IN THE NEWS

Overseas based former cops impressed with work of the Police Force

April 13, 2009.

Four former members of the Guyana Police Force who are now domiciled in the United States of America are impressed with the direction the organization is heading.
The four former cops Errol Lewis, Ralph Greene, Clinton Blair and Bonita Wolfe-Woodhouse who are all members of the Association of Ex-Presidential Guards and Immigration Services APGI, New York Chapter and who are in Guyana are satisfied that despite the hardships faced by the colleagues in the Guyana Police Force, the organization has done a great job in keeping a lid on crime.
“The force is a wonderful place and if I had to live my life over again I would be a cop,” said Woodhouse who served at the Central Immigration and Passport Office.
She said that many of her colleagues who have left the force feel that the Police Force is facing numerous challenges and for it to survive for more than 160 years is testimony to the resilience of those who put their lives on the line everyday.

Members of the APGI, former policemen (from right) Ralph Green, Bonita Wolfe-Woodhouse, Clinton Blair, Errol Lewis and their local counterpart Lucius Prescott.

“Many persons call the Police before they even remember their religious beliefs. Without the force I don’t think that we would have been able to walk on the streets and in fact we may not have arrived here safely,” Woodhouse told the media.
She pointed out though that there are still areas that could be bettered, and pledged the support of her group to the organization to further enhance its capabilities.
Blair, who was widely respected and popularly known as ‘Manish Puppy’ said that he is generally satisfied with the overall performance of the Police.
He said that he had worked directly under the present Police Commissioner Henry Greene and he is very impressed with what he has been doing so far in terms of leading the organization.
“There are a number of challenges and I know that Guyana is operating with a shortage of equipment and manpower… but with the proper training which, I am told that is in effect right now, I am sure that the force will return to its previous performances.
Within previous years, the Guyana Police Force has been criticized for being less than professional and a number of its officers have been placed before the courts for various levels of corruption.
The force has also been accused of carrying out extra judicial killings and torture to some extent.
But the former cops are confident that with the right leadership and direction, the force will put all of this to rest and return to the professional standards that once characterized the organization.
Errol Lewis who is the President of the New York Chapter of the APGI said that he has been keeping abreast with the happenings in Guyana via the Internet.
“These are tough times and I think that these are tougher times than when we served. So we have to give the Police Force its due. They probably are not on par but they hung in there. We know of all the problems you had from 1992 to just about a year ago and they have survived. Actually, I think that crime is down based on the Kaieteur News and I really do believe that they will prevail,” Lewis said.
Another overseas-based former cop, Ralph Green, who is employed in the technology field, noted that Guyana finds itself facing many challenges in the present technological age.
He said that having information readily at hand is very critical in fighting crime and that is why one of the first initiatives of the APGI was to provide computers so that the force will be in a position to use modern technology to help it in this fight.
“I think that that is one of the biggest challenges facing the Guyana police force at this time, being technologically equipped to fight crime,” Greene told the local media.
Last week the APGI donated four computers to the Immigration Department and Presidential Guard of the Police Force.

STABROEK NEWS April 9th 2009:

EX Officers, NEW YORK Chapter Hands Over Computer To Guyana Police Force.

The Guyana Police Force’s (GPF) information technology department received a boost yesterday with the presentation of a quantity of computers donated by the overseas-based Association of Ex-Presidential Guards and Immigration Officers (APGI).

Bonita Wolfe Woodhouse (second from left), a member of the New York Chapter of the Association of Ex-Presidential Guards and Immigration Officers (APGI), presents a computer to Deputy Chief Immigration Officer of the Immigration Department, Superintendent Carol Lewis-Primo while other members of APGI, immigration officers and presidential guards look on.

The presentation was made following a press briefing by the body at the Police Inspectors and Sergeants Mess, Young Street, Eve Leary and is part of the association’s week of activities being held under the theme ‘Bonding the past with the present, for the future’. APGI was formed eight years ago and the local chapter is this week celebrating its first anniversary.

Bonita Wolfe Woodhouse, member of the organising committee of the New York chapter, told the media that it was in regular contact with the local chapter. She said she visited Guyana in February and saw the need for additional equipment to strengthen the services offered by the Immigration Department.

Woodhouse, a former immigration officer, said the association was happy to present the computers to the immigration department and was satisfied with the performance of the force. She said the association acknowledged the challenges the GPF faced and that there was room for improvement. She also said that APGI has been assisting serving members of the GPF who were not as fortunate as others.

According to Ralph Green, financial secretary of the association, the New York chapter of APGI has been holding fundraising activities to finance its projects. He said that at present, he is involved in the information technology field and that having information at hand would greatly assist the police force.

Lucius Prescott, chairman of the local chapter, said the formation of a local body was encouraged by the overseas body. He said there are approximately 42 local financial members and the local arm meets on the last Sunday of each month.

Thirteen members of the overseas chapter of APGI are currently in Guyana .As part of its week of activities, the association held a general meeting on Tuesday to ensure that both groups have a concrete understanding of the association’s goals and objectives.

The association also met Commissioner of Police Henry Greene yesterday as well as heads of department of the GPF. In addition, a church service will be held today, following which there will be a presentation of hampers to less fortunate members of the force.

The activities will culminate this weekend with a dinner and dance at Zoom Inn on Croal Street on Saturday, a party for children on Sunday and a family fun day on Easter Monday.

Caribbean Impact:

APGI Goes to Guyana IN 2009

MEMBERS OF THE APGI

Readers, for a long time now, I have been aiming to write about the many and varied Guyanese Associations that have been pulled together in New York, in order to relay cash and material help to a number of charities in the homeland.

It has taken me some time to get to that theme, because of a flow of other issues that had been occurring here, in the Caribbean and in Guyana.

Well, I am making a start with that endeavor — coincidentally just after Guyana’s Republic (Mashramani) celebrations and just before Guyana’s Independence observance in May.

APGI

I am making a start with the APGI, primarily because the association’s members are traveling to Guyana early next month in order to hold a reunion and because I like the abbreviations.

That reunion will take the form of a week of activities, which I’ll elaborate upon, later.

For a long time now, I have been ragging APGI's leader, Errol Lewis and other prominent members of the grouping about what motivated them to come up with such a long and complicated acronym; e.g. APGI means Association of former Members of the Presidential Guard and Immigration Services.

And since I am on the point of taunts, I also enquired from the leadership of the APGI, and those of other uniformed alliances, like the Police; the GDF; the National Service and Prison Officers why they do not get together and form a massive united umbrella and tent, and I promise to return to this subject in a future piece.

COMMENCEMENT

APGI started in a rather curious way during 2000, when after details associated with the illness, death and burial of a former colleague awakened those former employee-associates to the need to form a union that would allow them to formally assist each other during times of grief and other emergencies.

Those like-minded colleagues thus formed the APGI in 2000, and subsequently registered it with New York State as a Not-For-Profit Organization, with one (1) of the major aims of assisting ex-colleagues and their families, where and when the need arises.

APGI mainly consists of former Police officers who served on the guard, special branch and immigration.

APGI is currently led by this slate of officers: President, Errol Lewis; Vice President, Clinton (Rocky) Blair; Financial Secretary, Ralph Green; Recording Secretary, Cathy George; Treasurer, Lloyd Vaughn; Auditor, Frederick London; Assistant Treasurer, Monica Walker; Public Relations Officers — Michael Liverpool-London and Marlon Perry; with the Committee Members being Cedric (Senor) Burrowes and Alan Sue.

As happens in other organizations, APGI operates via a number of committees — and speaking from personal experience — given the pressures and stresses of existing in New York, one has to commend those personnel who are willing to make sacrifices and give of their time, in order to serve on the executive council and committees of the APGI.

FUND RAISING

Like other organizations, fund-raising is a constant pursuit of the APGI; its major (annual) fund-raisers are a Mashramani Dance, a breakfast Brunch, a Bar-B-Q and a Christmas party.

Even before the U.S. economy started to tank, I was advocating that like-minded groupings should have joint fund-raising ventures, in order to reduce capital investments; and to realize maximum outcomes, maybe the leadership of APGI will seek to explore the co-operative approach.

DONATIONS

APGI’s mission is to provide critical support to its members and/or their dependents with a focus on empowerment . . . “As we strive to improve our communities.”

The APGI has been satisfying its mission, by using the proceeds from fund-raisers and other contributions that it is able to mobilize in order to make donations to identified causes in New York and Guyana.

APGI has an affiliate in Guyana, galled APGI GY.

REUNION

APGI’s members from April 7, 2009, will be in Guyana for a reunion which will be highlighted by a week of activities, consisting of:

Meetings between local and overseas members.

Handouts to serving members of the Force.

A Church Service.

An address from the President of Guyana.

Contributions to Guyanese Organizations.

A Reunion Dinner and Dance.

APGI’s website is Apgi-USA.org.

As mentioned above, this is a start, and I would certainly like to continue this pattern of doing write-ups on New York-based Guyanese organizations.

If you want your organization to be included in this series, please call me at (718) 235-3100; or please contact Dennis Nelson or Godfrey Wray at the Caribbean Impact.

* * * * * *

I have written about the APGI
Don’t let the name bother you
Look at what they do.

They do fund-raisers
To help people in Guyana,
They worked with Police and Immigration

To protect the Nation.
It is a noble duty
To help one’s society,
APGI has taken on the responsibility
To serve its community

Caribbean Impact: Dec. 2008

OSHAG-C Celebrates hope and light in the Diaspora

After months of planning and community service work, the Organization for Social and Health Advancement in Guyana and the Caribbean (OSHAG-C) celebrated a successful awards dinner event. The group helps underserved medical and cancer patients in Guyana and the Caribbean by providing medical and nutritional care and support relationships.

This past October, they partnered with the Caribbean Medical Mission of New Jersey and embarked on a trip to Guyana’s Berbice County where surgeries were performed in addition to the providing of medical visits and care, as well as lectures on nutrition and follow-up care to the numbers of patients seen by the doctors and nurses in the region at New Amsterdam, Port Mourant and Skeldon Hospitals.

     From left:
     Dr. Isaac Fordyce,
     Dr. Theophilus Lewis, Hazel Bentley,
     Michael Yansen,
     Sybil Chester, Carol Bagot, George (Bobby) Smith,

Ericka Mosheshe,
Dr. Berman Saunders and Michael Liverpool-London

OSHAG members
with Councilman Kendall Stewart (third from left)
At extreme left is President Carol Bagot and Vice President Lorna Welshman-Neblett (fourth from right is Allison Skeete

Carol Bagot, President of OSHAG-C says, “Our programs make a big impact; it’s the difference in some cases between recoveries and not, and we strive for patients to sustain resiliency and not defeatism.” She continued to state that groups like OSHAG-C are needed now more than ever. “We have the responsibility to our homeland and families still there, to keep our programs moving forward, to link more people to capable and consistent solutions for medical and cancer care.”

OSHAG-C, like many other non-profit groups, is feeling the effects of the economy. Given that much of the funds primarily come from private supporters and Caribbean community small businesses, they are trying to sustain programs by developing a more diverse streams of partnerships with like-minded organizations to increase awareness and needs being met with the revenues raised; all funds donated are used for the work done by OSHAG-C throughout the year.

We are building civic relationships to help foster our partnerships and quality volunteers to expand our services, and fill the gaps for medical care and needs that may not be readily available in those countries that cannot meet all that their nationals may require. OSHAG-C was supported by the Guyana Ministry of Health and the Berbice Regional Health Authority in its recent travels there.

A big part of the recent celebration was the dedication by guests who lit candles in honor of cancer patient’s past and present as well as cancer survivors; one such survivor, an inspiration honored that night, is Nurse Hazel Bentley who shared that her decision not to opt for reconstructive surgery has been a defining means of help to many patients she meets and counsels when they learn that they have the disease; her co-workers herald her positive attitude as does every patient she encounters.

Financial and other needs recognition was also given to businessman, Michael Yansen; George (Bobby) Smith – Compashione Pharmacy and Michael Liverpool-London of the Guyana Ex-Presidential Guards & Immigration Services; they have been long time supporters of the group and encourage others to join them in continuing their support.

Dr. Bert Peterson, one of the leading breast cancer surgeons in the country, who works tirelessly to improve healthcare for people where it’s most needed, though unable to attend was recognized for his long-time support of OSHAG-C’s work; his business partner, Ericka Mosheshe, accepted on his behalf and pledged their continued assistance in future programs.

Dr. Theophilus Lewis was awarded a special Citation by Annemarie Adamson on behalf of Brooklyn Borough President, Marty Markowitz; he is credited with saving the life of a stabbing victim in Guyana on the first day of the October trip. He is a skilled surgeon on staff at Kings County Hospital.

The night’s biggest honors were saved for the Caribbean Medical Mission, headed by Dr. Berman Saunders. He and 14 colleagues, along with 7 nurses and additional volunteers, were part of the team that went to Guyana in October. They are credited with saving the lives of a stabbing victim and a restoring the use of a hand of another, among the many surgeries and procedures they performed on the medical mission; on hand to also present them with additional citations were Councilmember, Dr. Kendall Stewart of the 45th District, who acknowledged each doctor who participated in the Guyana mission.

State Senator John Sampson of the 19th District also awarded Citations to the Caribbean Medical Mission and to Dr. Saunders. Special recognition honors was given to Sybil Chester of Moet-Hennessey, who traveled as a volunteer with the group to Guyana and who has been an avid supporter and advocate for the work being done by OSHAG-C; her support has enabled the group to increase its presence in the non-Caribbean Diaspora.

OSHAG-C is a 501 (c)(3) Organization; for more information or to make a donation contact the group in writing at P.O. Box 24224, Brooklyn NY 11202 or via email at: oshagusa@yahoo.com