By Shauna Jemmot

A REGION One family has been reunited thanks to the intervention of a passionate non-governmental organisation after months of frustration as a result of two separate incidents last year. The 13-year-old girl had just given birth and was rescued, along with a pregnant 12-year-old by the Guyana Women Miners Organisation (GWMO), and transported out of the hinterland to Georgetown last year. They were transported out of the North West District to receive emergency medical attention at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
The 12-year-old, who is the resident of a home for victims of Trafficking-in-Persons (TIP), is in the last stages of her pregnancy and is preparing to give birth.
President of the organisation, Urica Primus, said communication between the organisation and the mother of the 13-year-old resulted in the GWMO transporting the woman to Georgetown to be reunited with her daughter and meet her six-month-old granddaughter.
Head of the Child Care and Protection Agency, Ann Greene, and the GWMO representatives granted the woman’s request to have daughter and grandchild in her care.
The woman also informed the GWMO President and members that her husband had been chopped by another man since last year and was transported to the city through a medivac operation. The woman said neither she nor her husband had telephone access and as a result, she did not know whether he was alive.
He was later discovered alive at the hostel for indigenous peoples in Georgetown and the GWMO sponsored a trip back home for the family.
Primus told the Guyana Chronicle that the family was involved in farming, but because of the man’s injuries, one of his hands cannot be used anymore and he is unable to farm again. His wife, who promised to continue farming to maintain her family, said the farm was greatly affected by the dry season and she is now in dire need of plant seeds.
GWMO has made contact with the Ministry of Agriculture, which will donate seeds to the family.
Meanwhile, Primus said the 12-year-old has given a statement to the police and the Ministry of Social Protection, including the Child Care and Protection Agency and the Trafficking Unit, of her experiences as a victim of TIP.
The girl, who was trafficked several times by her father, said it all began earlier last year when her mother fell ill. She was also sexually assaulted by the man.
The same man was accused of brutally raping his wife soon after she gave birth to their last child through a caesarian delivery and dragging her in their yard, leaving her to haemorrhage even as the children watched in horror, screaming. Public-spirited neighbours intervened and arranged transportation to take the woman to the Port Kaituma Hospital. She died on the way.
The girl had also complained that her 10-year-old sister had similar experiences. After the daughter was rescued, the man went into hiding with the other two children.
After numerous calls by the GWMO, the police were finally able to arrest the man, but one policeman was stabbed to death in the process, and the man was shot in the leg and arrested. He was later charged.