Mon Repos residents during a meeting with members of the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) yesterday said that they are still living in fear following the massacre of 11 at Lusignan and they were urged to promote harmony and good relations among themselves so that they can overcome it.
The commission was addressing the residents at its first of a series of community dialogues slated for Lusignan and surrounding communities over the next few days.
Clearly lacking during yesterday’s three-hour-long meeting which was held at the Mon Repos Primary School was a thorough engagement between the commissioners and the approximately 150 residents who were gathered.
Less than ten persons expressed views yesterday and it was evident that many were unwilling to speak publicly although they shook their heads in agreement with the views of their fellow villagers who were brave enough.
Chairman of the ERC Juan Edghill during the meeting could be heard repeatedly pleading with the residents to air their views.
Edghill earlier told residents that they needed to find ways to deal with conflicts stressing that there is a great need for the community to recognize leadership. He stressed too that their respect for one another must never change adding that if there is no respect there can be disaster and more conflicts.
He later said that he was saddened by the level of fear that exists in that community and appealed to the Ministry of Human Services to make all of its resources available to help the children and the families who are being affected.
Residents told the commission that they have to keep watch at night especially those living at the back of the village which is bordered by cane fields and grasslands. Residents also agreed that the base of their fear is politics as opposed to race.
One resident said that he believes that the ethnicity issue starts at the political level.
He said that the opposition does not recognize the government of today and that’s a major problem. The resident opined that that is how the conflicts start in the country adding that at this point he would like to see improved relations between the two sides.
Another resident also pointed out that government is always appealing for peace but it seems to him that one particular ethnic group is always being made the victim.
The man repeatedly said “I don’t want to be nasty” and referred to 1962 when protestors were burning down Georgetown.
He added that before long, telling one set of people to be peaceful will be like throwing “water on duck back”. The resident said that it is known that Indians want peace and they make progress in life and pointed out that he wants it to remain that way.
Another Mon Repos resident said that “Indian people are being treated like white fowl” adding that the white fowls are just caught and slaughtered.
He told the members of the ERC that the residents have to stand up for their rights because they will all be treated like white fowls.
Residents said that they fear that they could be suffering like Lusignan. “In de night you can’t sleep because we frighten. Last night I heard that deh lying down in de backdam”, a resident who lives at the back of the East Coast village said yesterday.
The woman said that this fear that has gripped the village has also spread to the children who are afraid to go to the washroom or even into their bedrooms alone.
The resident said that she had to take her children to sleep at their grandmother. Another added that when 6 o’clock passes, everybody is scared. She said that while everyone in the community is calling for protection there needs to be some level of cooperation and communication between residents.
The resident used the forum to thank the government for clearing the backlands of Buxton and stressed that there needs to be frequent community meetings in Mon Repos.
The level of fear
Meanwhile Pastor Patrick Findlay, who is also a member of the community, said that the slightest noise instils fear among villagers.
He also pointed out that the area bordered by grasslands and canefields is very dark at night since there are no street lights there.
Pastor Findlay told residents that they have to be careful that people don’t get scared because “this thing can cause us to lose our minds”.
Residents repeatedly asked why is it that they have to be living in fear of people coming to their homes to kill them.
A resident said that love is what is needed. He told the ERC that government has made promises but he cannot live by that.
He recalled that in 1987 bandits kicked down his door, shot his son and stabbed his wife before beating him up and when he called the police for help there was none.
The resident said that there should be peace regardless of religion and race. He said that his wounds will never be healed and he pointed out that they cannot fight the criminals with cutlasses and sticks and that men who have worked all day cannot continue to watch all night.
Asked by Edghill if they believed that the bandits who carried out the attack on Lusignan were Afro Guyanese, the residents said that they did not believe so.
The ERC will be holding their next community dialogue at the Annandale Secondary School next Monday. They will be at Lusignan Primary School the following day and at the Friendship Primary School next Thursday.
Mon Repos was the scene of protests over the Lusignan massacre last week. (Zoisa Fraser)
