Hundreds of Guyanese to return home to greet new millennium
By Courtney Jones
Hundreds of Guyanese are planning to return to Guyana in December to greet the beginning of the new millennium with a programme filled with celebrations and charitable works. A planning committee of members of the Guyana New Millennium Homecoming Association (NMHA) of New York, told reporters at Park Hotel on Friday that GA 2000 has already been chartered to bring Guyanese home on December 17 to a packed programme of activities beginning December 19. The committee comprises coordinator of the Guyana side of the project, People's National Congress (PNC) parliamentarian, Joseph Hamilton, chairman of the NMHC, Pat Williams, Kenrick Fraser, Dennis Howell and Bernita Primo. Howell told reporters and the small gathering of invited guests that the highlights of the two-week programme will include the distribution of toys at Linden, at villages on the East Coast and West Coast Berbice and at Riversview Resort on the Essequibo River. There will also be the distribution of medical supplies at hospitals at Linden, and a medical clinic at the New Amsterdam Hospital. Howell disclosed that other aspects of the programme will include a jazz session, a show and dance, a grand Christmas ball, a boat-cruise up the Berbice River, karaoke competition among local and overseas-based Guyanese and a open air jam session. Top New York-based band, "New World Beat" and Samuels Top Ranking Sound System, also based in New York and the Trinidad band "Traffik", together with a top Guyanese DJ based in New York and local steel band and calypsonians will also feature in the packed programme. In addition, St Lucian calypsonian, Winston Soso, is also scheduled to give performances. The affair will end with a grand finale and cultural event on January 2, 2000. Howell said that GA 2000 could be described as the first sponsor of the event by a commitment that it will substantially lower the cost of the ticket to come to Guyana. Howell, a member of the American/Guyanese Empowerment for Advancement group based in New York said the NMHA was formed in January this year and came out of an idea that every Guyanese should aspire to be home for the new millennium. He said that apart from the New York area, Guyanese from Atlanta and New Jersey have expressed an interest in the venture. Chairman of the NMHA, Pat Williams, said the association intends to embark on a media and advertising blitz when the committee returns to the US to ensure the success of the venture. She, however, expressed confidence based on indications among the Guyanese community in New York that the millennium homecoming will be an "unqualified success".
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