by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI
With the launch of the Year of Faith on Thursday, October 11, CCSJ encourages the Faithful to keep your eyes on Christ as we journey through the year. There are many things that can distract us and keep us from focusing on Him. For example, last Saturday when we launched Respect for Life Week (RFLW), I thought I would not be able to moderate the Sir Ellis Clarke Memorial Conference as I had had a tooth extracted and somehow the dentist pulled out a piece of my bone also!
Anyone who knows me knows that I am a baby when I am in pain. The night before the launch – Friday 12 – I had to attend a panel discussion on the Death Penalty at the Institute of International Relations (IIR), UWI. CCSJ had partnered with the IIR, Amnesty International, and Greater Caribbean for Life to organise the panel discussion on the theme: Not the solution: Moving beyond the Death Penalty debate in T&T.
In spite of the pain, I saw it through. Thank God for people like John Rougier, Gordon Husbands, Catherine Ali and Rev Gwenolyn Ruth Greaves of Hope Support Group, who are all doing such wonderful work. Andrew Douglas, former Death Row inmate (now a “lifer”) gave a powerful testimony about how he learned to live by “choice and responsibility” – albeit behind bars. Rev Greaves is working with e.g. mothers of murdered children in T&T. She came along with three women from her group. Their experiences filled each of us with sadness.
When one of the women spoke about her efforts to communicate with a four year old girl whose father, two uncles and her grandmother had all been shot dead within a short space of time, I could not help but wonder how many of our children are living with such trauma and whether they are receiving any counselling/support. The little girl had stopped talking.
I first met Rev Greaves at the 14th ICOPA Conference earlier this year when two of the women in her group hugged each other on the stage. Both had lost their sons in gang warfare. The son of one of the women had murdered the son of the other – before he himself was murdered.
As I drove home, I felt guilty about the fuss I was making about the pain in my jaw when there are so many in this blessed land of ours who are hurting deeply; many are depressed – for a variety of reasons. The theme for World Mental Health Day which was observed on Wednesday, October 10 was: Depression: A Global Crisis.
The World Health Organisation states that, “Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. It affects more than 350 million people of all ages, in all communities, and is a significant contributor to the global burden of disease. More women are affected by depression than men. Although there are known effective treatments for depression, access to treatment is a problem in most countries and in some countries fewer than 10% of those who need it receive such treatment.”
Given the high rate of murders, serious crimes, and other social ills in T&T, this is an area that requires research and action. I feel saddened that with all the money at our disposal, we cannot seem to prioritise areas for our urgent attention, and at times, even when we do prioritise, we do not take action. I was interviewed on a radio programme recently about some of the issues CCSJ raised in our recent media release about Respect for Life Week. I bemoaned the fact that if our Budget is people-centred, as it is supposed to be, why is it that we do not have Budget Impact Analysis/Assessment of our previous year’s budget? In what ways have the monies spent last year, for example, improved the lives of citizens?
The words of the organisation, Feeding America, apply to us in T&T also:
“Our nation’s budget is a moral document, and the decisions we make have a real impact on real people.”
At the launch of RFLW, Archbishop Harris, in his excellent presentation (see CCSJ’s website), reminded us, inter alia, “As we speak of respect for life, it is essential that we do so in the context of Trinidad and Tobago, where we live. If this is not to be simply an intellectual exercise, it is important that we look at the ways in which life is devalued in T&T and seek ways to remedy the situation.”
We will find ways to do so if we keep our eyes fixed on Christ.
