─ Kwakwani women receive water tanks, hampers, tokens
Hundreds of women adorned in white, purple and hints of green lined the streets of Kwakwani, Region Ten Sub-District Two, in commemoration of International Women’s Day, early Saturday morning.
Minister of Public Works Bishop Juan Edghill, Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water Susan Rodrigues, and Regional representatives also participated in the celebratory walk.
The walk concluded at the Kwakwani ground, where the proceedings continued with uplifting songs, dance and poetry.
The event also featured informative segments in regards to cervical cancer, including its symptoms and treatment.
Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill sharing tokens to women of Kwakwani, Region Ten
Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues sharing tokens to women of Kwakwani, Region Ten
water tanks
Ministry of Health booth
Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues sharing tokens to women of Kwakwani, Region Ten
International Women’s Day Walk in Kwakwani, Region Ten
During this high point, Minister Edghill called on the women present to take advantage of the Ministry of Health booth on-site and uplift their cervical cancer screening voucher.
The voucher accessible to women between the ages of 21-65 is valued at $8,000 and valid at any hospital in the country.
“Secondly, those of you who have problems with your eyes can collect your voucher and you can go and get your eyes tested at any eye specialist across the country who have signed on to that,” he urged.
The minister further urged those eligible and requiring spectacles to fully utilise the government’s $15,000 spectacle voucher initiative.
Beyond the health care benefits available to citizens, particularly women, the minister announced specially prepared tokens to honour the nation’s women from Kwakwani.
“Today on behalf of the Government of Guyana, through the Ministry of Public Works, we prepared special tokens for all the women that are here and because we highly regard the women of sub-district two, we have brought 300 food hampers which will go to all the women,” he stated.
In addition to these hampers, Minister Rodrigues announced that 13 special women from the community will receive water tanks, a vital necessity.
This is a continuation of the water tank distribution exercise initiated by the Prime Minister and Minister Edghill, who have already distributed approximately 75 water tanks in the district.
In light of International Women’s Day, Minister Rodrigues reflected on the barriers broken by strong women in the past, who paved the way for equal opportunities presented today.
“International Women’s Day is a very special day for women and it must not pass without us recognising the significance of this day. There are women who lived generations before us, who fought for us to enjoy the privileges and the rights that we enjoy today.
Those women sacrifice their lives for us to be here and for us to have a voice, and every International Women’s Day, it is imperative that we remember those women,” she emphasised.
The minister pointed to the strides and contributions made by the PPP/C Government to accelerate equal opportunities and empowerment for women across Guyana.
One noteworthy effort is the special emphasis placed on ensuring women become property owners.
“This is a significant way that we [government] contribute to the empowerment of women and to ensure that they have financial stability and economic freedom,” said Minister Susan.
As a result of the 40,000 house lots distributed since the PPP/C government resumed office in 2020, 18,180 of those recipients were women, which amounted to 46.1 per cent of house lot allocations in the last four years.
‘This is not a joint application within a marriage or in a common law relationship. This is women-only applicants. This will forever change the lives of those women,” she asserted.
Similar to the housing drive, the ministry of housing’s adequate housing and accessibility programme has distributed home improvement subsidies to 793 citizens. Of which, 545 were women.
Additionally, the ministry’s core home programme has provided shelter to 135 beneficiaries, 95 per cent of whom were women.
Moreover, Guyana ranked 35th in the 2022 global gender gap report for gender parity, a significant climb by 18 places from 53rd in 2021.
This is a testament to the dedicated, conscious and transformative programmes and policies implemented by the government to empower and ensure women continue to benefit from equal opportunities.
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