By Lakhram Bhagirat
One of my favourite poets, Maya Angelou famously said, “if you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain”, and that is exactly what the women of the Guyanese Women In Development (GUYWID) has been doing for almost two decades. They have been transforming the lives of women across Guyana not because those women cannot help themselves but because those women are the most vulnerable, since the people around them who seek to control them are dragging them down.
Quite often, that control is exercised by “showing who is boss” and that is where the various degrees of violence and abuse come in. Recognising the need for women to be empowered, particularly in the Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) area, a group of women formed GUYWID Berbice Chapter and for almost two decades, they have been transforming the lives of countless women.
Guided by their vision of having a community of independent women who are empowered to function in key leadership positions and to always be ready to share their skills and expertise has motivated the founders of GUYWID to push even harder. The organisation has about 12 active members currently and is based in New Amsterdam. It is currently being led by Sharon Samlall, who is serving her second term as President and, according to her, it is the most fulfilling job she has had.
“Our mission is to create an environment of care and confidence, to empower women to take leadership roles and develop their communities and we do this through community service and providing information and awareness and advocating for change in those areas. We are a small group, but we are making an impact and transforming the lives of the women in this area. We are quite pleased with the impact we have had and are hoping that it becomes even greater as time progresses. We want to have a society where violence is non-existent and women are empowered, they are independent and can function in any position,” Samlall tells me.
She said that their calendar of activities is always packed, as they try to educate the public about various observances as well as work with the women to improve their skills.
“We would have workshops and invite people to take part, and we teach women independence and how to deal with various situations. For this Elimination of Violence Against Women activity, we will be having a candlelight march to spread the word that women are not to be beaten, but to be loved and cared for. We are tough and we can handle any situation. We want women to know that they can say no and be in control of their lives and development,” Samlall said.
She joined GUYWID about five years ago. Prior to that, she did little work in the field of women’s empowerment, but ever since joining the organisation, she has been motivated to do more for her fellow women. She believes that it is everyone’s job to help each other so as to ensure rapid growth and development as a people.
Region Six is known as one of the regions in Guyana with the highest rates of violence against women and, quite often, the stories are only shared after the woman in question has lost her life. When I asked Samlall how she feels about this, she told me that it is something that affects everyone and it is also the driving force behind GUYWID, since the organisation is aiming to make the lives of women much more comfortable.
“We have not made much inroad (in tackling violence against women), because every day we keep seeing the same thing over and over and we try to educate, but the same thing over. Guyana is a violent society and we need to tackle that. We have to do more to tackle that. I believe that we can tackle that by starting the education with this younger generation. Let them know that it is not right to hit anyone and we also need to go into homes, because when children are growing in homes that are abusive then that behaviour is normalised. It is not something we want to be normalised so we have to end it with this upcoming generation, or it will just get much worse from here.”
(Times Sunday Magazine)
