142 children receive free medical screening as part of first lady’s ‘Adopt an Orphanage’ initiative

The Office of the First Lady in collaboration with the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Georgetown, conducted a medical outreach for some 142 children from ten orphanages, on Wednesday at the Baridi Benab, State House.

The initiative aimed to ease the challenges that many orphanages encounter when attempting to access medical treatment for the children under their care.

A team of Chinese medical specialists performed specific medical examinations on the children of various age groups to generate their medical baseline records. Eye screening was also conducted.

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 Her Excellency, 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.

Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Guyana, Her Excellency, Guo Haiyan, was also present at the event and presented the first lady with a contribution to support this effort.

Ambassador Haiyan noted, “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.”

In keeping with her vision for a better Guyana, 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.