medical clinics in Regions Five and Six (East Berbice/Corentyne).

The computer training programme targeting Mahaicony youths was conducted by Mr. Abraham, while other members of the FCC were engaged in medical and dental clinics along the coast and riverine areas in Region Five and along the Berbice River between April 3 and 13 last.Mr. Abraham, who has been visiting with FCC whenever the organisation comes to Guyana and was here last year, is a Computer Teacher at the Central Commerce Collegiate Institute (CCCI) in Toronto, Canada.

He said that he had acquired eight computers to donate to Guyanese this year. On his previous visits, he had observed that there was a need for more computers for youths and other local institutions.The remaining two of the eight were given to the New Amsterdam Hospital.

The Sunday Chronicle has learnt that FCC has been visiting Guyana and conducting free clinics along the coast and in the hinterland for the past 15 years.

The organisation is headed by Guyanese-born Dr. Arnold Doobay who left to take up residence in Canada in 1965 and members are usually based in Region Five when they make their annual visits.Matthew Abraham said he had acquired the computers free of charge from the school where he teaches and had brought them into Guyana through the auspices of the FCC.

He thanked his boss at the CCCI Mr. Chris Bradford whose cooperation had made the donations possible. The UYG was launched on April 1 last as a prerequisite for the ten-day training programme and the handing over of the computers by youths in Mahaicony.

The youths received training in computer basics such as computer hardware and computer applications such as word processing and spreadsheets.They were given certificates at the end of the training programme Thursday last.

A representative of the UYG said that the computers will be used for training as well as in a proposed Internet Café in Central Mahaicony to generate funds for their maintenance and repair.The representative expressed gratitude to the FCC on behalf of Mahaicony youths for the donation.This year’s visit to Guyana by members of FCC of Canada was scheduled from March 31 to April 14. FCC had visited Guyana and conducted free medical and dental clinics twice last year in response to the 2004/2005 floods.Executive Director Dr Arnold Doobay said that members had been happy about the large numbers of Guyanese they were able to help this year.

He said that Guyanese needed to be encouraged to make fuller use of Health Centres for treatment of diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.

On Thursday, many of the young people who participated in the FCC computer training programme said that although its duration was short, it had aroused their interest in computers.One of them, Ms Karen Braithwaite said that she, like the others, was looking forward to the future use of the computers and to learning to operate them so that she can acquire marketable skills in the field of Information Technology.FCC team members returned to Canada yesterday.

Copyright GNNL April 2006

About me

  • I'm Em Asomba
  • From United States
My profile
Skype Me™!

Poverty & Social Development: A Caribbean Perspective is powered by Blogspot and Gecko & Fly.
No part of the content or the blog may be reproduced without prior written permission.
Join the Google Adsense program and learn how to make money online.