Belina Charlie
─ Inspirational woman miner
DPI, Guyana, Saturday, June 22, 2019
Meet a Guyanese woman who is an “overcomer”. A woman who, as her story suggests, has truly experienced life, the good, and the bad, but has made it to the top. Meet the successful Belina Charlie, a businesswoman possessing an immense level of strength and commitment, and who now functions as Chief Executive Officer and Director of Sortex Mining Incorporated.
Belina had her humble beginnings at the Arantao Substation of the Dadanawa Ranch where she spent her early childhood before moving to Shea village in the South Rupununi, Region Nine.
It is here that she attended the Sand Creek Primary School before migrating to Georgetown, where she studied Portuguese at the Brazilian Embassy, and later working there as a teacher.
Her knowledge of Portuguese provided an opportunity for her in her next job at the Regent Guest House on Regent Street. It was there she met a Brazilian national who proposed a partnership in mining. This was the moment her mining career and more so the company Sortex Mining Incorporated was launched.
Belina recounts that partners endure a long journey to success. She relayed that initially, the operation was small but later grew and became much more profitable.
“I wasn’t rich, neither was he, so we worked together. He was an operator then the cutter head dragger operator, he worked and saved his money and then he decided to buy a dragger, one of the cutter heads, and that’s when we started our mining.”
However, as Belina worked on the mining operation her greatest challenge came when she fell ill in 2012, only to discover that it was ovarian cancer.
During this time, she notes her good fortune in having her partner standing by her side.
“We were into small mining, we didn’t have this large investment, but he worked, he really worked to save my life. We spent a lot of money; he would be in the interior working to help me to pay our bills at the hospital.’
Belina shared that during the chemotherapy, she often felt so hot that she slept on the bathroom floor, with ice in her mouth and the shower on. She forgot her family, her son, and even how to sign her name.
The memory of her sickness still makes her emotional but she eventually overcame cancer and continued with her work.
It is her opinion when her achievements will serve to encourage other women to try to make similar strides.
Due to her mining efforts and with help from the Guyana Women Miners Association, of which she is a member, Belina has journeyed to Canada where she joined the International Women in Resources Mentorship Programme. She later travelled to London where she was recognised among the one hundred Global Inspirational Women in Mining out of six hundred and forty-two women.
Belina plans to continue striving for success and later on, plans to reach out to her home village and assist in some way.
However, she has already begun her philanthropic efforts in another community by providing clothing and shoes for both children and adults. She also plans to provide the village with medical supplies
Another project that is she is also working on is the introduction of computers and the internet to some children from remote areas.
“Growing up we never see television, no internet, nothing at all. So now that I can afford to give children something, I think that’s the best thing to do. Some children never came even as far as Lethem, so this will be a great opportunity for them to learn something.”
Belina is a prime example of pushing oneself through dark times and learning from all her life experiences.
She urges all women to strive to be the best they can be despite the challenges even if it is without recognition.
“I had cancer that didn’t keep me back I fight and I will continue fighting not just for me but to help other people. If I can overcome these odds so can other women. You have to be strong, no matter what comes between you and your future.”
Images: Department of Public Information