If all goes according to plan, the 46 children, who were displaced because of the recent fire at the Care Centre for Children in Hadfield Street, will return to this facility within the next two weeks.
Director of the Child Care and Protection Agency Ann Greene told Stabroek News yesterday that the building is currently being rehabilitated and that the intention is to have the children return there by March 15. In the meantime, the affected children continue to be housed at a facility in Sophia.
According to Greene the children continue to undergo counseling sessions and have been responding positively. Describing them as “quite a happy bunch”, Greene said that all the children are back at school.
She opined that “getting them back to the school environment” helped the children to adapt to their new surroundings quickly. In addition, the children were able to acquire new school clothes, shoes and other items which they would have lost in the fire and this would have helped too, she said. Nevertheless, Greene said that some “little things” such as an album that was burned in the fire could never be replaced.
Meanwhile, Greene said that they are still awaiting word from the Guyana Fire Service as to the official cause of the fire. Initial reports suggested that the blaze on the evening of February 13, was electrical in origin. Greene disclosed that as part of the ongoing repairs, much attention is being paid to the electrical wiring in the building.
On the evening of the fire, flames were first noticed coming from the male dormitory on the top flat of the two-storey building. A quick response from the Guyana Fire Service resulted in the fire being contained to the top flat of the building. The 46 residents–25 boys and 21 girls–were quickly evacuated and valuable equipment was saved.
