“From the Diaspora, With Love” – by Francis Quamina Farrier
Fred and Zena Bone – Boxes to Guyana
When I dropped by the Maryland, USA, home of Fred Bone and his wife Zena last Sunday, I was shown ten sizable containers in their garage. The jumbo-size cardboard containers were already packed, sealed and ready for shipment to Guyana. Fred hails from New Amsterdam, Berbice, and Zena of the Stoll clan, hails from the lower Pomeroon river.
Fred is a retired University Professor. Zena is the overseas-based Manager of the attractive Adel’s Place Tourist Resort, located on the lower Pomeroon river. Fred and Zena Bone are two overseas-based Guyanese, who like many others, have not given up on doing what they can, for those who need a hands-up, back in their native Guyana; especially the youngsters. Both Fred and Zena are matured individuals who still have the energy, and spend lots of their time sourcing items to send to Guyana.
They get generous donations from neighbours and friends. From the Washington, DC and Toronto Chapters of the Guyana Berbice Associations. The C-4 Church Group of Maryland, a group of Christian churches, is also a dependable and regular donor. Items collected include clothing for adults and children, also computers, books, toys and other items which make the lives of the recipients, so much more enjoyable.
The Bones have already posted ten cartoons to Guyana this year. Every Christmas time, for many years, the Bones have shipped a quantity of items to Guyana, then travel to the Pomeroon District and play real-life Santa Claus and Mrs Claus, for children in many Indigenous communities in Regions #1 and #2. They include villages along the Pomeroon river, the Moruca river, and as well as Father’s Beach which is located out on the Guyana North-West Coast, just a short distance from the Venezuelan border.
The Pomeroon Education Project (PEP), is a major recipient from the on-going efforts of Fred and Zena Bone. Some students have also benefited with financial aid to attend institutions of Higher Education. For over a decade, the Bones also provided free river transportation for students who reside on the lower Pomeroon river, and attend the Charity Secondary School.
This on-going humanitarian work by Fred and Zena Bone, is very much a Labour of Love. As such, they continue to send help to Guyana, “From the Diaspora, With Love.”
