Thoughts of a minibus traveller

  April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The 10th Conversation on Domestic Violence prevention was held around the theme 'Let's talk about Consent'. The conversation was held on Thursday 29th April, 2021. Participants joined from Linden, New Amsterdam and other parts of Guyana, and from Barbados and the USA. The conversation was facilitated by Carlotta Boodie-Walcott and Vidyaratha Kissoon These notes reflect some of the discussions.  Consent Guyana's Sexual Offences Act (2010) defines 'consent' as "words or overt actions by a person who is competent to give informed consent indicating a freely given agreement to have sexual intercourse or other sexual contact;"  We discussed the aspects of consent related to having information for consequences, for understanding how people can be fooled into giving consent. Foreplay, communication We discussed that the culture has some values that 'no means yes' and that some people believe that men have to ...

  Smiling "Man, 70 years old and I still learning.." the man said in the supermarket as he held up the pack of biscuits to the electronic price checker. "You know I never see this thing hey all the time.. "  He laughed as he picked up the items from his basket and fixed the barcode under the scanner.  The joy in learning something new.  A long time ago , I thought it would be good to answer a question in the daily journal "What did you do new today/learn today? and thinking mental health wise that I would be putting in things which made me smile like the man in the supermarket. Control Covid-19 forced change on us so what we had to do things in new ways. Most of the changes did not bring joy. Other life events force change on us and it is easy to be caught up in the anxiety of resisting change and the new things and not discovering new things. Like blood clots and vaccines and so. And so I wrote 'nothing really' for most of the days of the last year a...