The common blight among us

Aug 08, 2013 Editorial

Guyana has been taking a close look at a number of factors over the past few years, some of them because of international pressure. These issues include suicide, domestic violence and human trafficking.
A lot has been said about human trafficking but it is worthy to note that this is continuing largely because of poverty, a lack of academic education on the part of the victims and of course, poor parental practices.
Someone once said that parenting does not come with a manual. Two people decide that they are going to share a union and children come along. In this day and age when single parenting seems to the common practice, it is often left to the woman to rear her child. The more intelligent would have a number of children that she could manage—more often than not, one.
However, there are others whose emotions overrule their innate wisdom. They are attracted to a man and do not practise safe sex so there are often unwanted pregnancies. The man moves away and the woman is left to rear these children almost singlehandedly. The result is that she cannot pay the requisite attention to all of them.
Those children who are often left to their own devices are the ones who could eventually grow up to become the victims of human trafficking because they are seeking the attention that they lacked as little children and at the same time hope to make the kind of money they never had. And the parents wonder why the child is so recalcitrant.
The international community has been looking at Guyana in this regard. The view is that the government has not been doing enough to curb human trafficking even as Guyana kept denying that there were no cases of human trafficking within its borders. Needless to say, there are cases, and a private organization is busy rescuing those girls who went to the interior in pursuit of fortune but became trapped in the sex trade.
Suicide is the other issue that has been attracting the attention of the Guyana Government. Admittedly, there are not as many cases as there were not so long ago. A study found that suicides were predominant in the agricultural communities where weedicides and insecticides were readily available.
The study also found that many of those who resorted to suicide were either alcoholics or people who suffered from severe depression, a condition that is not easily spotted in Guyana and certainly not treated.
The Ministry of Health has set up units in some communities to deal with suspected cases and these must be working because as far as the public is concerned, the number of suicides has declined drastically.
The other worrying factor in the society is domestic violence. Some believe that domestic violence is cultural; that children grow up in abusive situations which they accept as the norm and as adults, continue the tradition.
Recently, the incidence of domestic violence has been worrying. In three days, two men either killed or severely maimed their spouses. Every year, no fewer than five women are killed or seriously wounded in cases of domestic violence. Last year, and again this year, we notice that children are caught up.
Some years ago, a private entity with support from the government, offered shelter for abused women but that can never be a solution. It is here that parental guidance would come in. If parents train their children to abhor violence against their spouses then that should see an end to domestic violence or at least, a drastic reduction.
We note that the pervasive message is for women to get out of abusive relationships and that is often the wisest message. However, it is likely to go unheeded because the abuser, like a chameleon, can appear in different guises. When the woman leaves he would turn up looking as penitent as ever and melt the heart of his victim—until she returns to the scene of the abuse.
Counselling offers a solution but then again, not many Guyanese turn to psychiatrists or to counselors.

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