First Lady Arya Ali’s endorsement of Carl Melville’s volunteerism quite inspiring

Dear Editor,
In one of her first acts as First Lady of Guyana, Mrs Arya Ali invited citizen Carl Melville to State House.
Melville was accompanied by Don Singh, who helped Carl find a job and housing, since Carl had lost his job and was left homeless. Carl, who had found himself living and sleeping on the seawall in Georgetown, had voluntarily embarked on a humanitarian mission to clean the entire stretch of the seawall from the bandstand to the Marriott Hotel every day without expecting a reward. The First Lady was moved by Carl’s story, and wanted to commend him personally.
The Office of the First Lady reported that, “Over the next five years, the First Lady plans to champion, among other initiatives, a Scenic Conservation Project which will help to safeguard the scenic qualities of Guyana’s roadways, urban spaces and countryside, while simultaneously creating a more environmentally-friendly society. The First Lady believes that scenic revitalisation can serve to encourage and fast-track community renewal and reinvestment as part of a larger economic development plan.”
The First Lady’s initiative is quite commendable. Guyana is a very beautiful country, but we need the volunteer spirit of Carl Melville to catalyse Guyanese everywhere to care for the environment. Guyana has a disease called “let-the-government-do-it-titis.” For instance, instead of cleaning the drains and areas in front of their yards, people wait for the Government to do it. In the USA, there is a strong national spirit of volunteerism. Schools encourage “service learning,” and students with a good record of community service usually get selected for scholarships.
I suggest that the Ministry of Education promote, in schools, community service activities such as painting of crosswalks, clean-up activities, cleaning and painting parking benches, etc. The state of North Carolina gives five days of “community service leave” to each state employee. Our church participates in the “Adopt a Highway” programme, wherein we adopt a section of a road and, on designated days, pick up trash along that highway and put them in bags provided by the Department of Transportation (DOT). The tied bags are then picked up by DOT vehicles.
I am usually very saddened to see people discard trash, plastics, cans and bottles along the beaches, highways, and empty lots. On the West Coast of Demerara, there was a cane juice stall right next to a roadside dump. At No. 63 beach on the Corentyne, trash and debris are everywhere, and people set up tents oblivious of the trash that surrounds them.
Guyanese have such a peaceful coexistence with trash and flies that you would think flies are house pets. I hate having to shoo off flies from my food, or when flies light on my food, even in restaurants. At Babu Jan, the shrine of two of our democratic-era Presidents, people use the surrounding areas to dump trash, and neither the NDC nor any other authority has done anything about it.
Government builds schools and nice buildings, but make no provision for landscaping and beautification. When I lived in the oil kingdom of Dubai/Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, in the mornings, there were thousands of workers whose job it was to go out and clean up along the highways. Workers were sent to sweep up any sand in front of our villas every morning.
So, the First Lady is to be commended for her vision of a beautiful Guyana. Thank you, First Lady, and thank you Carl for being a change agent and a role model! Keep up the good work! (Carl is given time off by his employer to continue his clean-up exercise daily).

Sincerely,
Dr Jerry Jailall