On February 28, Mr. Ranganath, Registrar, Ms. Nalini Deodat, the Vice President of Student Governing Association (SGA), along with a group of students of Lincoln American University, School of Medicine (LAU) got an opportunity to welcome & meet Mr. Richard Allen, Former Royal Marines Commando of the British Army who arrived at Marriott Hotel in Georgetown, Guyana after completing the 3,000-mile long row across the Atlantic Ocean from Sierra Leone, West Africa to Guyana, South America in a small boat in 72 days to raise awareness about the 53-nation Commonwealth.
It was a wonderful occasion and a rare opportunity for the LAU family to personally greet a person of Mr. Allen’s stature, welcome him and learn from his experiences.
During the gathering, Mr. Allen shared the experiences of his adventurous yet inspiring journey that he started with this humanitarian and noble thought:
"It’s amazing what can be achieved when people come together...
...just imagine 2.4 billion"
Mr. Allen’s thoughts provoke the people to rethink about the need to come together as human beings and what they can achieve as one team, as one family, and as one world.
During the meeting, Mr. Allen narrated his experience of the whole trip and highlighted the need to change people’s thinking about the organization. He also expressed his thoughts on Commonwealth and emphasized the need to help each other as human beings, in his own words:
"The Commonwealth isn’t about politics or politicians or anything like that. It’s all about people…and we should really be coming together to help each other."
On the occasion, students of LAU got a chance to interact with Mr. Allen, expressed their curiosity and hear his words of wisdom.
During the course of discussion, Mr. Allen was apprised about how LAU is providing affordable medical education in America, helping students from all around the world fulfill their medical dreams, working for the upliftment of Guyana by participating in medical outreach & community programs, contributing to economy and raising the standards of health care and education in Guyana. Mr. Allen felt good and expressed his appreciation on seeing the work that LAU is doing in the field of medicine and for the progress of the society.
Meeting with Mr. Allen was planned and became possible when SGA Team of LAU met Ms. Supriya Singh-Bodden, Founder/ Trustee of the Guyana Foundation (an NGO which works for community development and mental health) and the receiver of Guyana's highest national honors - the Cacique's Crown of Honor (C.C.H.) and held discussions with her Excellency Ms. Supriya Singh-Bodden.
Her Excellency Ms. Supriya Singh-Bodden assured all the co-operation from the Guyana Foundation to further extend the LAU efforts for the development of Guyana and SGA Team expressed gratitude on behalf of all members of LAU family.
LAU is looking forward to work with the Guyana Foundation and will continue to work for the improvement of the quality of medical education in Guyana, become a top medical college in America, cater the medical aspirants from around the world, serve the community and make a positive change.
Further, LAU will keep arranging SGA activities like this to ensure that the world for its medical aspirants doesn’t end with medicine and they excel in all other aspects of life too.
