President David Granger: Why are you all not in church today? Today is Good Friday. Well, Minister Amna Ally and the Regional Chairman and I are here to wish you a happy Easter- Happy Easter. Alright, as you know, Easter is a Christian festival that comes at the end of Lent; Lent starts on Ash Wednesday and it goes on until Easter. During that period, Christians are supposed to remember the passion of Jesus.
Muslims also have a period of fasting called Ramadan. At the end of Ramadan they have a big festival called Eid; Eid ul-Fitr. So Islam is just like Christianity; you make a sacrifice and at the end of sacrifice, celebration. So we have come to help you to celebrate. Even if you’re not Christians, we know that children in Guyana love to fly kites and it is something special. Sometimes you may go to other parts of the Caribbean: Anguilla or Antigua, or to The Bahamas or Barbados and many of those people do not fly kites but we Guyanese love to fly kites; it is part of our Guyanese tradition.
So whether you’re Hindu, whether you’re Muslim, whether you’re Christian – everyone here is a Guyanese? Hands up. Okay, alright, hands down. All those who are Venezuelan put your hands up. All the Cubans put your hands up. Well there you go! It’s a Guyanese tradition and particularly for young people. So today your region that is the Demerara-Mahaica Region- region number four, your ministry- the Ministry of Social Protection and the government itself, have come to wish you a happy Easter and to make a donation of kites.
When you become adults, I hope that you will, in turn, find yourselves in a position to give kits to children. This is a tradition that will go on for year after year so that children could enjoy Easter. So that is why we’ve come here, so that all Guyanese children can come together and celebrate this great festival regardless of our differences- we are all one Guyanese nation.
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