Latest update January 18th, 2025 7:00 AM
Volunteers from Queens University to assist Red Cross
Eight Canadian volunteers from Queens University, part of the Queens Health Outreach Programme, are partnered with Red Cross to lend assistance in promoting health awareness in Guyana. Volunteers have been coming to Guyana for this project annually for 20 years.
The volunteers, all between the ages of 19 and 25, have expressed their excitement about being in Guyana and hope that it will be ‘an adventure.’ The volunteers are set to head out to their project locations this week.
They will be promoting health awareness in Regions One, Four and Nine, primarily through teaching in classrooms. The volunteers say they understand that each community is different, but they highlight the fact that their programme is flexible enough to suit the individual needs of the communities they will be in.
Their programme will concern health awareness, but the volunteers mention that they will be focusing specifically on areas such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, leptospirosis, diarrhoea and first aid. They continue to mention that individual communities will have their own specific needs and they will be concentrating on addressing those needs. Georgetown, for example, is in need of awareness pertaining to physical education and physical health. This will be addressed by the group which is staying in Region Four.
The Canadians note that they have specially developed kits for disaster relief and drug and alcohol abuse, among other things. The volunteers bring out the fact that their program has evolved from a health program to an outreach program where assistance is lent not only in terms of physical health, but also within the community in areas such as leadership and character building.
Apart from their health awareness work, the volunteers say, they are also hoping to make contacts for the future Queens Health Outreach volunteers to utilise and work with. (Rustom Seegopaul)
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