Rhon­da Krys­tal Ram­bal­ly

Trinida­di­ans liv­ing in Brook­lyn, Unit­ed States, have pledged fi­nan­cial sup­port to T&T's Chil­dren's Life Fund. Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar, up­on her re­turn to T&T yes­ter­day, said she met with two groups who were will­ing to pro­vide as­sis­tance to chil­dren seek­ing med­ical care. The groups, Per­sad-Bisses­sar named, were the Sesame Fly­ers In­ter­na­tion­al and Shriners.

Speak­ing to the me­dia at the VIP Lounge at the Pi­ar­co Air­port around 6 am, Per­sad-Bisses­sar said Sesame Fly­ers was a group ded­i­cat­ed to cul­ture, arts and ca­lyp­so and "very much in­to chil­dren." She added: "It's ex­cit­ing. They (group) are about 25 to 28 years old. A group of Tri­nis in Brook­lyn." Per­sad-Bisses­sar said when she and her del­e­ga­tion met with the or­gan­i­sa­tions, mem­bers pledged to make a con­tri­bu­tion to the fund every year.

She said: "We al­so met with an­oth­er group who call them­selves Shriners. "They have 22 hos­pi­tals in the Unit­ed States and one in Toron­to and they are open­ing else­where. "They have of­fered to as­sist our chil­dren who need life-sav­ing surgery as well as life-en­hanc­ing treat­ment... free of course. Once we could get the child in­to the hos­pi­tal there, they will take up the cost for every­thing else," Per­sad-Bisses­sar added. She de­scribed it as "very ex­cit­ing," say­ing some board mem­bers in­clud­ed for­mer US pres­i­dents.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar was flanked by Labour Min­is­ter Er­rol McLeod who act­ed as Prime Min­is­ter. Among some of the Gov­ern­ment min­is­ters present to wel­come her home were Dr Tim Gopeesingh, Anil Roberts, John Sandy, At­tor­ney Gen­er­al Anand Ram­lo­gan, Em­manuel George and Ver­nel­la Al­leyne-Top­pin.