Latest update April 24th, 2024 12:59 AM
Nov 25, 2015 Letters
Dear Editor,
As an eighteen year old student studying overseas, I was deeply distraught when I read the story about the recent suicide of a young woman at Kaieteur Falls.
Over the past few days, I have been doing some critical thinking about what happened and about what can cause Guyana to have the highest suicide rate in the world being such a small nation with below one million citizens.
While thinking I could not chalk up these statistics to nothing more than a flawed government and flawed system. It baffles me that all the various parties and Presidents that have held office have failed to yet come up with a comprehensive solution to this problem among many other problems plaguing the Guyanese population at large.
In my opinion the first step to combating this suicide phenomenon is for the Government to integrate guidance counselors and social workers in all schools at the tertiary, secondary and primary levels, and also make it mandatory that some companies provide access to therapists etc for their employees.
A lot of times when persons commit suicide we may want to say it’s because they lack willpower or a strong mind or that the devil confused them or something of the sort, but the fact of the matter is that no one knows what crosses or burdens these victims are bearing.
We may see them walking down the street with a smile as bright as day but they may have deep-seated problems, whether at home with their families, relationship problems, problems with friends and peers among others.
We need to establish a system where a teacher will send certain students that exhibit certain signs or behaviors to the guidance counselor so they may assess and help them accordingly.
Another thing that popped up in my train of thought was the fact that many persons living in Guyana are deeply oppressed. Many persons in Guyana are working for a salary that stands below GYD $100,000 which is equivalent to approximately $500 USD.
I am a worker at a fast food joint and I make $800 which is far more money than trained nurses and teachers in Guyana.
Government officials are seeking a raise for themselves when in actuality they need to raise the minimum wage to no less than GYD $100,000. Have those officials ever had to live on $40,000 a month when your rent and bills are almost $30,000 it is absurd.
Persons should be working for a salary where they can afford to pay their obligations and yet afford some quality of life where they can take a vacation or spend time with family or afford to do something relaxing and meaningful to them.
It is this sort of financial oppression that is causing drugs and crime to reign supreme in Guyana, since persons cannot earn a substantial living without doing illegalities. It is this sort of oppression that is causing us to lose our skilled workers to more developed nations where they are better paid and better appreciated.
On a last note why does the government continually spend on only providing scholarships for lawyers to UWI, doctors to Cuba and China etc? A country cannot only run with lawyers, doctors, nurses and teachers.
We need more engineers, more biologist, scientists, social workers, psychologists, more computer engineers etc. so that they can help come up with more integration and ideas that can help propel the country forward.
We need to change the stigma and the rotten stench that accompanies the name Guyana as being the suicide capital of the world or being one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere.
We need to do something; those old heads in power need to reach out and get younger generations more involved in Government and government policy since we are the ones who’s futures they are deciding on
Tevin Skeete
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