‘Teacher Naressa’ helps to make a difference during COVID-19 crisis

Apr 10, 2020 News

With the Ministry of Public Health announcing a one-month semi-lockdown in wake of the Coronavirus crisis (COVID-19), many citizens, political parties and the business community have opted to assist the less fortunate with hampers and protective gears. Involved in such a venture is a teacher of the Belvedere Primary School on the Corentyne in Berbice.

Drijodhan handing over one of the hampers Wednesday

Her efforts in this regard started with the preparation of small hampers for distribution which she financed herself. The initiative has been gaining momentum with several members of the business community seeking to get on board.
The teacher, Naressa Drijodhan, recently collaborated with Asheik and Sons Motor Supplies owner, Ray Ali and Mahendra Singh, to distribute several hampers throughout various communities on the Corentyne. Since then she has managed to attract more donations from a few members of the business community, particularly JR Building Supplies and Jen Approo.
According to Drijodhan, when she started out helping in her community, she was inspired to help even more people and so she utilized her social media and live videos to speak about the initiative. It was such an approach that attracted the attention of the business community. She added that since then she continues distributing hampers with the support of other persons.
“It started with me doing small personal distributions around my community, then I decided to use the FB live videos since a lot of people follow me. I thought more and more people can join and help and it worked,” she said.

Items donated by Javid Raffik and Jen Approo

Some more donated items

Donations have since been made to the communities of Doctor Bush, High Reef, Belvedere, Hampshire and Rose Hall Reef. The items that were recently donated by JR Building Supplies and Jen Approo include rice, flour, sugar, salt, oil, powdered milk, macaroni, sardines, peas, face masks and disinfecting wipes. Drijodhan expressed gratitude to Javid Rafik owner of JR Building Supplies and Ms. Approo of Canada for the most recent donations to contribute to her distribution drive. She stated that she is hopeful that many more will come forward to assist during this difficult time, adding that someone from Georgetown has already pledged to assist with sanitizing alcohol.
“With the help of like-minded persons and businesses, I will drive through villages to ensure that persons are afforded the opportunity to access at least one hamper per family,” she added. She has also been making masks with the assistance of her mother who sews them.
Persons who may want to collaborate with Ms. Drijodhan can contact her on mobile number: 6390267 or find her (Naressa Drijodhan) on Facebook.