Thoughts of a minibus traveller

L - image from Nigel Niix Butler; R- Image from Dominic Fernandes   Mouth..  Dominic Fernandes showed the man the Pledge by Men to End Violence against Women and Girls . The man said 'I don't do dem things.. me mout aint got cover, if I see any man being like duh I would holler pun he'.  Hot Thursday afternoon, first groundings since December 2024. Books laid out on an old freezer left near avenue, or owned by a cool down vendor. Hot dog stand opposite in front of the GRA building. Sherlina Nageer, Dominic Fernandes, Nigel Niix Butler and I  started on the Camp Street Avenue.   Sherlina leading on the discussions about access to safe abortion  . Dominic, Nigel and I engaging men about the pledge to end violence and about questioning ways of being a man generally.  Nigel set up two stools and started painting when we moved to the nice cool spot at Camp and Robb Street.  Groundings now evolving - Rodney; books and gaff;, books, poems and gaff; ...

Six candles  There were six candles on the table . Each one had the names of th e women and girls who died after experiencing violence from men who knew them. One candle for each of : 13 year old Millie Miguel 16 year old Janelly David 64 year old Parbhudai Boodram 40 year old Shameeza Mohammed 27 year old Kenesha Vaughn As sun went down, the organisers lit the candles on the table while others who came to keep the vigil used some of the battery operated lights.  I could not hold any more candles or lights. I could not wear the purple ribbon.  Many of the people at the vigil looked young, probably even born when Guyana passed the Domestic Violence Act in 1996. In November 2024, after the Red Shoe event, I had written about not wanting to look at the red shoes thinking of the other shoes which would be ad ded. 13 year old Millie Miguel was supposed to be protected by the Child Protection Act and other mechanisms. Adults made the reports but the State failed her.  Jan...

Denisse Tramolao , CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons Red Shoes on the seawall  "You know this violence getting worse, this place getting more violent" the teacher told me as we ate ice cream on the seawall. There is a nice breeze, not too cool, and ice-cream was cooling. We were watching on a bit, far from the  The Women and Gender Equality Commission and Civil Society National Reference Group hosted a Red Shoe event on the Kingston Seawalls on 25 November, 2024 as part of activities to commemorate the 16 Days of activism against gender-based violence. In 2 009, Mexican artist Elina Chauvet   created an installation of red shoes- zapotos rojas- to remember Mexican women who were killed in Juárez, Mexico. Since then the event has been replicated in other countries as part of the activism against gender-based violence. In the minibus to the seawall, driver was playing music where DJ was talking about battyboy and how he not into violence but self defence (against battyb...

  (This is not a review of either ' Pleasantview' by Celeste Mohammed or ' What storm what Thunder' by Myriam J. A Chancy There might be some spoilers )  Domestic workers May Day morning and I stand with Red Thread for an hour or so to make up for the privilege which includes being in a book club where we discussed two books the day before.  Red Thread is part of the Caribbean Domestic Workers Network   .  Red Thread and the Network use May Day to advocate for rights of domestic workers and to highlight the value of caring work.  We chat about caring work, experiences of domestic workers, women who work as security guards while we wait for the May Day parade to pass. The conversation about domestic workers' experiences is similar to what Sonia says in What Storm What Thunder "My mother had always told me that she wanted me to do something more with my life than work in a rich man’s house. It was too much work, she said, tiring work, she who had worked as...

  Bus pulls up with driver alone and I am glad to stumble in the front seat to half lie half sit down. I hear the driver's reply to the morning from the body which dealing with stomach bug.  Kind of short reply, polite. Radio playing Bus drives pass a man, and then stops after man waves hand from behind the bus. Man jumps in the bus. 'Sorry, I was on phone.... morning' Me and driver mumble morning. Man asks from the back 'You from Nigeria'.. My mind shifts from the stomach to the driver's response and curiosity about man from oil producing Nigeria coming to oil producing Guyana to join the minibus madness on the roads . Driver gives a quiet, 'yes'.. Man in the back says 'You bring any Nigerian girls wid you.. dem woman tick and nice' Driver is silent for a bit.. says 'I don't understand what you ask..' I want to know about transition from Nigeria to Guyana and trying to establish some brotherhood of the enjoyment of oil money..  man i...

    Nice men A man in his thirties kills himself and his wife.    My social media friends has a whole set of shock and condolences, disbelief.. for the man who was a nice helpful sociable man who was kind to many other people.    There are hints of 'she mussee do somethign fuh mek he trip out'..    Other nice polite men, helpful men, powerful men are abusers , but people still vote for them, put them as the leaders. The nice army man. The nice Minister of Health who people voted back in power. The nice President now Vice-President. The other Ministers and politicians and church leaders and business leaders and entertainers and activists for democracy and so on.   Some of the nice men join with President Ali's Men on Mission.   The University of Guyana hosted a forum on 2 December, 2022 to talk about men ending gender based violence.  The questions which they hoped the panel would answer included:   What role do you feel men sho...

    Beyond the mask "You think I would not recognise you with the mask" the woman said and I could imagine her smiling behind her mask as her eyes were bright and face relaxed as faces do when people smile. I had been shuffling down the pavement, tripping over the bumps and so and at some point I thought to lift my shoulders and look ahead and walk purposefully and so on.. The woman walked passed me and turned back. Bright red turban, armless dress. Back straight and smooth quick movements. "I can never forget yall" she said.   The late 1990s in Guyana. The man who married her was abusive to her, burn her with hot water. Her church did not believe in divorce. Help & Shelter and Legal Aid had just started up. The legislation was being tested. "I was depressed for a long time.. grateful for everyone who helped .." she said, remembering counsellors,  lawyers, people who had to walk with her. "I surrendered to Yahweh." she said.. "in the nas...

Navratri A clear night one Navratri. Beautiful satsangh in a beautiful mandir.  Mandir created as so many others in Guyana out of community desire for sacred space. Our Hindu ancestors came and land was set aside and made holy. Navratri celebrations are popular.  We sang that night in the Ramayana Gole, like the ancestors.  Young pandit, young people seem to be leading things. The blessing in connection, not so much to Shakti, the Divine Feminine energy, but to the ancestors who sustained belief in that Energy. Come out at the back of the mandir to look at the sky. See the smouldering pile.  Styrofoam boxes.. slowly burning.. huge pile.. plastic containers also burning. Wish I could say something. I don't know the people though. Host, guest relationship. Similar issues around as the generosity of the mandir hosts , the new technology of the disposable 'sanitary' , the noise, the murtis out of plastic, means around the world that Hindu festivals now create environment...

Cutlass "Do you have a cutlass to lend me?" the woman asked me.  She had taken the money from me, fingers slightly curled. Skin on her hands, like the skin on her face and arms, kind of golden brown and wrinkled. Her eyes shine in the face. She does not say much usually. Sometimes I hear thanks. "I will bring it back.. " she says. The woman stands under the tree and looks at the house. When there was a jhandi flag in front of the house sometimes I saw her praying in the direction of the flag. She has been coming for a few years. She stands under the tree. I think sometimes she calls. The security guard opposite had said that she comes often, waits, and then moves off.  She has some brightly coloured blouses and skirts. She wears a headtie, wrapped like a rumal.  She always has a bag, wearing on the right side. Slippers. She is about 5ft tall, slightly bent. Thin.  She never comes on the bridge to hit the gate. I give her money. She has never asked for m...

Red handwriting Monday 24 November, 1997. I am at work, work being in the Information Systems Department at Guysuco. The Co-ordinator of Help & Shelter calls. "Vidya, there is a woman here to see you... she insists that she wants to see you" I am puzzled, I don't go during the day. "Vidya.. the woman says she has come to see you.., let me know when you can come" The Systems Manager is okay with me stepping out. I am a little frightened in case I did something wrong. The woman, in her fifties,  is sitting in one of the Counselling rooms. She has a newspaper clipping in her hand. The clipping is kind of open as though she was reading it again. A newspaper clipping of the article Andaiye had 'asked' me to write (it was more told me to write) for her Sunday column Woman's eye View. "This article, it was like you were talking to me. I saw it, I decided to come down, to get out of my situation.. "  She talked. I listened...

  Statement in support of women’s rights to non-discriminatory access to sexual and reproductive health rights and services: The Need to Decriminalise Abortion in Jamaica We, the undersigned social justice and women’s organisations and individual advocates, note the parliamentary consultations on the law on abortion in Jamaica. Within CARICOM, Barbados (1983) and Guyana (1995) have led the way with legislation that decriminalizes the termination of pregnancy. Belize, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have expanded the exceptions that allow for abortion under the criminal law. In the Caribbean and internationally, access to safe termination of pregnancy is a social justice and human rights issue. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), unsafe abortions make up 20percent of all maternal deaths globally.  Women between the ages of 15-49 in Latin America and the Caribbean have a rate of unsafe abortions of 41 pe...

Minibus 42 short drop bus park is confusing and even though I am mindful and being aware of my surroundings, I can't figure out which bus to go. Woman in a blue blouse and a cap , wearing long (rain) boots tells me come come,, short drop yes yes and I trust her and go as I realise I never get call to no minibus or car by a woman before. I kind of scan the bus and realise that I am the only man so far, and more women join the bus. I buy a pack of 'sweet nuts' (man had sweet nuts and salt nuts) which is what happens when you waiting on the bus to full. A chatty woman in the seat behind me seems to know the others (or maybe she been sitting there long and they now know each other well). Conversation is loud and I stop being polite and just open my ears as I eat the sweet nuts. "Strong coolie woman" "She is a strong coolie woman" the women say about a woman who is dealing with a violent husband. "He put she in hospital already", "Sh...

Screenshot from Chitthiye video "My sister is queer.. I don't know what she will do" the young man of Indian origins told me , in a quiet matter-of-fact way. He and his family were returning to India. I am thinking of his sister, and him as I laughed and went 'Wow' and got angry several times watching  Ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga. The film does not have any hot Lesbian love scenes.  And they do not kill off the lesbians like what happened in Fire. There is a hint of the heroine 'ending it all' , a Bollywood theme. The film is about, Sweety,  a woman who loves a woman,  and her relationship with different men and her grandmother who love her.  The director Shelly Chopra Dhar said this was not meant to be an LGBTQ love story. There are stories about LGBTQ characters in Indian cinema, and some love stories. Many of them end with death, as happens in real life. There are some poweful moments in the dialogue, laughter and wit generated in som...