Pioneering Guyana’s first child/family bereavement Charity…

Aug 23, 2020 News, Special Person

---

Marva Langevine is a ‘Special Person’

“I always wanted to become a teacher but after I realized how much support is needed with aggrieved children and their families, my focus shifted to helping to provide counselling and therapy.”

By Rehanna Ramsay

Just over a year ago, a young teacher from Den Amstel, West Coast Demerara (WCD), copped the Queen’s Young Leaders Award (QYLA) for her inspiring work of helping bereaved families cope with their loss.
Since then, under the auspices of its founder and QYLA, Marva Pamela Tiffiney Langevine, and her small group of dedicated supporters, the Guyana Golden Lives Organisation (GGLO) has reached out to dozens of families by not only offering sympathy and moral support, but by providing tangible assistance in a variety of practical ways during their time of grief and loss.
This week, we at Kaieteur News have chosen to feature Ms. Langevine as our ‘Special Person’, for not only her noteworthy efforts but the unique way she found to support members of her family, community and nation.
Despite the setbacks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Langevine a teacher attached to the Stewartville Secondary School is still finding ways to reach out to families particularly children dealing with the loss of a parent.
“When the pandemic hit, I knew that they would need support more than ever, so with the assistance of my sponsors. I put together money to help them with groceries, bills and whatever else they were in need of,” she said.
During an interview with Kaieteur news, Langevine opened up about plans for GGLO and some of her personal goals for the future.
She spoke of how she discovered her purpose in the most unusual way – through the death of a dear friend, Mikiesha.

It was about four years ago and she was preparing to compete in the Miss World Guyana Pageant.
“I was thinking of a cause to highlight for my ‘Beauty with a Purpose’ project, which was part of the competition process. I had a few ideas, but I thought that there were already enough organizations doing great work for things like cancer awareness, so I wanted my project to help scope out those that didn’t yet have a support network. At a loss, I paused for a few minutes and said a prayer. Almost instantly, the name “Mikiesha” popped up in my thoughts.”
Langevine explained that Mikiesha had died from a rare form of cancer in 2014. She was the mother of two beautiful boys, who were one and four years old when she died.
At that point, the Miss World Guyana contestant went online and began to research “what happens to children after their parent/s die.” That research opened her eyes to a whole new area of need and support for bereaved children and families who have experienced a similar loss.
Since then, Langevine has been working to raise awareness and provide support for families and children in those difficult circumstances.
Through GGLO, Langevine has hosted several workshops and awareness talks on the importance of providing therapy to those affected by grief.
She noted “I always wanted to become a teacher but after I realized how much support is needed with aggrieved children and their families, my focus shifted to helping to provide counselling and therapy.”
CHILDHOOD AMBITIONS
However, before she found her purpose in providing comfort to those grieving, Langevine, who grew up in the village of Den Amstel, spent most of her days wanting to teach. She remained focused on that goal.

She shared briefly on her childhood and the special bond she has with her family.
“I grew up with my extended family. My cousin Trisha, brother George Jnr. and I call our maternal grandmother “mummy” because she cared for us after our mothers migrated.”
Langevine noted, however, I am a daddy’s girl so I would spend weekends and holidays with my father, George Langevine, who also lived in the village. The family soon moved to Linden after her grandmother migrated to the United States.
In Linden, she attended Wismar Hill Primary School before she too migrated to live with her mother in Barbados shortly after writing common entrance.
“I was placed at the St. Michael School in Barbados and I was happy to reconnect with my cousin Trisha, who migrated to Barbados when she was eight,” she said.
Despite some harsh comments about being a Guyanese living in Barbados, Langevine was still very outgoing and became involved in acting, modelling and athletics.

“Growing up I was always bold and enjoyed reciting poems. Even when people teased and said bad things about Guyana, I defended it. I found Barbados to be a very xenophobic place for Guyanese but I loved my country and would defend it at all times,” she added.
As such, soon after completing the Caribbean Secondary Examinations Certificate (CSEC) in 2009, she returned to Guyana.
By then, the high school graduate was already passionately making a positive impact on other young people and knew exactly where she would be focusing her efforts.
She explained, “I always wanted to do something great for my country… My parents wanted me to be a lawyer but my dream was to become a teacher.”
Focused on her dream of teaching, Langevine applied to the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) the following year. During the interview, she was encouraged to choose Spanish as her major.
“I did and seven years later, I am now a Graduate Head of Department for Modern Languages at Stewartville Secondary,” Langevine noted with satisfaction.
Since then she has taught at St. Joseph High, North Georgetown Secondary and Uitvlugt Secondary schools.
Having graduated CPCE in 2012 with an Associate Degree in Education, the young teacher moved on to study for a Bachelor of Education degree (Spanish Major) at The University of Guyana.
She completed UG in 2017 but returned for a six month inaugural Diploma in Psychology course at the University of Guyana in 2018.
“I still have a few mentors who envision me having a career in law in the future. We’ll see what it holds,” Langevine asserted.
BY DIVINE DESIGN
In the meantime she remains focused on the work of GGLO – the child bereavement charity that has been making a difference to persons who suffered the loss of a loved one.
The teacher stressed, “I have found my calling in helping the aggrieved not only by offering sympathy and moral support, but by providing tangible assistance to them.”
Langevine said that while her inspiration stems from the death of a close friend, her Christian faith also provides that you cater for those in grief. She believes that it was by divine design that GGLO was established.
In this regard, she pointed to James 1:27 which states that: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
She recalled too that it was prayers that led her to do the research on childhood bereavement.
“I remember it was the first time I had even heard about such a thing. That night was the moment I discovered my purpose. I had found a cause that I felt immediately connected to and by finding something that was close to home, it just fuelled my passion. I believe this was a vision from God and I give him all the glory. That scripture which states that true religion entails being there for the fatherless and widows in their time of distress stays with me,” she said.
Further realizing the harshness of the realities of living without a parent, both psychologically and economically, Langevine remains motivated to do all in her power to assist.
She recalls when she decided to make the bold step to form a non- profit organization dedicated to grieving children, after using her platform in Miss World Guyana (2016) to spread awareness on the impact of loss on children, “it was almost as if by divine leading that more and more cases of children struggling to cope with their grief, and widows having a hard time providing for the home came to my attention.”
“This is how I inadvertently began to champion the cause of childhood bereavement awareness,” said Langevine who received the Beauty with a Purpose Award for her projects that provided appropriate support services to help the families along their grief journey from the Miss World Guyana Organization.
Langevine was further delighted when she was chosen for Guyana at the prestigious Queen’s Young Leaders Award—a Commonwealth programme by no other than her majesty the queen in 2018.
She noted that having the value of her work recognized by none other than her Majesty the Queen was indeed an honour.
“The award entailed bespoke learning, training, mentorship from world renowned experts, and general support needed to strengthen and grow the NGO,” she said
FUTURE OF GGLO
Holding the creation of the GGLO among her greatest achievements, Langevine is looking at the future with a view of advancement and expansion of its efforts.
With the help of her selfless family, friends and supporters, she is hoping to champion the cause and pioneer Guyana’s first child/family bereavement charity.
At present, the child bereavement charity gets support from a few local businesses and a few overseas donors. Langevine noted too that GGLO also benefited from an annual fundraiser from the British High Commission.
The charity does not have a meeting place and as such, Langevine opens up her home once every month to allow the children to meet and have social activities.
When the charity held its first Christmas party last December, Langevine said it was hosted in Meadow Brook at the home of one of her mentors, Dr. Melissa Varsywk—Courts and Digicel Guyana supported the initiative by providing toys and goodies for the children.
While meeting with the children is not on the cards for now, Langevine continues to spread awareness about the importance of grief response and how to support children and adults who are aggrieved.
She is hoping to make the various social networks and care facilities aware of its necessity.
In fact, every November which is designated Grief Awareness Month, Langevine helps to facilitate sensitization programmes in schools in Region Three.
She said that her plan is to have grief workshops for teachers and trained teachers; since it is important for teachers to know how to deal with children in grief.
“I also want to conduct research on to help children and people in this part of the world overcome their grief because what I have found is that most of the information available is taken from western parts of the World like Europe and we know the culture is vastly different from ours.”
At present, the teacher has made a proposal for the Childcare and Protection Agency on grief support for children in their care. She said her main concern the children of domestic homicide.
“I always wonder whatever happens to them after parent/s are taken so gruesomely from them. How do they manage to adapt normal lives?” she asked.
Among other things, Langevine is hoping to develop here therapy skills. Moreover, she endeavours to pursue studies in the field and hopes that the Government and other stakeholders will show support for the initiative.
In the meantime, GGLO works closely with Women’s Wednesday Guyana and Covenant Home for Children. Last November, the charity organized its first grief symposium.
It was facilitated by Ms. Janelle Chase-Mayers, a Grief Recovery Specialist from Barbados.
The partnership with the Wellness Center-Guyana has since resulted in the creation of grief support groups for children and adults.

 

---

---