A remodelled National Service could have more positive than negative impacts

Apr 11, 2021 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

Kaieteur News – I WAS THERE. That is the name I gave to the book, which I wrote after completing my stint of National Service (NS) in 1985, having returned to UG to study for the post graduate degree in Education.
Initially, I had graduated in 1975 with a BA degree before NS was mandatory. I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to leave my husband and three young children (youngest being seven months old) to go to Kimbia for two long months…but this was a known requirement before I, as well as thousands of others, could graduate … So off I went with my husband’s blessings!
After arriving at Kimbia, I made every effort to avoid having to do drills as I thought, I could do without those rigourous exercises, having recently had our third child, but my pleadings fell on deaf ears! In retrospect, though, I’m glad that I was not given exemption, because I learnt so much on the drill square…but that’s another story!
My reason for writing this letter is to express my strong objection and disgust at writers painting the Guyana National Service as a ‘rape house’. I will not attempt to defend or deny reports of misconduct at GNS, but these exaggerated reports are meant to discredit an entire organisation and all those on whom it has had a positive impact.
I still have clear recollection of activities at Kimbia. I ended up enjoying drilling sessions. I uprooted weeds growing alongside nut plants. I can still see acre upon acre of lush cultivated fields of cotton, nuts, black-eye. I remember my amazement as “…huge combines separated the chaff from the black-eye…and poured the precious peas into one-hundred pound bags, which filled up in forty-five seconds (p. 26 I WAS THERE)!” There were fruit trees in abundance – carambola, limes – to name just two. Yes, carambola trees lined the roads and littered them with fallen fruits! Never before or after my stint have I seen one lime tree laden with hundreds of limes!
There were well-cultivated kitchen gardens outside the “Mess Hall”. In the craft shop, there were beautiful creations from local materials – mats, curtains, bags, ornaments, etc. I learnt to strip and assemble a SLR rifle and… yes, I hit the target when we were taken to the shooting range ( I still have the little cardboard certificate given me by my trainer, corporal Haridat Tilku).
Memories of good things flood me. I never heard of rape during my stint. I do know of Pioneers who arranged secret and consensual rendezvous with their boyfriends. Some of us were known to be God-fearing and were well respected by our fellow Pioneers and by those in authority!
What am I saying? Let us not throw out the baby with the bath water. Whether in homes (where there are numerous cases of incest and sexual abuse), in offices where sexual favours proliferate in exchange for jobs or promotion, or even in religious organisations where wolves infiltrate and batter sheep, discipline needs to be imposed consistently and swiftly! Failure to discipline perpetrators (which MAY have been the case in some instances) will result in dereliction of duty and perpetuation of evil in private or public sectors, National, Regional or International organisations.
Should we shut down our homes because of some unconscionable perverts? No. Should we shut down our offices because of white-collar criminals who prey on the gullible and the defenceless? No. Should we close our places of worship because of some who defile and mislead our young, vulnerable ones, and thereby qualify to have “a millstone …hung around his neck, and … drowned in the depth of the sea (Matthew 18:6)”? A thousand times no!
I once heard a former officer in the GNS say that when he visited Kimbia and saw how a thriving GNS Centre was left to ruin, rot and desolation, he burst into tears.
At Kimbia, the focus was on military training and agriculture, whilst other centres specialised not only in training, but also in gold production and garment manufacturing (Tumatumari), gold mining and wood products manufacturing (Konawaruk), border security ( Camp Jaguar), quarrying (Itabu and Teperu), skills training and agriculture (Kuru Kuru) to name a few.
Let commonsense prevail! Abhor evil; cling to what is good.
A remodelled National Service with relevant developmental goals and approaches, if given a chance, would continue to have more positive than negative impacts in our dear land.

Claudia Heywood

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A remodelled National Service could have more positive than negative impacts

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