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Providing facilities for our senior citizens
Dear Editor;
Since the media was not present at the opening of the pensions; accommodation at the Blairmont Post Office, I would be grateful if my opening address could be carried in your letter pages. The address follows: “When I was in Toronto when I read of the fainting of a Pensioner who was waiting at the Blairmont Post Office for hours in the hot sun in order to collect his Old Age Pension.
The story pierced my heart and I immediately recalled the poem by Sir Walter Scott which was drummed into my head at High School as part of our learning in Civics, the opening stanza reads as follows:
Breathes there a man whose soul is so dead,
who never to himself has said:
“this is my own, my native land”!!!
I was born in the Corentyne and I grew up in Blairmont so while I am a Guyanese and my heart bleeds for Guyana, my soul beats for West Berbice.
I desperately wanted to do something for the pensioners, before the next pay day, especially having regard to the continuing inclement weather. I therefore left Toronto as soon as I could , dashed back to Guyana, made immediate contact with Ms Karen Brown, the pleasant, go-getting Head of the Postal Services, prepared the necessary Building Plan and secured all the necessary approvals to proceed with the construction of this shed.
Then harsh reality stepped in; …where was the money going to come from for the materials and labour and contractor’s fees etc ?
I am fully aware that many persons try to avoid me because they think that every time I open my mouth I will be asking for help to build or improve the Blairmont Crematorium & Memorial Garden which has already cost more than $30M.
As a matter of fact we are in the midst of collecting help for the fencing of the $3M concreted Car park attached to the BCMG.
Nevertheless, I was determined to get the Shed completed before the next pay day for pensioners which is today. There was no time for any public fund-raising! So the only solution was for me to fork out the money myself….and, ladies & gentlemen, contrary to what some people might think, I am by no means a rich man! I am also a pensioner about to join the octogenarian club! I do have some savings for my old age so I had to withdraw over $400, 000 from my personal savings account, something that I have resisted for years as anyone can ascertain from the Demerara Bank.
Of course, I am now naturally very happy that with the help of Contractor Bangat, friends like David Mangra and Kesh Harripersaud at the sawmill, as well Krishna, my nephew, the Shed is ready for use from today. We still need to do the painting and to install the toilet facilities.
At this point let me publicly announce that when Mr Massif, who has already provided much support for the Crematorium, heard that we need to install toilet facilities he readily offered his personal donation of a toilet bowl; I now have to negotiate with the postal authorities for approval and perhaps material help to make the necessary connections for the toilet facilities.
Let me also say publicly that I will welcome monetary donations from the public for painting the shed and other expenses.
I will be remiss if I do not end by thanking the Postal authorities for affording me the opportunity to be of service to our senior citizens; also I want to thank the media in advance for their widest coverage to this effort so that leaders in other communities, where pensioners awaiting collection of their benefits are exposed to the elements , can seriously consider how best they can replicate or do better than we have been able to do here at Blairmont.
Nowrang Persaud
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Classic poem by Sir Walter Scott, Nowrang. Your patriotism and benevolence will not go unrewarded some day. Every Guyanese should read and digest that poem to find out where his/her navel string is buried. “The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively” – Bob Marley.