Gov’t spreads Christmas cheer up the Berbice River

Hundreds of students in several communities up the Berbice River, Region 10 will be having a merry Christmas as government took its gift and hamper distribution exercise to the riverine communities.

Leading the exercise was Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill who also has parliamentary responsibility for the region, along with senior officials from the Ministry of Education.

Some of the villages to benefit include De Veldt, Gaetroy, Sandhills, Kimbia, Atonement, Wiruni, Maria Henrietta, Calcuni and Hururu.

Minister Edghill explained that the government wants to ensure that the children in the hinterland have access to everything children on the coast enjoy. The Minister emphasised that government will do everything within its power to ensure they have equal opportunity and equal access.

“We want you to enjoy the Christmas so we brought you gifts and we brought some gifts for the teachers. This is our way of saying we love you,” Minister Edghill said.

“Even though you are far away, you are at the centre of our plans… President Ali has made it clear that in our distribution services we meet everyone,” he further added.

The Public Works Minister said the gift and hamper distribution exercise is not tokenism but a commitment to the people of Guyana.

The Minister reiterated that the PPP/C government is one that does not believe in discrimination, hence the reason for visiting the communities to ensure every child gets something for Christmas. He said government is working hard to make life better for all Guyanese.

This, he said, can be seen when government rolled out its ‘Because we care’ cash grant, COVID 19 relief cash grant, and the GOAL scholarship programme, among many other government initiatives.

Minister Edghill also took the time to remind the students to embrace their school life, stressing that education is the key that unlocks the door for a bright future.

For many of the communities, it was the first time they had benefited from a gift and hamper distribution exercise. Teachers, parents and residents expressed their gratitude and thanked the government for keeping them in mind.