Dear Editor,
When I was a very little girl living with my parents I was accustomed to our front lawn being crowded on Saturdays when my mother distributed bags of commodities to persons in need. When my father took us to the market to shop for apples and grapes (my mother bought only local fruits) he would fill the baskets of all the poor housewives to overflowing. When my school needed a library, or equipment, my father provided. My father paid for school expenses for all our classmates whose parents could not afford to provide for their needs.
My parents separated when I was twelve and my mother was left alone to fend for nine children, but she had the great heart to adopt two children who had been abandoned by their parents. She woke at three each morning to bake the most luscious cakes and pastries, but she gave away to mothers who could not afford to provide delicacies for their children. My mother died thirteen years ago, but every person in my home village still remembers her with overwhelming love and respect.
Both my parents and my grandparents bequeathed many admirable qualities to my siblings and I, but the most enduring one is a predisposition to give and share, although we have also inherited an innate pride that makes us reluctant to seek help for ourselves.
My children used to give all their pocket and lunch money to beggars, and my son used to give our address to all the beggars he met so that they could come home for a meal.
Bish and Ahilia Panday, Gregory Lewis (Peppers), Vic Insanally, and a host of other persons have helped to buy books and provide for needy children at my request. I have a long and sustained relationship with Bernice Mansell and Leon Davis, who have helped entire families that I have identified.
When my son-in-law started his Foundation to empower vulnerable members of the society, I was initially very skeptical, but also extremely hopeful, because my entire family, especially my dearly-beloved grandson, had suffered immeasurably during the years when Mark had been incarcerated.
Today I can genuinely say that I am very proud of my son-in-law, because every time I have occasion to visit his office I see the desperate people reaching out to him with hope. I do not see youths with guns, but young girls, housewives, young men – all being given opportunities to access assistance in some way or another, or to acquire a skill.
Children are given clothing, books, toys, school supplies, etc. The government has many wonderful programmes in place to assist the vulnerable, but sustaining the ever increasing needs of the vulnerable is an uphill task, and if someone who has the tremendous volume of international support that Mark Benschop has can assist to fill a void, then why should it offend anyone? Why is our society so full of hatred that some can interpret accessing help for the helpless as engaging in money-laundering and other criminal activities?
Mark runs a very legitimate business to generate income that provides a comfortable life for his family. I take umbrage at the inference that any member of my family is supported by blood money.
I am a tigress when I have to protect my principles and the people that I love, and I have drawn Mark’s blood many times, but today he is doing many laudable things, and people should be given credit when they deserve it.
My grandson called me to play cricket one day and I saw my daughter overwhelmed by an immense volume of donations which she was sorting out to give to the needy. My grandson asked her for a toy from the stack and she refused on the basis that he has enough from his many relatives and an over-indulgent father, but no one causes tears to well up in the eyes of the light of my life without a fight, so Maria eventually compromised. She gave him the toy but he had to replace it with one of his own. I am also very proud of my daughter for these principles she is inculcating in my grandson, although I reserve the right to spoil him.
Mr Albert Jacobs, before denigrating the efforts of persons who are genuinely trying to assist the helpless and casting aspersions on their character, think about the many that would be denied that assistance if your efforts succeed in derailing the activities of the Mark Benschop Foundation. Please cut him some slack; he is caught in the middle of the two Edwards women. Trust me; it is not a comfortable place to be in.
Yours faithfully,
Parvati Persaud-Edwards
