Lima on the Essequibo Coast, Region 2, was the fourth community to benefit from The Guyana Empowered Peoples Action Network’s (GEPAN) Support Education Campaign (SEC). Stationery gift bags were donated to 21 Primary School children of the New Housing Scheme on Thursday, September 1.
The packages were donated by a member of GEPAN on behalf of the organisation. The group of children were also invited to an afternoon brunch and received goodie bags in addition to the stationery.
Group of children from Lima who participated in SEC. (Some children’s faces were blurred by request).
Lima is a community located within the township of Anna Regina and is one of the larger communities within that vicinity. The village is comprised of three housing schemes, two of which were developed in the 1990s, emerging from squatting areas to residences equipped with water and electricity.
However, poverty still affects modest households, particularly due to unemployment. Alcoholism and drug abuse is prevalent among the young men who encounter difficulties finding jobs. School drop-out is another issue faced by parents, particularly single parents, due to financial difficulties.
SEC is an initiative which was recently launched by GEPAN, to encourage school turn-out for children coming from modest homes in impoverished rural communities. The programme falls within GEPAN’s scope of empowering inhabitants of rural coastal communities in Guyana, particularly women and single mothers who bear solely the responsibility of educating their children.
