Indigenous artist with disability seeks to expand small business

Ashinee Abrams, originally of Waramuri Village in Moruca, Region One, faced a new reality eight years ago when a spinal cord injury rendered her unable to walk and bound to a wheelchair. Realising that all of her days were passing her by, and feeling like she was no longer getting to accomplish anything meaningful, she decided she will work with her hands.

It was an infection around her backbone that led to damages to her spine when she was just 23 years old.

Determined to make the most of her new circumstances, she decided she would pursue a small business involving indigenous craft and bottled stuff like coconut oil and casareep. Wanting to also pursue her studies, she came to live in Georgetown in 2019.

But this did not stop her from developing her business – Ashinee’s Authentic Products – at Good Hope, East Bank Essequibo. With travel being so difficult for her, she opted to source her raw materials from back home through the help of others, but when she found that she was not getting the authentic materials that she insisted on making her items with, she decided she would embrace the mountainous task of going herself.

Ashinee also has her mind set on sewing garments of indigenous designs, and to help her expand her small business, the Guyana Council of Organisations for Persons with Disabilities (GCOPD) presented her on Wednesday with a sewing machine.

A simple handing over ceremony was held in the studios of the National Communications Network in the presence of GCOPD Chairman Cecil Morris and Programme Director Ganesh Singh.

The gesture is intended to help Ashinee with her financial independence and is part of GCOPD’s continued efforts to support persons with disabilities. “We have found that a high percentage of those individuals who were trained or received grants have been extremely successful,” Singh pointed out.