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A trip to Guyana by the Co Founder of the United Caribbean Trust, Ms. Jenny Tryhane and their Mission Outreach personnel Mr. Tony Garner, to assess the extent of flood damage in the country revealed there is much work still to be done.

Guyana is in a highly vulnerable stage as it attempts to recover from the deadly floods that reeked havoc in February.

Canadian M.P. Jim Karygiannis is warning that Guyana -- still reeling from the flooding caused by five days of continuous, unremitting rain in mid-January -- faces an even greater potential danger from massive flooding in the official rainy season of May and June. < Read more >

United Caribbean Trust's humanitarian programs operate in several countries and aim to help vulnerable peoples with both short and long term assistance projects. Seen above part of the UCT team at the Guyana Citizens” Initiative for Flood Relief office in Georgetown.

Following meetings with the Guyana Red Cross, the Guyana Citizens” Initiative for Flood Relief (GCIFR),and various women's associations including Red Thread, the Alicea Foundation and Women Reaching Out it was clear that a mammoth effort has been made to get relief to the people most in need.
	A meeting between Jenny and Donette Franco a teacher (seen here ) led to a meeting with the Principle of Saint Sanislaus College. This resulted in a positive response to the notion of school twinning and utilising the students hands of help to incorporate the Baby Survival Kit project into Guyana.
Resulting in an urgent meeting with Mr. Marcel Hudson, District Education Officer and Mr. Hector Patterson Special Adviser to the Minister of Education. A proposal was put to the Minister of Education and it is hoped to proceed with this venture with haste.

A delightful lunch meeting with Genevieve Lucus the mother of David Roberts, the Marketing consultant, from the Caribbean Development Trust in London inspired us to seek assistance from the Roman Catholic church. Mrs Lucus a devout Roman Catholic encouraged us to meet with the Roman Catholic Bishop of Georgetown.

	Dr. Ken Khan of Barbados recommended a meeting with Mr. Raymond Shaw, Technical Director of Communications Inc who arranged the meeting with the Bishop on our behalf. His Excellency Francis Alleyne OSB was very encouraging and supportive of the concept of the Baby Survival Kits and encouraged a meeting with Mrs Elaine Thomas of the Family Life Commission.
The concept of a Caribbean hub being created in Guyana for the collection of baby cloths and items needed for the kit that would be stored and sorted by the churches and the students of the Marian Academy prompted a meeting with Sister Barbara an Urceline nun.
	This meeting was staged at the St Joseph convent and Mr. Patrick McAndrew from the GCIFR was present. He is an ex Marian Academy student and prepared to train the student in disaster mitigation and incorporating the Baby Survival Kit into the Academy following permission by Sister Marie who will be returning from her sabbatical shortly.

A meeting was held with the Secretary and Treasurer of the Alicia Foundation Ms. Josephine Whitehead where the possibility of the Alicia Foundation handling the funding and wholesale purchase of the hardware for the Baby Survival Kits was approached.

An informal meeting with Patrick Walker the Caricom Secretariat resulted in him suggested a meeting with Dr Eddy Green, unfortunately we were unable to make this meeting. But UCT will make email contact to see what assistance can be given.

	A day off on Saturday as we visited the home of Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine in Mahaica to witness the Foulis community packing the food hampers for their local community. During distribution we met a Guyanese British trained nurse Deo Persaud RGN who is doing excellent work monitoring this community (Seen below with the Dr and Jenny)
Sunday was spent with Mr. Surendra Persaud MD General Surgeon of St Joseph Mercy Hospital, two medical students, Deo and a wonderful group of community leaders from Foulis. Enabling the team to monitor and treat over 140 residence at the Health Clinic of this very badly damaged village. The main problems were diarrhea, night fevers, eye and skin irritations and stress related symptoms.
Thanks to the Guyanese Association of Barbados Inc that donated boxes of nappies and the local Barbadian churches that sent down bags of baby cloths we were able to hand out 21 packs to mothers of babies under 1 year, who were very thankful.

UCT was invited to join Guyana Citizens Initiative for Flood Relief (GCIFR), as part of its ongoing work to minimize the impact of the recent flood and influence the crafting of an improved future disaster mitigation and management plan, on Tuesday, March 2, 2005 we met with a team from the United Nations Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). It was ECLAC’s second meeting with GCIFR since the beginning of their assessment mission.and an interesting discussion with Michael Hendrickson Associate Economic Affairs Officer was interested in hearing about the UCT Caribbean hub concept to be introduced to Guyana and Trinidad and suggested we contact him when on island.

An impromptu meeting over a cool drink resulted in meeting with Barbados' musician Arturo Tappin who was holding a charity event at a local Jazz club to raise money for the Alicia Foundation. He introduced us to Kathy Shuffler from BWIA who was excited to hear about our work and the possibilities of the 'working holidays' scheduled for the UCT headquarters in Carriacou and the possibility of a similar venture in Guyana.

Tony visited the Bishop of the Church of God and they are keen to support and encourage any form of outreach and training that we can partner with.

A meeting with Pastor Winston Assamait from the Assembly of God was encouraging and we hope to be able to work in association with their youth in the follow up that is so critical for any relief effort

Lastly but not least was the meeting with Rev. Justice James Patterson, Senior Pastor of Jesus Deliverance Mission International. James and his wife also a pastor of the church opened their home to us as house guest and we are immensely grateful for their hospitality and we look forward to an interesting and exciting partnering with them.

Thanks to all who made our trip such a success, the Guyanese public are working tirelessly to assist with the recovery of their nation. < Read more >