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Oct 06, 2013 News
“You know, there is that saying, that the devil finds work for idle hands? That is why we are committed to help keep our youths so preoccupied with positive pursuits, such as sports and other activities, that they won’t have the time, or feel the need, to engage in negative or self-destructive activities.”
By Enid Joaquin
He is one of those people, who, regardless of their personal achievement, and obvious success, never loses touch with the common folk – is never too big to visit the ghettos, and connects with the ‘homeboys’, and certainly never forgets where he came from.
He is also one of the very few adults, who is forever cognizant of his own challenges and struggles as a youth, and can readily empathize with, and encourage today’s youths in his quest to help steer them away from most of the negative pursuits that somehow always seem most alluring to the young and gullible.
Renis Morian, our special person this week, has as they say ‘been there, done that!’ So with such abundant experience, who better to seek to help our youths, to rise above their challenges?
Morian has certainly come a long way from the days when he was a member of the “No Collar Gang”, while still at school. They numbered about twenty five, and our erstwhile ‘bad boy’, exhibiting leadership skills even at that tender age, was the head of the notorious group.
Gambling, girls, parties and violent behaviour were second nature in those days.
For most of the gang, that way of life would ultimately lead to their violent deaths.
But Renis was lucky – he quit before it was too late, and today he is thankful to God, and for the advice of an elderly woman, which he heeded.
“This woman told me that I would lose my life, if I didn’t change my lifestyle. At the time, I was seriously violent – seriously aggressive, and very protective of family.”
Though he did not at the time recognize it, her words had a great impact on his life, as he would later change, and started to go to church.
He is now more than equipped to guide youths away from those pursuits that can ultimately destroy them, the way it destroyed fourteen of his accomplices so many years ago.
Coming out of a broken home, Morian’s life was never smooth sailing. He grew up in Delph Street, Campbellville and attended Campbellville Government School, Comenius Moravian School and the Guyana Progressive College.
He dropped out of school in fourth form, but later returned upon the advice of his headmaster.
“My Headmaster Mr Gopaul came home and begged me to return to school. He said even if you don’t like my school and don’t want to come back, just find a school and go back to school.”
Morian admits that things back then were ‘not easy’, but he returned to school.
“When I wrote the College of Preceptors, it was a neighbour who paid the fee for me, which was only thirty dollars, and my mother paid it back over a period of time. But I was successful – I even gained a number of distinctions, despite all the challenges.”
He would later take up the post of a Teacher at the age of seventeen at the Helena Government School, at Mahaica.
“The Headmaster at the time was Mr Jeeboo, and he was a source of real encouragement to me, he had me serve with him in teaching the Common Entrance class”.
That teaching stint was however short-lived, when he absconded after there was talk of him having to enroll in the teacher’s training college.
During that time he would meet a preacher by the name of Malcolm Sobers who encouraged him to go to Church. But he was conflicted, because there was the new gang that he had established at Mahaica, there were the girls, and now there was this preacher encouraging him to go to church.
The Church would eventually win out, after he moved to Linden with his mother and siblings, who had landed jobs in the mining town.
“In those days Linden was prosperous, so it was easy to get a job. After I came here, I joined the Fruits of Calvary Church, and I also got a job at the Surapana Farm as a labourer. That however, created a furor in the church and among my friends, who wanted to know, why I would jump from being a teacher, to being a labourer on a farm.
But I had my reasons – the job provided me with some money, and time to study. At the time I was reading for my ‘A’ levels in Economics and writing five more subjects at ‘O’ levels.
But after awhile realizing that I needed more time to study I left the job, and I would be at the Linden Library when it opened at nine, when it closed at twelve-thirty, when it reopened at two-thirty, and I would be there until it closed in the evening, at around eight o’clock. This would be my routine every day, Monday to Friday.”
It was during this time that Renis would meet his wife Dawn, who at the time was still in High School. The two would tie the knot when Morian was in his early twenties.
He would also land a job with the National Insurance Scheme as a messenger, after completing his Advanced Levels. However he did not remain in that position for long, as he soon jumped to Claims Acceptance Officer at the front desk.
Morian would later move on, after applying to the Bauxite Company for a position, and was offered a job as a checker, in the company’s Machine shop. That job entailed tabulating workers’ time. He would also serve as checker when the Wisroc Housing Scheme was being established.
After serving with the Company for a short while, and with the encouragement of some people in the church overseas, he would subsequently go to Jamaica where he did a first degree in Social Work.
After completing the programme, Morian returned to Guyana, where he became more actively engaged in the Church. He would later do a post graduate degree in Statistics and Management in London.
That programme would afford Morian the opportunity to gain employment with Guyana National Engineering Corporation, as project Officer for the Bel Lu Clay Brick Factory, on the East Bank of Demerara.
He also had to report on shipbuilding and repairs, and the prototype workshop, which was involved in the manufacturing of agricultural implements.
Morian would work there for about two years, and then moved on to the Guyana Export Promotion Company, where he worked as the Export Promotions Officer. Throughout this period, he was travelling back and forth between Georgetown and Linden, and all the while he was involved in community work in Linden.
By then an accomplished musician, who played the keyboard, guitar and drums, Morian was playing at concerts and other social functions around the mining town.
It was while at Guyana Export Promotions that Morian, whose managerial astuteness was recognized, was sent to Barbados to study a “Computerized link up for Caricom”.
“It was a trade link where we were promoting non-traditional exports from Guyana. My job was to research the demand for all agricultural produce that were nontraditional in the Caribbean. I did a monthly publication called ‘The Exporter’, and a compilation over five years of Guyana’s non-traditional exports, to the Caribbean.”
Morian was subsequently promoted to senior Export Promotion Officer, after his return to Guyana. He later landed a job in agricultural statistics, which was a US$12M IDB/Government of Guyana agricultural rehabilitation programme. Although the job required a Masters degree, Morian was successful in his application, because of his vast experience in statistics. He was responsible for the baseline study, and the ultimate project document which formed the foundation for the project. Other responsibilities included looking at market demand, use of chemicals and water contamination.
Morian also had responsibility for workers’ welfare, and interviewed persons who were seeking loans under the project, among other things.
As the project came to a close, he was afforded the opportunity to attend the University of Wisconsin, to study for a Diploma in Disaster Preparedness.
Upon his return, Morian would venture into his own business of project management and preparation of business proposals. He would also manage one of the components of the OXFAM flood programme during the 2005 floods in Guyana, and was later hired as a consultant with LEAP, which was at the time doing a rapid assessment of agriculture development in Region 10.
After that project came to an end, Morian would become fully immersed in community developmental activities.
That would see him forming the group, the Christian Development Foundation (CDF), a group of Linden Professionals committed to bringing people together, and assisting them in their quest for a better life.
The group would begin working with residents across Region 10 in the area of agriculture. Their main focus at the time was creating sustainable communities.
“So we thought ‘what could we put into communities that could help sustain them?’ – and the answer was of course food.”
CDF was also instrumental in training single mothers to become entrepreneurs, and assisted and encouraged others to become involved in agriculture.
Morian is presently the coordinator for the CDF.
Currently the group’s special focus is on youth development, and as such several playfields and other open spaces, across Region Ten, have been identified for upgrading.
Morian says there is a lot to be done across the region, but the CDF is currently focusing on recreational facilities.
“Presently we are seeking partnerships with our business people, who can come on board with us to assist in whatever way. As a matter of fact, we would be asking them to donate even if it’s one football or basketball each. We have a suite of activities, or programmes, for the young people in this Region, in the areas of education, sports and even agriculture.
With regard to sports, Morian has spoken to several coaches, who expressed interest in lending support.
“We recognize that young people are really fighting hard to stay in school, and they are also going out on the open grounds for recreation, so we would like to support them, as much as possible.”
“You know, there is that saying, that the devil finds work for idle hands? That is why we are committed to help keep our youths so preoccupied with positive pursuits, such as sports and other activities, that they won’t have the time, or feel the need, to engage in negative or self-destructive activities.”
Also in support of education, Morian recently presented twenty-five students from the Harmony Secondary School, who are preparing to write CSEC next year, with backpacks and school supplies. He is grateful to partners in Brooklyn, New York, and others including the Food for the Poor, who lent their support towards the worthy cause.
“I believe that once we can come together and help support each other, we can reduce a lot of the negativity with which we are faced; and we would be lending support not only in the area of sport, but in education, agriculture and other areas. There is so much to be done, but we can only develop, when we support each other,” Morian says.
Our ‘Special Person’ is married, has two children, and is presently the pastor of the Fruits of Calvary Church on Burnham Drive, Wismar, Linden, and APNU Member of Parliament.
Because he has so selflessly given of both his time and resources over the years, in helping to make the lives of others better, he is truly worth the recognition.
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