Exceptional Amerindian Guyanese honored

[www.inewsguyana.com] – Some 20 Amerindian women, along with high performing students, were honored at an awards ceremony, held at the Georgetown Club on Friday evening; an event that forms part of the ongoing Amerindian Heritage Month celebrations.

Delivering brief remarks, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds lauded their contributions and called on all stakeholders to aim for two goals, the first being to earn themselves a good living, and secondly, to come together as Guyanese.

These tasks, he said, are difficult, but in the last 30 years, “great progress” has been made, “our Amerindian people have shared in the growth and improvements that we have had”. Improvement in transportation, education and others, he said were just a few of these

Meanwhile, Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai, herself an awardee, also thanked all of those recognising their achievements in various fields. The event was also a fund raising event to assist the more vulnerable within the hinterland communities.  

Receiving plaques and tokens of appreciation were Guyana’s first female Foreign Affairs Minister, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett; former National Toshaos Council Chairperson, Yvonne Pearson; radio personality, Michella Abraham-Ally; first officially recognised female Amerindian miner, Leona Winters; GDF Warrant Officer and nurse, Marcia Williams; Owner of the Guy-Braz Transportation Service, Bernadine Gomes; retired Midwife, Vera Fraser Boyal; Senior Education Officer, Muriel Grant, Senior Medex, Juliet Wille; Traditional medicine translator, Cecelia Jeffrey; Cultral Preservationist, Dorothy Faria;  Business owner, Vanya Albert; retired teacher, Esther Attilene Campbell; Former secretary of the TSC and Technical Assistant to the Chief Education Officer, Francesca Vieira, and National Swimming Coach, Stephanie Gomes-Fraser.

Awards of appreciation for their long years of service were also given to Mohabir Bhajnauth, Rosamond Daly, Claire Emanuel, Cheryl Blackman and Patrick Johnson, all of whom have given years of service to the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs.

Hinterland student awards were also presented to the top Grade Six hinterland student Mareisa Nascimento, second top student Raul Ramdass and third top student Alex Abraham.

Top CSEC performers, Farida Husuff, Khary Boyer and Kyle Joseph, were also honoured. All of these students received scholarships, previously for their outstanding performances at the primary level, before going on to excel at the Secondary level.

The annual dinner brings the curtains down on Amerindian Heritage Month celebrations which were observed under the theme “Traditional Embodiment for Amerindian development”.

[Extracted and modified from GINA]