Min. Norton commits to youth development in Port Mourant
Georgetown, Guyana – The Honourable Minister of Social Cohesion, Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. George Norton, has signalled his Ministry’s intention to commence two new youth programmes in Port Mourant, Region Six.
This decision stemmed from a February 4, 2019 meeting with members of an overseas-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) called Humanitarian Mission Guyana Incorporated.
The group, comprising overseas-based Guyanese, Suresh Sugrim; teacher of the Port Mourant Secondary School, Shafeeza Nandlall; and resident, Trudy Sinclair met with Minister Norton who was accompanied by the Assistant Director of Youth, Leslyn Boyce and Technical Officer of the Department of Social Cohesion, Pamela Nauth.
(From left) Members of Humanitarian Mission Guyana Incorporated, Ms. Shafeeza Nandlall, Ms. Trudy Sinclair and Mr. Suresh Sugrim, pose with the Honourable Minister of Social Cohesion, Dr. George Norton, along with Technical Officer of the Department of Social Cohesion, Ms. Pamela Nauth and Assistant Director of Sport, Ms. Leslyn Boyce.
During the engagement at Minister Norton’s Main Street office, the NGO members highlighted a number of social ills affecting the community of Port Mourant; these include unemployment, caused by the level of school dropout and child labour in the area.
“It is a very depressed community,” Sugrim said. He explained to Minister Norton that the NGO owns a building in the community that can be utilised for the hosting of activities and programmes that can have a positive impact in the development of the community.
Assistant Director of Youth, Leslyn Boyce informed the meeting that while the Department does not have the budget to immediately clone all the programmes at the Vryman’s Erven Training Centre in New Amsterdam, every effort will be made to implement at least two new programmes at the NGO facility in Port Mourant.
With the organisation already finding a suitable instructor who also resides in the community, the Department of Youth has agreed to fund programmes in the area of welding and plumbing.
Minister Norton noted that “While the Ministry has the Vryman Erving’s Training Centre doing amazing work in Region Six, I am very glad that we have now secured this space to go directly into a community that needs our help.”
He commended the group for its good work and for understanding that Guyana’s development is a multi-stakeholder effort.
“No government will ever be able to do it alone. The people must be involved. Organisations such as yours must play their role. The problems facing any country require a united approach, and I am most happy that we have been able to so instantaneously form this bond to help the people of Port Mourant,” Minister Norton said.
Dr. Norton will soon be visiting Port Mourant as part of his community outreach for the month of February.