The Caribbean Voice is very active

Dec 19, 2018 Letters

Editor,

Contrary to rumors being peddled in some quarters in Guyana, The Caribbean Voice is very active. This month alone we had a community mental health workshop at Yakusari, Black Bush Polder and two students’ workshops at a high needs high school at Ash Youth Developers Education Learning Institute, Vigilance, ECD.
In recognition of the need to maximize impact and ensure positive results, all workshops going forward, will be followed up with ongoing work over a longer period of time. Later this month, we have an interaction with parents.
This would be followed up with a series of teachers’ workshops, and ongoing programmes for parents and students at the same school.
In the same vein early in the New Year we will have a mental health intervention at Yakusari to determine needs and to work with other stakeholders to meet those needs.
Our advocacy and information dissemination continues with letters and articles published in newspapers and online and interviews with broadcast media. And our seven social media pages continue to garner thousands of views daily, extending our reach globally and enabling beneficial interactions and collaboration.
This month we are conducting another of our surveys in Guyana, our fifth so far. Meanwhile plans are afoot to launch broadcast media programs in Guyana in the new year as well as online webinars and instructional/learning videos.
We continue to build collaboration. Recently we had meetings with Ministry of Social Protection, the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha and the Women and Gender Equality Commission. As a result, we participated in a forum at UG on gender-based violence and another one at the Regency Suites, both organized by the Women and Gender Equality Commission.
The Ministry of Social Protection has invited us to participate in its two weekly radio programmes. And we will be collaborating with the Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha with respect to their upcoming anti-bullying and sexual abuse/teenage pregnancy campaigns.
Furthermore, we have been invited by USAID to attend and participate ina conference on Caribbean Youth Violence in Guyana next month and by the International Association for Suicide Prevention to attend and participate in a suicide prevention conference in Trinidad in May.
Recently, we worked along with other members of Voices Against Violence (comprising over 50 NGOs and a number of social activists) to, for the first time, spearhead speak outs to mark the Annual 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence, which is observed globally from November 25 to December 10.
This effort was well supported by and mentioned in the media many times including in two different editorials and will now become an annual initiative. We have one speak out video attracting attention on social media with others will soon follow.
In collaboration with other members of Voices Against Violence, we continue to provide or source counseling for victims of abuse, those who are suicidal and those who are depressed or need counseling for whatever reasons.
Over the last couple of months quite a number of cases have been handled in various parts of Guyana, with many individuals and organizations joining hands to bring help to those in need. In this respect we will be creating/launching an app to enable persons anywhere in the Guyana to quickly and easily reach out for assistance.
Finally we again repeat that for TCV social activism is not a competition. We applaud all entities working on this landscape as each brings additional support and enlightenment with the end result being saving lives and empowering people.

Sincerely
The Caribbean Voice

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