Several Region Four communities receive food hampers, sport gear

-$4M for Diamond grounds

Several communities in Region Four have benefitted from the distribution of food hampers and sport gear undertaken by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport during an outreach on Sunday.

Speaking with DPI, Minister Hon. Charles Ramson Jr. said the hamper distribution is part of the Government’s general efforts to alleviate the hardship of COVID-19. Residents from Swan, Hill Foot, Herstelling, and Diamond were among the beneficiaries.

“COVID has negatively affected people as a result of that, there’s a lot of people who are under a lot of pressure, especially those living in remote areas. Sometimes worse because they don’t have the same kind of opportunities to get the kind of systems [as those on the coast] because they live so far away,” he said.

Minister of Labour, Hon. Joseph Hamilton

Minister Ramson Jr. said this intervention also provided him with the opportunity to assess the conditions of various community grounds along the East Bank Demerara up to Timehri as it relates to the allocation of resources to boost development.

Some $4 million dollars was also handed over to community officials to kick-start infrastructural work such as landfilling, ground shaping and fencing at several grounds in Diamond.

Minister Ramson and Minister of Labour, Hon. Joseph Hamilton also visited and assessed the ongoing heavy-duty operator training programme at the Kuru Kuru Training Centre.

About 60 youths from Region Six are participating in this training programme which is a collaboration between the ministries.

Minister of Labour, Hon. Joseph Hamilton and Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Hon. Charles Ramson Jr. assessing the Kuru Kuru Training Centre (KKTC)

A section of the gathering at the Kuru Kuru Training Centre (KKTC)

Some of the hampers that were distributed

It was highlighted that the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security will soon join the initiative to place focus on women’s development. Minister Hamilton told DPI that he was happy to be part of this initiative to achieve a common goal as outlined by various ministries.

“That is how we will proceed, and you will see more of this happening, this joint intervention scheduled amongst the ministries for the country’s development as well as citizens,” the Labour Minister said.

The Ministers encouraged the youths to take the opportunity to advance themselves and be gainfully employed.