– Serving the less fortunate for over 26 years
By Lakhram Bhagirat
Children are said to be the reason for all the happiness in the world and when one gives the gift of time to a child, then you are forever happy. This may have been the intention of the late Marie Dookun when she began inviting the children of her community into her yard to feed them and read stories with them. While we may never know her true intentions, it did give birth to a life changing idea- The Ruimveldt Children’s Aid Centre.
The Centre is located at Lot 13 Public Road, Ruimveldt and was once the home of a sugar factory manager, Samuel Dookun and his wife. The centre was registered in July of 1991, by one of the Dookun’s daughters, and completed 26 years this year. They all reside overseas and Ismay Murray-who is currently the vice president, manages it.
I have been to the Centre a number of times to drop off donated items and have brief interactions with the children there. But that was ages ago while I was still a teen. However, the opportunity to spend some meaningful time with the children arose on Wednesday and it was one not to be missed.
A lot had changed since I last visited there. One of my favorite things about visiting there was the inspiration to do better and to give back. The Dr Seuss quote “the more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn the more places you would go,” accosted me with its bight color painted onto the wall. It took me back to my green eggs and ham childhood and I was a child again-all bright eyed and bushy tail going through the motions of my interaction with the children.
Volunteer, Maranda Bennett, related that she has been there for over one and a half years and loves every minute of it. Maranda told the Sunday Magazine that she was first exposed to the Ruimveldt Children’s Aid Centre as a student from the University of Guyana.
“I was sent to the center by UG for three weeks and I have not left ever since. The children here are accustomed to people in and out of their lives and I don’t want to be a statistic. I want to see them through and I enjoy doing this,” she explained.
There are currently 45 students, who access the services of the centre, and they are mainly from the communities of River View and Albouystown. The main focus of the 15 volunteers are to ensure the children are provided with a hot meal and that they learn and have fun.
The children mostly come from families with deep financial issues, quite often struggling to make ends meet. The vision of the Centre is to ensure those children are productive members of society.
While addressing poverty Nelson Mandela said, “Poverty is not an accident. Like slavery and apartheid, it is manmade and can be removed by the actions of human beings.”
It is with this in mind, Maranda and the others at the Ruimveldt Children’s Aid Centre get about their daily lives. They sacrifice time that could be spend on pampering themselves, to volunteer at the Centre from 15:00hrs up until the last child leaves. They offer the love and nurturing a child may not be getting at home. They read to the children. They feed them. They teach them, but most importantly, they give their time.
The volunteers, at the Centre, are trained in various field and they would provide critical services such as counselling for children going through some kind of trauma or just need to let off some steam. Their services are available to children from 5-17 years old.
Because of the struggles of some of the children, Maranda explains that some of them are at the lashing out stage and adds that it is a far from deterring factor. “At that stage we have to use that energy and transform it into something that is productive and beneficial,” she says with a smile on her face.
The Ruimveldt Children’s Aid Centre is mostly funded by donations from the public and receives grants from overseas organizations. They also enjoys a good relationship with several businesses locally. If you feel that you want to contribute to the development of the nation’s youths then contact the centre on 227- 3092.
Just remember that according to Carl Sagan, “time spent with children is time well spend. Their little minds are not constrained by reality or focused upon goals. Anything and everything is possible. Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were, but without it we go nowhere.”
Make a child smile. Everyday! (Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)
