Thoughts of a minibus traveller

  "Healing and Trauma : Stages" was the theme of the 13th virtual conversation on domestic violence on 29 July, 2021. Persons joined from New Amsterdam, Linden and Georgetown in Guyana; Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, Canada, UK, USA.  Carlotta Boodie-Walcott shared the opening thoughts and the conversation was facilitated by Vidyaratha Kissoon Trauma The following points were noted about surviving traumatic experiences:- the experiences could be one off (eg an accident, experience of a crime, incidence of violence,), or pattern of experiences (in abusive situations, neglect as a child, compounded with other experiences) Trauma results in a disconnection/disassociation with self as a way the body uses to survive.. the memory/memories can be hidden or suppressed trauma can be manifested in different ways - insomnia, physical health problems, mental health problems, eating disorders and other addictions, dysfunctional relationships and sometimes much later on from when the inc...

Cabinet about crying Cabinet meeting and Real Prezident was vex really bad. "What yall tink it is, a blasted funeral"  Pretend Prezident was not listening as he was thinking of the shade thrown about how there were no more post-Cabinet press briefings like the good old days. But how could he explain that no decisions were really made in Cabinet and that just in Whatsapp messages and exchanges and that he only found out sometimes when he was reading the newspapers or scrolling through his fake Facebook profile.  Real Prezident had called the meeting because there was an increase of Ministuhs breaking down and crying when they were out and about . The flood disasters had ended and he had been pleased with how the camera people had found nice images of the Ministuhs wading in the waters and so. But now that flood  Crying "You are supposed to make people cry, not cry in front of people. " He turned to the Ministuh of Misinformation - and you.. you need to tell your peop...

  Dear Penis, the recent deaths by suicide of men are on my mind. In the last two months, I am aware of about seven deaths by suicide, five of men - four of them - men my age group. I know two of the men - men almost like me, connected in some way to community, Hindu, 50 + and who would have said 'okay' if anybody had asked them how they doing. It seems like while dealing with the pandemic and the floods, that we continue to have deaths by suicide and that we are heading back to 2014 when Guyana had the highest rate of suicide in the world. The society in Guyana had then tried to respond and there were groups and so who did public education work. Covid-19 and so on have probably limited some of this work now. Dear Penis, are there more people who are thinking about, attempting  and dying by suicide that we know about? And is there a problem  and like most problems affecting us, your owners, we are not going to do something about it? What the hell going on Penis? I learned...

  Bus "I aint see you fuh a long time" bus conductor says and I could hear the smile behind the mask as we bump fists in the Covid greeting.. I jump in the front seat. Radio playing and bus driver and conductor stopping, reversing, looking for passengers and having nice back and forth conversation that kind of mellow and cool in the hot sun. Driver with cap and so.. mask on his chin . Driver tell me jump out so passenger could come in. Tall woman, yellow tee shirt tucked in white jeans and yellow band around her afro. She says afternoon, and sits between me and driver. Radio man talk about how to eat avocado with some crush up Club Social and put honey on it and driver say whah.. and conductor say yeah honey... you aint know honey does wuk good wid anything and we talk about what to eat honey wid and how some people have 'honey roasted chicken' on de menu board but is really bun shugah chicken..  Conductor ask if we never drink XM wid honey..  woman on the radio say h...

  The conversation about Intimate Partner Violence in LGBTIQ+ relationships was held on 24 June, 2021. The conversation was held in collaboration with Guyana Rainbow Foundation(Guybow).  Dr Preity Kumar, Asst Professor, Hamilton College, New York  and Colleen McEwan, Executive Director, Guybow shared opening thoughts to lead the discussion.  Carlotta Boodie-Walcott and Vidyaratha Kissoon facilitated the conversation.  Preity shared from the research she had done as part of PhD. Her thesis "Women Lovin’ Women: An Exploration of Identities, Belonging, and Communities in Urban and Rural Guyana" includes a chapter  on the Culture of Violence experienced by the women who shared their stories.  The culture of violence experienced by the women was connected to experiences of early childhood abuse, suicidal thoughts and attempts, non suicidal self harm, sexual violence,  racialised sexual violence , psychological and economic violence. Colleen reflected ...

   Sanitising..  Wake up feeling tired and thinking of things left to be done. This was not the plan.. the 'taking the break' so that I could wake up with nothing to be done. Body and mind reacting to the no sleep and there is a restlessness in the tired body like tiny tiny twitches all over which are networked with the nerves in the pain. Twitches from the things I had to do, the flood, the vaccine uncertainty, the changes in body in mind which age, the income earning, the exhaustion from managing the diabetes without having to resort to meds.. and maybe it is the moon,.. Strange things in the week as I accept that I cannot do what I did before and cannot do the same things as before. Found myself rehearsing about five times for a 10 minute thing which I have done before many things but I no longer trust myself to wing it. And while sleep comes the night before, the sleep does not come the night after as another thing comes up. And that even the yoga routine does not rea...

 The problems..  "My husband consumed alcohol to deal with problems. So he would go drink when he was upset/annoyed and behave like a crazy person, cursing, hitting, screaming throwing around food .."  "... alcohol only causes more problems in relationships as it does not solve anything.. " The woman who was waiting on electricity to join the conversation and sent a text to say why she wanted to come. The violence and abuse in the marriage, increased with alcohol. One of the problems related to alcohol consumption which is not talked about in Guyana.  The other problems which include the death and injuries caused to alcohol induced violence, including drunk driving, the chronic physical and mental health problems. Alcohol is a legal drug in Guyana, celebrated as part of the heritage and culture.  The two alcohol companies in Guyana reported increased profits of 11.7% and 15.9% during a bad year of pandemic and Elections 2020 - while other people were counting lo...