MACKENZIE High School teacher and former Member of Parliament (MP) Vanessa Kissoon continues to play an integral role in youth and women development in the mining town of Linden.

Taking advantage of her popularity, which was used to create a positive impact on many during her tenure as MP, Vanessa Kissoon has gravitated from politics to social development, helping many along the way.
Her vibrant, outgoing and go-getter attitude has made it difficult for her to retire from Parliament and also retire from helping and making representation for others.
So she founded the Linden Youth Corps, of which she is also the coordinator. The Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) has a large following of young people, and has been involved in a plethora of activities that are not only beneficial to them individually but to many who are less fortunate.
“We normally take part in a lot of community activities such as annual kite distribution, schools backpack distribution, honouring mothers and fathers on Mothers’ and Fathers’ Day, children’s Christmas parties and toys distribution,” Kissoon outlined.
The youths would also participate in community cleanup campaigns and health walks in an effort to create awareness.
The Virtuous Women on a Mission social group that Kissoon also founded focuses on women’s development in the community, and makes representation for those who may seem voiceless.

The group, which has a membership of women from several communities across Linden, has its mission in creating awareness and empowering women through various platforms.
“We held a regional health programme for women, and played an integral role in the Women of Business exposition,” Kissoon revealed, adding that in the past, the group has also honoured men in the Linden community for their outstanding and continued contributions.
One of the beneficiaries was the late Mr. Norman Chapman, owner of the ill-fated motor vessel, the Son Chapman, that sank on the Upper Demerara River in the mid-60s.

IN MY PERSONALITY
As a young child, Kissoon, who grew up in Plaisance on the East Coast Demerara, said she always found herself representing her siblings and friends whenever the need arose. This leadership spirit is what led her to take up politics in the first place, since it would give her a chance to represent the voiceless. “I took up politics because of my love for humanity,” she said. “And it gave me the opportunity to represent and be a voice for the voiceless, and have persons understand that they must stand up for their rights and what they believe.”
After obtaining her trained teacher’s certificate, she began teaching at MHS in 2002. She joined the Guyana Youth and Student Movement in 2004 and became an MP in 2006, where served for two terms and was the female frontline activist in the Linden struggle against an injustice that was being imposed on the people of Linden by then PPP/C regime.
She tabled a Motion in the National Assembly coming out of the struggle called The August 21, 2012 Agreement, and also played a major role in the 2001 and 2015 Regional and National Elections whereby she talked youths and women into going out and vote, thus allowing for the removal of the PPP/C government after 23 years.
In addition to her own groups, Kissoon is also a member of the Caribbean Association of Feminist and Research Action (CAFRA); the Chairman of the Linden Critchlow Labour College Branch; a Director on the Linden Special Needs Board; and a Director of the Region 10 Broadcasting Incorporative Board.
Despite holding these many hats, Kissoon said what she enjoys the most is being a mother to her five children and a teacher, something that has become a part of her over the last 15 years.
“I see my students in successful careers, like Ms Diana Chapman who won the senior calypso competition; Ms Ruqayyah Boyer who represented Guyana at the Miss World pageant; Cleon Coppin, who is a Captain in the Guyana Defence Force; Dion Anderson, a Chemical Engineer; and Mrs. Jamila Chapman Wills, teacher at the Mackenzie High School just to name a few.
“There are also many young professionals, especially my children, who all want to follow in my political footsteps,” she affirmed.
Kissoon has passed the baton on to the other MPs representing Region 10, and enjoys watching them do the tasks she once did selflessly. “I encourage them to represent the people who elected them without fear or favour,” Ms Kissoon said as she continues to show her resilience and strength in so many ways and is now pursuing Social Work at the University of Guyana.