By: Davina Ramdass
At a time when domestic violence, particularly violence against women, is becoming an epidemic in Guyana with very few strides made in curbing the issue, one man is doing his part by sparking conversations about domestic violence.
Randy Shepherd, a single father of one, has always been very passionately against violence against women. This passion led him to start a campaign dubbed “Men Against Domestic Violence’, which is seeking to reduce the number of women being brutally abused and even murdered by their spouses through sensitisation.
Shepherd told of how he has always been passionate about effecting a positive change in the country, especially at a time like this when women are being murdered so frequently at the hands of their lovers. The Ogle, East Coast Demerara businessman has been pushing his finances in educating Guyanese about the impact of domestic violence.
“It’s something that is so painful every time you pick up a paper, you’re watching the news, you pick up the phone on social media, you’re just seeing somebody mother, somebody daughter being killed and at the end of the day after this, the man goes to jail or he takes his own life and the kids are left to suffer, so my thing is, as a Guyanese first, I want to do as much as I can, as little as it might seem, to get the message out there,” he explained.
He detailed how he recently placed a logo at the back of his car which advocates against domestic violence which has been attracting a lot of attention. This is one of the few things which motivated him to start the advocacy group.
His message to men is, “This is not right. This is totally not right. It doesn’t matter whatever she may have done or whatever. It’s not right. Children are left hollering for their mothers and it’s painful to watch and listen to.”
The activist said he was aware that his efforts may very well not be enough to completely stop this type of hurtful occurrence, but he intends to reduce the number of persons being abused to the most minimum figure possible.
As part of the campaign, he noted that plans were in place to reach out to the Government to ensure that it understood stronger laws were needed to protect the women of Guyana. Furthermore, he believes that more laws should be implemented to help abused women. “We need to stop sitting and waiting for the Government to do everything. We put them there and we need to get them to do what we want them to do,” he added.
Shepherd said that growing up, he had always been an advocate. In fact, he said he was more passionate about the issue given that he has a mother, sisters, nieces, and other close female relatives who he would never like to see being hurt by a male.
In addition, he said that for too long he has been sitting back watching women being killed at the hands of people, specifically, men who they trust and could no longer just rely on the Government for their protection.
“I have been hurt. Women did things to me. There are times that I stood over them and I heard voices saying ‘finish it’, but then I think back and ask myself what is there to gain from doing this. I’d leave somebody without a mother, somebody without a daughter and your life also would be taken away from you, because is either you end up in prison or you go and do something stupid,” he noted.
Speaking to the fundamental need for a father in one’s life, Shepherd said that once he was giving his son a bath and he asked about his (Shepherd’s) father. He told his baby boy that his father had left him and then the little boy then looked him straight in the eyes and asked, “Daddy, will you leave me?” As he brushed away his tears, Shepherd said he assured his little one that he would never leave him.
In achieving his goal of lowering the cases of domestic violence, Shepherd noted that for now, himself and a team of a few others have been distributing sensitisation fliers to be pasted in vehicles to help spread the message.
This is usually done during the week at the Square of the Revolution from 12:00h to 13:00h.
As funding becomes available, he intends to spread the message across the 10 Administrative Regions in the best way possible. Already, the single father has been able to spread awareness on domestic violence in Berbice.
The most recent statistics of domestic violence show that more women are being abused daily by their lovers. In fact, gender-based violence in Guyana has risen by 14.2 per cent over the past six years.
This was shared by First Lady Sandra Granger at an event hosted last year. “It seems to be not a single day passes without there being a report of someone being raped, brutalised or murdered, usually by an intimate or previous intimate partner,” she stated.
According to the First Lady, reported incidents of domestic violence by an intimate or previous intimate partner rose from 74.8 per cent in 2011 to 89 per cent in 2017, with females accounting for upward of 80 per cent of the victims. It was noted that three-quarters of these gender-based violence cases stem mostly from Regions Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara); Four (Demerara-Mahaica), and Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).
