Bonita Montague is a ‘Special Person’ A feminist on a mission to help empower the vulnerable…

Feb 03, 2019 Features / Columnists, Special Person

Pull quote: “I am a survivor of domestic violence and that is critical, and that must be the story told…I have been there as a child and I have been there as an adult, and because I have had those experiences, I am the voice of those who do not have a voice at this point. So doing this for me, it is personal.”

By Sharmain Grainger

As a versatile woman who has long embraced the importance of female empowerment, Bonita Montague can easily be labelled more than a ‘Special Person’ for her many achievements over the years. From a young age, she was able to stand out athletically, and as she matured, she was able to command notable places in both the City Constabulary and the Guyana Police Force.
In fact, it would be remiss of me to not mention that she is the first female in our dear land to have been inducted into the local Martial Arts Hall of Fame, which back in the day was unheard for a woman.
She opted to venture into these arenas with the intention of giving credence to her belief that women do not have to limit themselves to customary feminine roles, since they too have the ability to succeed in any area, much like their male counterparts.

Ms. Bonita Montague is a ‘Special Person’.

However, since this publication would be hard-pressed for space to elaborate on all of Bonita’s outstanding accomplishments, understandably a decision was taken to highlight a cause that she has been championing that has been helping to empower the vulnerable. This cause is one through which she has been seeking to open the eyes of those in our society to take a stance against many ills, especially domestic violence.
This is in spite of the fact that she has been a migrant living in Queens, New York, United States of America for more than two decades now. While her main mission through an organisation – United Bridge Builders Mission, which she founded more than two decades ago – is to target vulnerable women, it has also been lending support to children and men as well.
Situated in the John Street, Campbellville area, Bonita’s Non-Governmental Organisation [NGO] was not merely introduced as a showpiece or favourite pastime for a migrant, but rather, an avenue to give hope to those in need of assistance to overcome situations that can often be regarded as hopeless. The support offered ranges from counselling services to accommodation as the need arises.
“I am a survivor of domestic violence and that is critical, and that must be the story told…I have been there as a child and I have been there as an adult, and because I have had those experiences, I am the voice of those who do not have a voice at this point. So doing this for me, it is personal,” she said of the work she does through her NGO.
According to Bonita, there are far too many vulnerable individuals, especially women and children, who have no one to turn to when confronted with daunting situations that threaten to hamper their very existence.
“I have been able to fight even as a young child because of a supportive grandmother; however, many children do not have that support system, so it is imperative that we continue to advocate,” she passionately insisted.

FOCUS ON CHILDREN
She pointed out too that, “Many times we see children and we say ‘oh, she ain’t got no manners or ‘he, he bad’ but we don’t know what has happened in their lives to trigger this kind of behaviour. So when you have these children behaving in a certain way, many times they are calling for help, and they are hoping that someone will hear them to say ‘I care’ and sometimes that’s all our children want,” said

With her grandmother who she considers her hero.

Bonita, a mother of two boys – Courtney and Marley.
As she recalled her attendance at the Caribbean Youth Summit held last month at the Guyana Marriott, Bonita stressed the need for funding to execute plans to help with the development of youths in the society. She disclosed that to achieve such goals, her organisation has been able to collaborate with strategic organisations, including the Ministry of Social Protection, through its Childcare and Protection Agency.
“Ms. Ann Greene has been very supportive; however, we are looking forward to collaborating with other ministries like Education and so on, so that we can address issues such as anti-bullying, because when we believe in a proactive approach and preventative services, things can be better in our society. We can’t only react after incidents occur and then we have to incur the cost of recovery, legal services and all of that.”
“If we can get to the children before they strike or early in their pain, we can alleviate life-long scars, and that is what we are hoping to have happen…have the schools engage in the anti-bully programmes, where we can get into the schools using the STEAM programme. STEM is looking at the science, technology, engineering and maths, but STEAM is where the arts is infused. Children want to have fun, I too as an adult want to have fun, and if the arts is infused, we can achieve that by bringing on board popular artistes and others,” Bonita theorised.
She embraces the view that if change starts at the level of the school, the children themselves can help to incorporate the support of other members of the society.
“I want our youths to really be engaged in what is happening in the country socially and politically. When they are aware of what is happening, they understand where they can make a difference and how they can influence the system, and I believe our youths play a very keen role,” Bonita underscored.

LIFE UNFOLDS
Born to parents Joy McKenzie, a former member of the Guyana Defence Force who spent most of her years in the secretarial field, and Hadock Martin Montague, a seaman, Bonita was the eldest of four children. She made her entry to this life at the Georgetown Public Hospital, and recalled having a rather nomadic lifestyle during her formative years. This was owing to the fact that her upbringing was shared between her parents and her maternal grandmother, Johanna Fernald McKenzie.

Celebrating the woman who her gave her life.

“I was always with Granny…she took me wherever she went. She took me to Suriname and Holland; I was always moving around with her,” said Bonita of her grandmother, who she proudly disclosed turned 97 on January 29 last.
Part of her upbringing saw Bonita attending schools in Georgetown, though sporadically. She attended the Central and New Comenius Primary Schools and Central High and Charlestown Secondary too.
Later when she migrated to the United States, Bonita’s schooling continued, only this time with a view on gainful employment. She pursued nursing education and dabbled in training, ranging from child care to care of the elderly, as she sought after a viable career to sustain herself.
It was over the years, while residing in the United States, that she found her ultimate mission in life – to become a humanitarian and activist; roles she was empowered to assume through travels around the world which took her as far as Africa and India. Her vast knowledge could have seen her easily taking her expertise to any part of the world, but Bonita knew that it was her homeland that needed her the most.
Even as she managed a lucrative business, BONEL Enterprises Inc., which provides cleaning services to most embassies in the United States, Bonita was unleashing her humanitarian and activism plans which have been reaching many across Guyana.
In fact she disclosed that while it was a passion to address the scourge of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus [HIV] that saw the introduction of United Bridge Builders, it was the disturbing cases of violence – particularly those perpetrated against women and the daunting cases of suicide – that reinforced the need for her input.
In the Diaspora, she was able to garner support for her efforts from many senators and elected officials. But according to Bonita, her efforts were redoubled when she visited Guyana last year for a fundraising gala at the Marriott Hotel and got the disparaging news of the brutal demise of two women at the hands of men with whom they shared intimate relationships.

Taking time out for her sons, Courtney and Marley.

IGNITING A STORM
Bonita was at the time making reference to the cases of Reona Payne, who met her demise after her reputed husband, a GDF officer at the time, allegedly shot her more than a dozen times, and Rosemary Rudder, who was strangled by her ex-lover.

I AM NOT HEARING ENOUGH
“I thought something was very wrong at that point… and before the week was out, we had other murders. Within two weeks, every weekend I was attending a funeral of a female murder victim, and I thought, ‘no, I am not hearing enough on the national scene’; ‘I am not seeing enough being done’,” said Bonita, of the far too many cases of domestic violence and suicide too.
“I was seeing murders, suicides, and I thought something more needed to be done. We lacked seeing enough publications and sensitisation and awareness slogans, and I reached out to find out what was happening; what was being done,” she recalled.
Her attempts to ascertain what was being done at the national level was met with some resistance, but Bonita was nevertheless determined to champion the cause of helping to raise awareness to the fact that it wasn’t acceptable for women, or even children and men for that matter, to be subjected to violence at any level.

CREATING A BUZZ
She moreover started a countrywide movement, which took the form of mass awareness marches that started in Region Four then continued in Region Three and Six.
“We ignited a storm and created a buzz that caused not only the elected officials to engage in more discussions, but to publicly make announcements and denounce d

On a mission to be a voice to end violence.

omestic violence which was a small start, but has been very encouraging,” Bonita shared.
“That encouraged us to continue,” she disclosed, pointing out that even with a skeleton volunteer staff, efforts have been engaged to reach not only vulnerable women, but many battered children and men too.
“Although you hear me as a fierce advocate for women, I am very happy to have my men around, and I love men; so I don’t want men to be deterred thinking this feminist rejects men. With open arms, I welcome them for services, because we believe in order to address domestic violence, we have got to address men’s issues and we have got to address coping issues. We want men to be more outspoken, we want them to talk to their peers and seek help, because to have healthy families we need to have healthy men…”
Bonita made a point of adding too that “without them this organisation cannot do what it is able to do, so we cannot omit looking out for our men who need our services.” She qualified her disclosure by noting that “I am a mother of only boys, so I must be able to serve men too.”

Leading the way for women.

As she stressed the importance of the inclusion of men, Bonita added, “I am hoping that we can really do more; I am happy for the team members, the volunteers who have been helping us thus far, but we are hoping that other persons are encouraged by what we do and come on board too; everyone is important and critical to the development of society.”
But even as she appealed for more support for the organisation, Bonita noted, “my only hope is we find people who don’t look at a dollar value and an immediate exchange, but rather, look at the impact they can make in the lives of vulnerable persons through their dedicated efforts”.
It was at this juncture, she reflected on the words of former First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, “it is not how much money you make, it’s the difference you make in people’s lives.”
“I too am hoping that people would recognise that work like this is not about the money…a lot of what we do is funded out of pocket,” said Bonita, who is today being recognised by this publication as our ‘Special Person’ for her tireless effort aimed at helping to give hope to the vulnerable in our society.