Coil: Seeking gardens and preventing suicide

The secret Garden by Maria Lopes (left). Promenade Gardens (right)

by Vidyaratha Kissoon

“You aint hear about , big Christian, business man he drink poison.. he funeral is sometime.. how dis gun help?”

The man laughed when we gave him a suicide prevention leaflet while pointing out the hotline numbers. We had not heard of this case, the media had fortunately been able to spare the family the publicity.

There is a futility it seems in believing that things can change and that paradise is possible where no person will want to take their life.

The word Paradise apparently comes from Avestan pairidaēza through Old Persian paridaida – words which originally mean ‘walled garden’.

The Secret Garden is the title of a painting by Maria Lopes exhibited at the 2016 Burrowes School of Art exhibition. She said that the painting is not of a specific place.

The desire though, is familiar to many of us to imagine a garden of flowers, plants and shade, comfort.

Modern Persia, Iran, still takes pride in its beautiful gardens .

Iran though is not a bastion of democracy, and there are many stories of oppression and the abuse of power.

Abuse can take many forms. Guyana might not be witness to the intensity of the state violence in Iran, but we are witnessing the abuse of power which could escalate if left unchecked.

Georgetown was once the Garden City. According to the Municipal and District Councils Act 28.01 ,

302. The City Council and the Town Council shall each have power to do all or any of the following things:…

s7(a) to establish, maintain and control recreation and sports grounds (including swimming pools), theatres and promenade gardens, in parks, open spaces and on any other land vested in the council;

The Promenade Gardens in Georgetown is the main one kept by the city council. The other towns in Guyana do not maintain gardens.

Unlike modern day Iran, the Mayor and City Council in Georgetown, though, and its Town Clerk have not been doing much about creating new gardens. There were excuses that the abuse of the vendors near Stabroek Market was to create beautiful spaces for citizens to mingle.

The Middle Street entrance to Promenade Gardens was locked one hot Saturday afternoon.

There were no signs around to say where the entrance was. It turned out that the entrance on Waterloo Street is used. According to the man on duty – bandits would come in, so this was a way to ensure security. The entrance is near the rubbish tip and the wash rooms.

The gardens are cool in the shade. There were a lot of young people around.

Many of them seem to be playing Pokemon Go.

There are flowers in the Promenade Gardens, more than the Botanical Gardens. I am obsessed with flowers because I think flowers are gradually disappearing in Georgetown. In my immediate neighbourhood, two gardens were destroyed and replaced with concrete. One block of concrete apartments has no space for any plants. Flower gardens stand out now, as the exception rather than the rule.

My great grandmother was a gardener for ‘white people’. She had a fruit and vegetable garden, and also a flower garden. Not all of her descendants have inherited her green fingers.

My fingers are more prone to typing about the loss than to nurturing flowers or other plants.

There is a spot in the Promenade Gardens which could be the painting.

Paradise could be possible here, except for the plastic bottles and litter around the place in spite of the rubbish bins and the threat of bandits.

Paradise has been given a bad name as it is a place where many suicide bombers think they will reach after their violence.

Paradise also seems out of reach to many who think about taking their own lives to end the feelings of pain and loss.

Guyana’s suicide rate is quoted as being the ‘highest in the world’ or among the highest. It has created notoriety in the last couple of years.

The PPP denied the figures and did nothing else about trying to deal with the problem.

The current estimates are 44.2 per 100000 . Agricultural chemicals are used by some persons.

In 1972 , the results of a study about suicide were published in “ Epidemic of suicide by malathion poisoning in Guyana. Report of 264 cases.” . According to the report, the suicide rate at the time was 43 per 100000.

The researchers thanked the staff of the Georgetown Hospital (now Georgetown Public Hospital).

There have not been any recent studies in the public domain published by the Psychiatric establishment in Guyana. There might be reasons why the psychiatrists have not bothered to advocate for funding and resources for research which could be available in the public domain to aid in the efforts to reduce suicide.

There is no evidence in the public domain of recommendations made by the medical profession as they deal with the issue of suicide. It would be useful to the NGOs and other citizens who are concerned about mental health.

NGOs and other organisations who have been working on mental health promotion are often working in a vacuum in terms of understanding whether their contribution is effective in reducing suicide and contributing to a change.

According to a Newsroom Story on 9 September, 2016 “Task force launched to tackle social ills in Region 6”, Minister of Public Health, Dr Norton said “we cannot say whether or not the suicide rate has been dropped or not but we are not gonna leave any stones unturned and that’s why when any effort is offered to us we are willing and ready to come onboard.”

His comments could be disregarded , except that Article 24 of Guyana’s constitution says that “ Every citizen has the right to free medical attention and also to social care in case of old age and disability”

The Ministry of Public Health should be leading and not waiting on invitations to ‘come on board’. It is always interesting how Government , this one and the previous ones, have tried to abscond their responsibilities under the call for ‘collaborative approaches’. It is as though the failure to deal with social problems must be the failure of others.

It seems the Ministry is not keeping any data or mobilising any evidence on suicide and suicide ideation. The second thing is that the Ministry seems unaware that it has a responsibility for active leadership.

This might be a legacy of the reign of slap-and-strip-bheri’s people , during which Guyana’s f notoriety for suicide was established. The people though seemed interested in collaboration now to do things which they did not do.

The University of Guyana will be hosting a panel discussion on Monday 12^th September on suicide prevention. The Minister of Public Health and his colleague, Dr Bhiro Harry are included on the panel.

A few people like me, despair at feeling that the same things would be said like in the past, without any commitment to actual improvement in services.

The Minister and his colleague have the opportunity to talk about how the Ministry of Public Health will be leading in suicide prevention.

The Ministry should be identifying the public servants and professionals who will be accountable for the various aspects of the National Mental Health Plan. There is a reference to an acting Head of the Mental Health Unit. Acting positions in the Public Service are supposed to be temporary while others are on leave. Guyana has had public heath successes in the past, which have been led by champions. Dr Giglioli’s role in dealing with malaria is well known.

We need a Dr Giglioili , for mental health and suicide prevention. It is unfair to place that responsibility on someone whose appointment is uncertain.

While the Minister is probably honest about not knowing the rates, he should be talking about what actions he is taking to get them.

He should be talking about who is responsible for giving him the data so the public understands the nature of the problem.

The Minster should be talking about the numbers of persons who are being trained in psychology and psychiatry. He should be talking about whether the Ministry is open to alternative care models for mental health and suicide prevention.

The Minister should be talking about the funding he has available and how this money will be spent. The Minister and his team should be talking about what they will be doing differently from the past administrations.

The Ministry should be talking about the resources they have available to share with communities, NGOs and others who want to contribute to mental health promotion.

The Minister and his team should be talking about the deadlines to change the laws which criminalise suicide. They might have information on the impact the criminalisation has had on reporting, and on offering care.

The researchers in the 1972 study wrote in their conclusions that “ Widespread press publicity exploiting  the dramatic aspects of cases in which rejected love is the motivation for poisoning has helped to give malathion an aura of lethality.”

The researchers noted that several patients had selected malathion because they had read in the newspapers that malathion was a particularly strong poison. They said that ”journalistic sensationalism” made the newspapers a convenient tool for those who wanted to cry for help and attention and.

The researchers recommended that “In view of this pattern, control measures should be considered.. to curtail the sensational reports in the press of any suicides”

The Guyana Press Association held a workshop on 29/30 April 2016 to train media workers in reporting on suicide. There were guidelines which were discussed.

Hopefully, the GPA and members of the media will adopt the guidelines which would follow the recommendations made 44 years ago.

The stories of individual suicides are often reflected on the despair of family members and friends. The 1972 researchers used language which we would not use today to describe how the media can be co-opted unwittingly in giving prominence to those who feel their problems are not being heard.

President Granger used that workshop to talk about the role of the media in Guyana, in holding the state accountable.

The media could play a role in reporting on the in ensuring that the Ministry of Public Health is leading in the work to reduce suicide and to help in promoting the benefits of good practice and care. 

While there is no funding like there was for HIV/AIDS, the media has opportunity to look at all aspects of suicide prevention rather than just the last days and lives of those who take their own lives.

Flower, by Fiona Alert

Fiona Alert, another student in the Burrowes School of Art exhibition called one of her paintings “Flower” . The painting shows a girl , maybe in a sari with a flower behind her ear.

Ms Alert said that ‘Flower’ was referring to the girl, and not just the flower behind the girl’s ear.

Flowers, like humans , require care, nurturing. Care and empathy are required to ensure successful interventions in mental health.

In a country in which the Town Clerk of a city can behave in ways which draws the attention of the President, it seems impossible to talk about care as a value.

The secret garden, Paradise does not have to be imagined. It can be made real as long as we hold the politicians and public servants accountable for their duties, be it mental health or justice or creating and maintaining gardens.

The Guyana Inter-agency Suicide Helpline operates 24 hours, and is organised by the Guyana Police Force.

Telephone -223-0001, 223-0009,

Cellphone – 600-7896 (toll free from Digicel phones), 623-4444

Email – guyagency@yahoo.com

Bbm pin – 2BE55649, 2BE56020

Twitter – @guyanaagency

Whatsapp – 592-600-7896 592-623-4444