Dear Editor,
I write to applaud the Vigneshwar Mandir and Pandit Mochan Persaud of Brooklyn for their generosity and kindness in helping the dispossessed and less fortunate in Guyana. Few organizations and individuals are in the altruistic mould of going out of their way to fund orphanages, senior centres, daycare centres, the poor and dispossessed in the same way as Vigneshwar and Pandit Mochan. The mandir engaged in its fourth annual gifting to the needy earlier this month on a trip to Guyana. This organization and the pandit do not discriminate. They help organizations and people without consideration of ethnicity or religion. They only see people in terms of humanity, having given tens of millions of dollars to worthy causes in Guyana over the last four years. Most recently, Vigneshwar and Pt Mochan sponsored the Christian wedding of a young lady who had spent most of her life in an orphanage.
Debra Ann Samay spent almost eleven years in different orphanages. Pt Mochan met her four years ago when he visited the Kamal orphanage in Albion. Mochan-ji promised her two years ago that whenever she gets married he would sponsor her wedding. And he kept his word, giving her away as a bride at a wedding on February 28, after she asked him to fill the role of father.
It was a Cinderella story come to life, and she had a grand ceremony.
Debra’s wedding dress and everything she wore on the wedding day was bought in Canada and New York thanks to the generosity and hard work of Bahen Swartie of Vigneshwar. Pt Mochan travelled to Berbice and ordered the wedding cake, as well as all the food and drink for the wedding reception. Volunteers in Canje were instrumental in preparing the food; the groom’s parents were helpful in this endeavour.
The wedding was attended by almost three hundred guests, including five pastors. The ceremony was performed by Pastor Azam Gaffar. When Debra’s life story was told, tears flowed from the eyes of many in attendance at the church service.
In a different act of kindness, Mochan and his Mandir representatives visited Karawab in Pomeroon, Essequibo. They took over three hundred pairs of shoes and sneakers to distribute to the villagers of Maruca, Kamwatta and Karawab. The pandit was accompanied by three pastors in his journey to distribute the footwear. Vigneshwar Mandir also donated a gas stove and a freezer to the village of Karawab. The villagers put on a stage show in Mochan’s honour.
Pandit Mochan also visited Meten-Meer-Zorg doling out largesse. The Vigneshwar Mandir donated sports gear to help the under-fifteen cricket team that the pandit and the team’s coach feel will help keep them out of trouble. Mochan spent some $120K to purchase the gear in Regent Street. He presented the cricket gear to the coach and youths at a ceremony on March 1.
The funds for the charitable activities came via fundraising and donations from members of Vigneshwar Mandir in NY.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
