THE Caribbean Voice commends the local media for its focus over the last couple of months on suicide, domestic and sexual abuse, relationship issues and violence. We urge that alcoholism and substance abuse be added to the list. Also, we still urge that the media focus include public service ads/announcements so that these issues remain on the front burner and redress begins to impact people’s consciousness.

Incidentally, while we are quite puzzled that the Guyana Chronicle and the Kaieteur News, with one exception, have chosen not to publish our letters, we are still at a loss to understand why none of the media provided coverage to recent anti-suicide activities by students in Black Bush Polder, on the Essequibo Coast, and in New Amsterdam.
We also commend the efforts of individuals and groups who have been helping to provide much needed services and interventions, dedicating time, efforts, finances to help give redress to social pathologies and empower people. And we are aware that there are a number of individuals working on the ground voluntarily doing outreach and counselling. Thus, we strongly urge the media to support these individuals and organisations by highlighting their efforts, by providing information about them so that the public can access their help and by appealling to others to join and/or support them.
In previous letters we referenced the many past and present programmes and plans of the Government, which can create a national framework for redress, if centrally coordinated and expanded to encompass all corners of the nation. In this context, we reiterate our call to Rev. Kwame Gilbert and the NCF to see the cancellation of the Dr. Myles Munroe visit as a blessing in disguise that now allows them to employ the funds in conjunction with various umbrella religious entities – Guyana Council of Churches, Guyana Hindu Dharmic Sabha, Central Arya Samaj, Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana and others – to help provide relevant clinical training for priests, pandits, moulvis, imams and selected individuals from churches, mosques and mandirs nationwide.
This would, in itself, create a national network of responders, enable referrals nationwide and ensure utilisation of local human resource for the long haul. Thus, we urge those entities and individuals that have come together to fund Dr. Munroe’s visit, to recognise that his visit would be dwarfed by the reach and impact of umbrella religious entities. Surely a national effort to bring about redress to all the issues facing men and families is what this is all about. And in this process maximal reach and utilisation of resources is the key.

NORKAH CARTER
DEVV-RAMDAS DANIEL
JUDY DEVEAUX
ANNAN BOODRAM
BIBI AHAMAD
COLLIS NICHOLSON