reintegration agency
Donna Snagg committed a “narcotics violation” in the United States, the country she had called home for 20 years, and was deported back to Guyana where she had to overcome deprivation and despair.
Her first night back in her native country was spent in the police holding room at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri and her second would have been spent on the seawalls if her brother-in-law didn’t open his door to her and grant her sanctuary for a while.
And he not only gave her accommodation but he also had to give her his clothes to wear for a while as she had none of her own.
But having a roof over her head did not mean that things were good for Donna as she still painfully recalls how friends she had known for years, often assisting them during her trips here from the US, completely turned their backs on her when she became an “involuntary re-migrant.” She knew she was going to be deported after her incarceration in the US and she was even somewhat prepared for discrimination but she never thought it would have come from people she thought “truly loved me.”
However, even though it pains Donna to look back at those days, some of which she spent hungry, she is not a bitter person but has used her experience to assist persons who find themselves in similar circumstances.
It was because of years of struggle while suffering constant discrimination that Donna vowed that she would help those people who come back to Guyana to nothing – no family and friends.
And she can use herself as a perfect example of how one can overcome such difficulties because she did not allow her experiences to get her down. Instead she triumphed and enrolled in the University of Guyana where she successfully read for a law degree. As soon as the funds become available she will be off to Trinidad to become a trained lawyer. It was not easy but Donna said she was convinced that was the path she had to take if she wanted to help people who found themselves in her position.
Importantly, Donna’s vow to help deportees saw her becoming a founding member of Juncata Juvant (Latin for ‘things joined together are helpful’ Friendly Society, which offers support to deportees.
The organisation became a reality two years ago and even at that time it was known that Donna was at the heart of it but she felt then that people would not be ready for her being at the forefront.
Today she is president of the organisation and at the forefront fighting for the rights of deportees, helping them to be re-integrated into a society some of them never knew as well as assisting them to find jobs and become independent.
‘Picture in my mind’
In a recent interview with Stabroek News at the organisation’s Robb and Oronoque streets location, Donna said she had a “picture in my mind about what to expect, the discrimination, the stigma to being deported… they were very much there…You saw a different side of persons,” she commented with a forlorn smile.
After a night at the airport she was transported to police headquarters at Eve Leary where she was photographed and her fingerprints taken before she was released.
“Trying to find a place to stay kind a take so long. I almost ended up on the seawalls like where most of the deportees are… But I went to a brother-in-law and he accommodated me for a couple months.”
And while things were difficult for Donna she could count herself as one of the lucky ones as she received “a little support from overseas, financial support and that contributed, so I moved on and I rented a small little place.” She told Stabroek News she had some academic achievements but she wanted to enhance those and enrolled at the University of Guyana. She became a student at the university less than six months after she was deported and law was her choice because she felt she would better be able to assist deportees.
“That was extremely challenging, extremely challenging,” was how Donna described her days at the university as she recalled that many days the lectures were hardly getting past her hunger pangs.
She worked “many jobs” during those times but declined to reveal what those were. However, she recalled that one day a professor was lecturing and all she was thinking about was the one bus fare she had to go home, besides she was hungry.
She was forced to walk home that evening. “When I am walking I am like ‘Dear God please don’t let me faint because I am hungry’… that is an experience that stands out in my mind.”
While Donna turned to some of the persons she thought of as ‘friends’ for assistance she did not look up many of the relatives she had in Guyana as she felt they would not have helped. Moreover, she told herself “these are consequences of my actions and I need to endure them by myself…I think I was more trying to earn my assistance or work for it than trying to… beg or compromise myself”.
‘Long lost friend’
Life for Donna became more “bearable” when she met a long lost friend, Carol Williams, now the Chief Executive Officer of Juncata Juvant, who is a former social worker and was also reading for a law degree.
“She counselled me and guided me because that is her profession … she actually took me by the hand and walked me through, she introduced me to study groups and I will sit there and study. I was living under some real extreme circumstances, like sometimes I would not have electricity so she would come over with candles and sit with me so we could study together.”
Donna said that it is with the support of God and Williams along with “sheer determination” that she did not fall by the wayside like so many who find themselves in similar circumstances.
She said Williams was such a good friend that she on many occasions offered to open her home to her if she found that her living conditions were too difficult. She never took up the offer but it was reassuring to know that such an option existed.
Donna said too that she made it through her trials because she had no children depending on her. She had one son but he died in a car accident many years ago. “I had no one looking forward to me to provide a meal for them because then I don’t think I would have had an opportunity to pursue a career because I would have had to be more focussed on earning to provide for them.”
And while a cousin living here did not open his home to her when she needed somewhere to rest her head, he made some financial contributions when she started to attend university and she is grateful.
Donnasaid while her story is sad she has heard of many “horror” stories some of which saw women being forced into prostitution and contracting HIV and there are those who were exploited by persons who put them to work and didn’t pay them. “I have been blessed and I think it is my faith in God.”
Juncata Juvant
The idea of forming Juncata Juvant came about because Donna felt she needed to do something to help others so that they “wouldn’t be misguided and fall into the wrong society, the underworld…”
Before the organisation became a reality they did research with ‘involuntary re-migrants’ to find out what conditions they were living under and the results mandated that such a group be formed.
She said a constitution was written and letters were sent to the relevant authorities and the group was registered under the Friendly Societies Act and an election was held for office bearers.
Funding, though limited, is provided by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS). The funds are used to assist persons to obtain some form of identification as most of them have none. The lack of identification has not only seen many of them not finding jobs but also being robbed as ‘kind hearted’ persons who volunteer to receive monies on their behalf from overseas take the cash for themselves instead of handing it over.
The organisation also helps persons to be trained as they liaise with different agencies and they also find jobs for some of the deportees. A “care package” of mostly toiletries is also given to those persons who would be allowed to take a shower at their office as some of them live on the streets.
She said there are about 200 persons who have been helped since the organisation opened its doors and while some of them have moved on with their lives, others still return from time to time.
Williams, who was present during the interview, told Stabroek News that they plan to open a halfway house for persons as many of them have no where to rest their heads at night.
She noted that it is difficult to send someone for training or to find a job when they don’t even have a place to take a bath. Plans are also on stream to have special brochures available at the local airport and even at international airports in countries where most of the deportees come from. The brochures would not only inform them about the organisation but also educate them about what they should expect when they are repatriated to Guyana.
She said it was Donna who sat down and wrote the constitution then took it to others for it to be edited before it was submitted.
But Donna was quick to note that the organisation would not have become a reality if many persons did not buy into her idea and engage their contacts to help it to become a reality.
Meanwhile, Donna plans to publish a book next year titled ‘The Deported’ in which she tells her story in great detail.
The Juncata Juvant can be contacted on telephone numbers 225-8303 and 225-8309 or via email address juncatajuvant@yahoo.com. Their website address is juncatajuvant.org.gy.
