A group of senior tourism students from the University of Guyana (UG) recently handed over a number of items to Youth Challenge Guyana’s (YCG) Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) programme.
According to a press release, 70 children between the ages of three and 14 will benefit from the donation which includes books, clothing and food items. The release said this was the second time that the OVC programme has benefited from donations from UG students.
At a simple handing over ceremony, held in the YCG conference room, OVC Coordinator Rawl Prescott thanked the students for the items saying that they will be used to ease the impact of HIV on the children who would have lost one or both parents.
Prescott said in addition to poor nutrition, school absenteeism and being challenged by psychological and emotional difficulties, OVC face the added burden of stigma and discrimination surrounding the disease. He then sounded an appeal for everyone to play a part in ensuring that OVC have a supportive environment since the infection’s impact on children is complex.
The students thanked members of the public, Metro, Demerara Distillers Limited, Nigel’s Super- market, Dhoray’s Fashion, Anointed Ones Bookstore, CCS, N&S Mattai, the Georgetown Reading and Research Centre and the Guyana Book Foundation for their generous contributions to the project.
