Amid COVID-19 concerns… Good Samaritan lends a helping hand to the homeless

Apr 05, 2020 News

By Anastacya Peters

With the aim of helping to fight the deadly Coronavirus that has already claimed the lives of four persons here, Madonna Ghanie, founder of Mommy’s Corner, a charitable organisation, decided to donate to some of the nation’s less fortunate.

Homeless persons receiving food supplies and anti-bacterial products

In keeping with the call for persons to embrace good hygienic practices and consume healthy foods to boost their immune system, Ghanie handed over hundreds of anti-bacterial products and food supplies to over 300 homeless persons.
According to Ms. Ghanie, this initiative started two Sundays ago and she is optimistic that it will continue until Guyana is no longer under threat from COVID-19, the novel coronavirus.
Ghanie’s decision to lend a helping hand was premised on her belief that the homeless and other less fortunate individuals will feel the full impact of the Coronavirus since “they have nowhere to go and no one to call upon”.
“Ministers are advising persons to stay indoors but what systems have they put in place for the hundreds of people who do not have homes. I don’t have a place to put them either, but from now what I will be doing is to go out into the streets and educate them about ways they can stay COVID-19 free,” said Ghanie.
Since the start of the initiative, products such as hand sanitizers, facemasks and educational brochures have been donated. The venture has already seen homeless persons in the vicinity of the Bourda Market, North Road and Waterloo Street areas being beneficiaries.
“Me and my friends have taken it upon ourselves to teach them how to use the hand sanitizer and other anti-bacterial products,” she said.
While Guyana’s COVID-19 number has increased in recent days, the disease which emerged in Wuhan, China last year has infected close to one million people and killed thousands in more than 200 countries.
The World Health Organisation has issued an advisory that among other measures, social distancing is a key factor to help combat the disease.