Kupanda Sisters Incorporated, a non-profit organisation based in the United States, recently celebrated its first anniversary and its Guyanese founder pledged to continue its efforts to promote literacy among children in underserved communities in Guyana.
The organisation held a virtual anniversary celebration on June 27 via Zoom under the theme ‘Literacy is a Human Right’.
“We all dream of a world where literacy is a fundamental right. Now close your eyes and envision a world where 617,000,000 children and adolescents cannot perform adequately in reading, writing or arithmetic. I’m sad to say that this world you’re envisioning is not imaginary. You see while the toll for helping them may be high, the cause of inaction is even higher. You see we have the responsibility to ensure that a proper education is an intrinsic human right for every child in every village and we at Kupanda Sisters truly understand [this],” Cindy Charles, who is the founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the organisation, said at the start of the two-hour-long ceremony.
The organisation has been working to provided needed literacy programming to students at the Sophia Primary School since May 2019.
Charles, who was born in Parika, East Bank Essequibo but is now based in the United States, said the mission of the organisation “is to uplift women and young people in underserved communities by providing them with quality literary resources and skills that will equip and empower them to transform their reality,”
During the virtual ceremony, Charles said education isn’t equal everywhere and COVID-19 has proven this as many schools were forced to close their doors. She shared that this closure could not be foreseen and after all the hard work and obstacles the organisation has so far overcome, COVID-19’s appearance left her in a very uncertain position about what and how she could continue the literacy programme at the Sophia Primary School. Some 21 of students from the Sophia Primary school have been able to receive literacy lessons since organisation started its literacy project in Guyana.
But Charles added that her motivation for the human right that is literacy drove her to take alternative steps just as the ones needed for the anniversary ceremony. With the use of virtual lessons via Zoom meetings, Charles said that the students were able to continue receiving the help they needed. This made her very happy. And while the organisation’s plans have been set back this year, she said Kupanda Sisters Incorporated will continue to do its best to ensure that children are given adequate literacy lessons.
A guest speaker at the virtual ceremony was Noella Coursaris Musunka, who is a Congolese/Cypriot philanthropist, international model and the founder and CEO of grassroots non-profit organisation Malaika, praised Charles for the work she has done.
Musunka started her non-profit education organisation in 2007 to educate and empower girls and communities in her home country, much like the work Kupanda Sisters Incorporated is doing in Guyana. Musunka said that she started the organisation after she visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo after spending most of her childhood with her aunt in England. She was 18 years old at the time and she said she was shocked to see the poor conditions her mother was living in and the many children who were not being schooled. It was then that the vision started. She immediately knew that she wanted to make a change and has since impacted the lives of thousands.
She also said that since COVID-19, Malaika has held fundraisers for emergency food provision and has fed over 3000 people since the start of the lockdown. She mentioned that just like Kupanda Sisters Incorporated, funding depends on the continuation of the free services to the persons who they help.
Meanwhile, Barbara Atherly, the Consul General at Guyana’s Consulate in New York, also spoke at the ceremony and underscored that literacy is the first step toward freedom and therefore it is important for all children to be adequate readers and learners. She also praised the work Kupanda Sisters is doing in Guyana.
Over the past year Kupanda Sisters Incorporated has joined hands with many other organisations which aim to provide education to children all across the globe. One of them is the World Literacy Foundation, a global not-for-profit charitable group, which strives to ensure that every young individual has the opportunity to acquire literacy and reading skills to reach their full potential and succeed at school and beyond. Andrew Kay is the founder and CEO of the Melbourne-based foundation. During the virtual ceremony, he said that it has been a delight to work with the Kupanda Sisters.
Other guest speakers were the head teacher of the Sophia Primary School, Audrey Sue; Neville A. Welch, a Guyanese who migrated to the US as a child and is extensively involved in the local community; Autumn Rose, a 12-year old fashion designer and CEO of the brand d’ObviousRose, who uses her platform to encourage children that dreams do come through; and 13-year-old Anaya Lee, who is an award-winning author whose first book “The Day Mohan Found His Confidence” was written after her inaugural trip to her parents’ homeland of Guyana in 2014.
