Empathising with those in pain and in need

MANY days, my thoughts and feelings overwhelm me and being back in Guyana has only exacerbated that. Today, I’m thinking about justice for the Henry boys and Haresh, and I’m thinking about the Success squatting issue.

So far, the Henry boys and Haresh have not received justice. It was reported this past week that the team from the CARICOM Regional Security System (RSS) which recently visited Guyana expressed satisfaction with the work being done by the Guyana Police Force. They, however, recommended that some additional work be done.

The mutilated bodies of the teen cousins Joel and Isaiah Henry were found on September 6, 2020, in the Cotton Tree backlands in West Berbice. Days later, on September 9, the bloodied body of Haresh was found in the backlands too. Singh’s murder has been viewed as a reprisal killing, but I have not read any reports on evidence to support that. What I do know beyond the shadow of a doubt is that Joel, Isaiah, and Haresh deserved better from their Guyana. Guyana was responsible for doing better.

Then there’s the Success squatting issue on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD). This particular issue juxtaposes the fact that squatting is illegal with the very real needs of some vulnerable people. And honestly, I ask, can’t we empathise with the persons who have genuine needs? Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo himself acknowledged that some of these persons have genuine needs.

That squatting issue makes me think about the Henry boys and Haresh. The very first day I visited the Success squatting area I walked farther into the canefields, about two miles south, in with a man and a woman. My aim was to garner an understanding of how the squatters were dispersed throughout the area and to see the various structures they had erected. Before long the man and I walked ahead, because we were walking at a faster pace than the woman. We passed other persons on the way, but eventually, it was just him and I walking beside the cane shrubs.

I can’t explain what was happening in my head, but I just began thinking about how it was said that the Henry boys went onto the backdam and that’s where they met their demise. Haresh too was found at the backdam. I don’t know if it was the fact that I was walking by the backdam at Success that caused me to think about the Henry boys and Haresh. My legs felt heavy and I was finding it very hard to concentrate on where I was going.

I’ve shared this experience with a group of young persons for whom I have much admiration and respect during a group conversation. We discussed how trauma affects us differently and importantly, how trauma is experienced here in Guyana. I’m curious to know what effect the various traumatic experiences we’ve experienced as a nation have had on us collectively. Then, upon understanding that, what do we channel our energies into really healing from that?

Interestingly, another connection for me between the Henry Boys and Haresh, and Success, was made over the past few weeks while assisting a British journalist with some research into the 1823 Demerara Slave Rebellion and Success (where the rebellion began). It was told to me that Success, a primarily Indo-Guyanese community, was initially a squatting area; many of the Indo-Guyanese who came to Success to squat, many decades ago, came because they were fleeing racial violence in the 1960s. For context, both Indo and Afro Guyanese were involved in racial violence during that tumultuous period.

The linkage between some of the terrible violence in the 1960s which may have led to squatting in Success then makes me wonder how far do we believe we’ve come as a Guyanese people if we cannot recognise inhumanity. The murders of the Henry boys and Haresh have no linkage to the Success squatting issue today (or at least, none that I know of). They are both issues that call on each of us to find some amount of humanity to empathise with those who are affected, regardless of our racial, ethnic, economic, or political differences.

In less than 100 days, I give the government of the day credit for its swift action on quite a few key areas. The government has to do what a government has been elected to do, no doubt. I look forward to justice for the Henry boys and I look forward to the assistance which will be provided to those squatters in genuine need, according to reports. Beyond that, I remain hopeful that President Ali will work on his plan of national healing. I, for one, would appreciate that.

If you would like to discuss this column or any of my previous writings, please feel free to contact me via email: vish14ragobeer@gmail.com

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