A wake-up call to improvise our social infrastructure

Dear Editor,

How ironic! A seven-year-old child suffered death from probably her mother’s strangulation! It was on the very day that Guyanese are reminded, “not to forget the central message of triumph over sin and death that Easter heralds, bringing a season of hope and joy.” Not only are siblings, relatives, friends, students, neighbours, villagers and the community of Fyrish Road devastated from this horrifying news, but an entire country is left shocked, surprised and sensitised from this sinister situation.

To “live in hope and die in despair” is a famous linked paradoxical phrase in which Benjamin Franklin and/or Alexandre Dumas suggests that “relying solely on empty hope – rather than action – leads to ultimate disappointment. On the contrary, hope can be an anchor found in a religious faith during difficult and challenging times.

To continue quoting from PSALM 30:5: “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” The morning after brought more piercing pains, sorrowful sadness, disdainful discomforts and more querulous questions. More miseries came in the morning. Joy will not come for many moons from this moment.

Knowing Guyanese custom and tradition, the rumour mongers will have a field day and the unofficial surgeons will perform their post mortems to exacerbate, exaggerate and explain but only succeeding to exasperate an already unnecessary grim experience. But Guyanese will be Guyanese and, “the more things change, the more they remain the same!” It is our innate habit.

But with all things not being equal, this tragic incident should be another wake up call for Guyana to get back to the drawing board and review its social infrastructure, revamp its help mechanism and rewrite its executed operation. Definitely, all is not well and there are already, certainly, certain positive foresights being implemented in a supportive role while mindful of negative hindsight yet to be overcome. Everything cannot be anticipated and the system functions within proximity and limitation.

We cannot help remembering the woeful death of a young female (pregnant?) earlier this year, subjected to assumed health issues other than physical, who jumped from a hospital’s window. Another unfortunate memory lane from last year led to Anna Catherina, when the “sudden passing” of a female teacher was perhaps due to stress, strain and subliminal effects.

When everything is said, understood and taken for granted, a coin does have three sides, and different objects, like issues, incidents and situations, do come in various shapes, forms, colors, and textures, subject to information, investigation and interpretation.

Not to understate but to underline, this afflicted affair is yet another reflection of how fragile our social infrastructure is, how vulnerable people are to oppression, depression and suppression, how weak the welfare system is and how much more is required to be undertaken to provide and protect such susceptibility.

On close examination, did the number of available resources fail the supportive system and undermine the priority of proactive effectiveness for efficiency? Playing the “blame game” is not the motive. But the goal post should be shifted to anticipation and prevention based on initiation and intuition from community institutions, rather than resorting to reactive application.

All of Guyana mourns with members of the bereaved family for that flower which was ruthlessly plucked and prevented from being fully blooming. A revisit to our communities to revise their needs and truly understand their current problems cannot be overstated. Complacency must be ruled out.