Tragedy on the East Coast

I feel like I would be telling a lie or living out an important event in my time here if I didn’t write this blog post as I have been contemplating doing and not doing since the weekend. If I was going to write a disclaimer for this blog, it would be that though I have tried to keep details to a minimum, I still try to share with you what I have seen and heard. It is also important for you all to know that I am a bright girl and I am safe. On that note, I was smart enough to call my parents instead of just letting them read this, so don’t worry. I am going to call on the help of the BBC news report ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7212861.stm) to tell this story with facts as well as touch on some local newspapers, but the story is very hard to find in them.

This is the longest it has ever taken me to write a post.

My usual routine on a Saturday morning is to sleep in a little bit, make some breakfast and watch an uplifting Hallmark or Lifetime movie (depending on which signal the station feels like borrowing). I had a pleasant surprise to be watching “Back to the Future” which I had never seen. Michael J Fox was stuck in the past when the movie was interrupted by breaking news.

Early that Saturday morning there had been a weekend rampage in only 20 minutes where 20 to 25 gunmen had stormed homes … to murder… massacre… execute… 11 innocent people in a small village called Lusignan east of the capital Georgetown where I live. Among the dead were five children. The motive was not robbery because they had nothing to steal, but the intention was to kill. I have always found it difficult to stomach the newspaper reports here with their details and pictures that would never be published in Canada, but the surprise of the report and the shock of the news did not prepare me to be taken with the camera crew into the homes of those who had been killed only a few hours before.

“How do people recover from the brutish blitz of these gunmen and the trauma they wrought and imprinted indelibly? Like the horror of the two children in the final seconds of their life as they cowered and sought the protection of their mother who was also brutally gunned down. Or the mother who saw her children lined up before her eyes and mowed down. Or the wife who saw her husband being dragged from under the bed and being blasted in the head. Or the child in hospital barely clinging to life unaware that two of his cherished siblings and his father are no more.” Monday, January 28th 2008, Stabroek News, editorial

The news reports shocked me to the core and I didn’t think I was going to be able to stomach the video, quite literally. I was even more disturbed as the day progressed and the various channels continued to cover the story and fight for details, new perspectives, and my usual reliable channel for a good Hallmark or Lifetime movie, proceeded to play the series of movies based on the Vigilante and a collection of Steven Segal’s movies – no themes of retaliation, revenge or taking matters into your own hands there.

It is thought that the murders were committed by a criminal gang led by one of the country’s most wanted men, Rondell Rawlins (also wanted for the murder of a government minister in 2006). He is accusing government forces of kidnapping his pregnant girlfriend and placed telephone threats warning of what would happen if she was not returned. There is currently a G$30 million reward for information leading to his capture.

There are a million and one rumours about the response of police to the attacks, the whereabouts/status of the missing pregnant girlfriend, the location of the gang, and their next attack that I don’t feel are worth repeating. Somewhere in them I am sure is the truth and hopefully somebody finds it soon. Taxi drivers are an excellent source of background information.

As if the act in itself were not enough to cause considerable grief, Rondell Rawlins and his gang are from the ethnic African community while the village that was attacked is mostly ethnic Indian. The concern now is an increase in ongoing racial tensions that usually ‘simmer’ below the surface. Residents in the area are displaying their grief and protesting the massacre as well as their perceived lack of protection at the time and call for safety by marching, building roadblocks and lighting fires.

The Canadian High Commission has sent out an email that recommends avoiding certain areas and promoting safe practices. I had lunch with a High Commission employee, his wife and the other CIDA interns which was nice to be able to hear more facts than speculation and sensationalization found in newspapers and to discuss our impressions of the situation. Essentially nobody knows what could happen next, but the obvious hope is that after the funerals/cremations and the anniversary on the weekend, things will settle.

In a country of 760 000 where everybody knows everybody, death of any kind touches everyone, but this senseless crime has touched everyone on another level for the pure disregard for the value of human life and senselessness of the act, done solely to invoke fear and terror. I was told by my mom on Sunday night that this year at my grandma’s church and I would assume other Catholic churches around the world, the World Day of Prayer intentions are for Guyanese women - a decision that was made many months ago. The actions of last weekend and the ongoing racial tension in this country leave no doubt in my mind that this day will now take on a new purpose. The Guyanese women need all the prayers they can get as they raise their children hopefully to respect other races, to not join gangs and to promote peace in their country.