– Shulinab’s Goretti Lewis turns personal loss into advocacy against gender-based violence and for women’s rights

GORETTI Lewis was six years old when her mother, a Wapishan-Arawak woman, age 26, was brutally murdered by a spouse in Lethem, and miles away from the family’s Shulinab home, in the South Rupununi. Today, 36 years later, Goretti, now 42, stands a strong indigenous advocate against domestic and gender-based violence, an issue some may not perceive too sore in hinterland areas. However, according to Goretti, it is a major challenge, and she remains motivated in activism and in representing women’s rights, equality and empowerment alongside the development of indigenous communities.

A wife, a mother of five and a farmer, Goretti wears many official hats. She is the Secretary of the Shulinab Village Council; Assistant Secretary/Treasurer of the South Rupununi District Council (SRDC); Secretary of the Kanuku Mountain Community Representative Group (KMCRG) and head of the SRDC’s Wapishan Women Movement Arm. She also manages the community’s school feeding programme under the Ministry of Education. This past week, Lewis was in Georgetown with a group of other South Rupununi leaders engaged with various partners and agencies including a meeting with Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo.

At first glance, perhaps before the start of a meeting, Goretti may appear quiet and reserved, a simple Wapishan-Makushi woman possibly attending to quell her curiosity, one may assume. When she takes the floor to speak, however, Goretti instantly becomes a powerhouse, presenting her cause with eloquence and the highest level of confidence.
In an interview with the Pepperpot Magazine, Goretti explained how, due to financial hardships, she secured only a primary-level education though she longed to pursue secondary school. A determination for self-empowerment led her participation in numerous workshops, training sessions, events, meetings and any other public forum that provided an avenue for exposure and knowledge building. Whether it was a forestry workshop, an agro-exhibition or a community meeting, Goretti used the opportunity to learn and make her voice heard to represent various women and community matters.

Poverty, agro-processing and knowledge-building
Reflecting on her childhood days in Shulinab, Goretti related that their maternal grandmother raised her and a younger brother after their mom died. Although very young at the time, Goretti said she still remembers her mother. “She was beautiful and a quiet woman….Onto this day, I do not know why her husband killed her, but he stabbed her and then he killed himself,” Lewis indicated. Family members, she noted, were also traumatised and shocked since the couple appeared happy, and never exhibited signs that their union was abusive or troubled.

Life was challenging after the death of her mother as Goretti’s grandmother struggled financially to sustain the young children. In her teenage years, Goretti learnt the art of fruit preservation from a family acquaintance who was skilled at producing dates and other processed products from banana, orange peels and carambola. Goretti accompanied the woman on an agro-exhibition in Lethem and Brazil. Later, she started her own ventures to make tarts and sauces from vegetables and fruits. Having mastered the art of this process, she started teaching other women in her village. Throughout the time, Goretti led knowledge sharing on women issues and later a group formed which afforded her a stronger voice in the community.

By 21, she got married to Carl Lewis, a farmer, and the couple advanced their farming activities while growing a family of their own. The union produced five children over the past 22 years. The family lives two and a half miles outside of the village where they farm and rear pigs and sheep. Despite the distance, Goretti maintains her work in the village, to which she would ride, using either a bicycle or motorcycle, to meet and engage with people.

“I must praise my husband. He always supports me. He is a very good husband….when I am away on training or meetings he looks after the home and the kids until I get back…He takes me to meetings wherever I have to go and sometimes he even attends along with me,” Goretti conveyed.

With a supportive spouse, the young Goretti maintained women’s advocacy and began representing the community at forums including District Toshao Council meetings. She recalled her first visit to Georgetown during the 1990s for a training session on financial accountability, an area in which she had no experience at the time and initially found it challenging to grasp main idea and concepts. The crowded and noisy bustle of the city was strange in comparison to the tranquil mountainous Rupununi region, to which Goretti was accustomed, and more so the food was nothing like the delicacies, she enjoyed back home. She could not communicate with her family and felt isolated, but never daunted.

Women supporting women
As her leadership skills grew, she became a Community Service Officer (CSO) and a member of SRDC. She once contested for the post of Toshao but was unsuccessful. According to Goretti, issues of gender inequality and male dominance still permeate some indigenous communities where some of the men often prefer male leaders, making it difficult for women to acceded to high positions. It is a mindset, she believes, that must change to address problems like domestic and gender-based violence. She noted the challenges of other women leaders, including Toshaos, in getting men’s support for decisions and activities in the communities.

“When we meet for various meetings and workshops, we would talk about our experiences and the challenges we face like how sometimes men take advantage of women leadership….We discuss these issues and how we can learn from each other. We also talk about where we want to go as women and how we can support each other,” Lewis stated. She revealed plans to contest for post of Toshao in her village in 2021, as she is confident “women will support women.”

Under the SRDC’s women’s movement, Goretti and two other women leaders received training to build the capacity of other women in South Rupununi communities on social issues and related laws towards addressing gender-based violence. The women will commence workshops on December 10. Alluding to alcohol and drug abuse as some contributing factors to violence against women in some indigenous areas, Goretti also expressed concerns over rape, teenage pregnancies, broken homes and child neglect. She noted a main area of focus is on awareness among young men to deter them from becoming abusive.

To Goretti, domestic violence is a scourge, one that bothers her deeply as she often shares the experience of her mother’s brutal killing to help sensitise others on the effects of violence and how to prevent it.