The Rotary Club of Stabroek on Wednesday presented three awards to persons who have demonstrated excellence in vocational service, working tirelessly to meet the needs of their communities, when it celebrated Rotary International’s Vocational Service month of October.
In a press release, the Club said Cynthia Massay, Robin Phillips and Yesenia Aguirre “have all dedicated a tremendous amount of their personal time and effort towards helping others.” The Club describes Massay as “a Guyanese icon with exceptional personal dedication to her profession as a Disabilities Specialist” and who has for years supported Rotary International’s counselling drive to eradicate polio, which currently only exists in three countries in the world.
Massay started her career at the Georgetown Hospital, a year after graduating from high school. “This sparked her interest in working with disabled persons and she later collaborated with two colleagues to establish the Guyana Wheelchair Association which later became the Guyana Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities,” the release said. After becoming qualified as a physiotherapist, she attained many other distinctive academic and professional milestones local and abroad, including a post graduate diploma in health management, an appointment as a rehabilitation officer at the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre and later director of rehabilitation services at the Ministry of Health.
However, Massay’s passion for direct care for the disabled placed her right back at the Ptolemy Reid Centre where she had the opportunity to effect the highest standards of quality rehabilitation services to adults and especially children, allowing them to benefit from the best therapy, education and life skills to maximise their potential and live meaningful lives. She was instrumental in the establishment of the Disabilities Act and she now focuses on the rights of Persons with Disabilities, particularly in ensuring that they are given equal opportunities to participate in all areas of society as enshrined in national policies.
Phillips, founder of the Buxton Youth Developers in 2007, is passionate about promoting positive change among youth in his community. He established the programme to provide a safe place for the children of Buxton and nearby villages where they are taught social skills and self-esteem.
Philips did this by providing free classes daily for school drop-outs in subjects such as Reading, Writing, Mathematics and Social Studies. Having been trained in Physical Education, football, table tennis and also being a track and field coach, Phillips also single-handedly coupled his lessons with several sporting activities daily, while maintaining his job as a part-time lecturer in physical education at the Guyana School of Agriculture.
To date, 1371 children have passed through the programme. It has also since evolved and with significant assistance from the Rotary Club of Stabroek, the Canadian High Commission, the Bank of Nova Scotia, UNICEF and Digicel has established a new building and refurbished the playground. The group recently registered as an NGO with a newly-established board of directors.
Aguirre, an American US Peace Corps Volunteer in Guyana since February 2011, started teaching Phonics and English literacy to about 120 children at the Nismes Primary School as well as Spanish as a second language to all children in Grades 1 to 6. She subsequently started teaching Spanish to about 35 children at the Bagotville Primary one day per week.
Aguirre went on to teach Phonics and literacy for remedial children, dedicating extra hours of her time on weekends as member of the Bagotville Literacy Group—a programme further developed over the years with assistance from the Rotary Club of Stabroek through the provision of books, teaching aids, stationery and other literacy resources to help youths challenged by learning difficulties to have alternative learning mechanisms.
Aguirre has been greatly inspired by her experiences in Guyana and plans to continue teaching with a focus on special education when she returns to the US.
Stabroek Rotary President Luana Falconer said it was her pleasure to honour the three awardees on behalf of the Club. “Even though their backgrounds are vastly different, they share the most important human attribute, that of using their vocation to impact and positively change the lives of others, one person, one child, at a time,” Falconer said, adding that in many ways they exemplify rotary’s ideal of “Service Above Self.”
