Thoughts of a minibus traveller

  Dear Janelly David, I am sorry we , your nation,  your community, other men around you could not stop t he man from killing you. Y ou are 16 years old and many people hope that 16 years old would be close to completing school. I am sorry that we could not make things good for you to be in school. What dreams did you have? What did you like to do? What did you want for yourself? What did you want to be when you grew up?   I am sorry that if you were experiencing problems, that we did not do enough to make sure that you knew how to be in a good relationship, and where to get help if things went bad.   I am sorry, that even though you are living in a place with a lot of gold, and a lot of oil, that the man killed you.   Did you know about the One Guyana Ministerial Task Force which was set up to tackle the "social ills" , which resulted in the man killing you? Did you feel a part of President Ali's One Guyana, living in the mining camp?  The Village ...

Image from Saving Chupie by Amparo Ortiz; and book cover Reading .. "I find it difficult to read.. so hard to focus sometimes' the woman who used to read more than me tells me. We are the same age, and I know, reading, moving, living, sleeping, eating.. all need some focus and attention these days as they don't seem to happen as easily as before. But as the experts keep shouting that movement is medicine for the body, mind also gotta move and so 3am. I wake up, stomach feeling queasy. I breathe and so, relax.. yeah okay, I will sort you out later. Anxiety about health issues. Feeling the kind of awakeness and sleepiness. Get up and turn on light and go back under the bed.. and move away from my belly and body to New Amsterdam and Berbice and Guyana in Maggie Harris' childhood in Kiskadee Days.. and then I finish the book, and realise it is dawn. and mind back to belly and body and moving out of the bed to Guyana in 2025. Grateful though that focus was found so that the...