By Iva Wharton
A second chance is what two young women have been given and according to them they intend to make the best of the opportunity.
The two, Rohini Newsun and Robena James, who are incarcerated at the New Amsterdam Prisons are among a batch of referees officiating in the Digicel Schools Football Programme currently underway countrywide.
Stabroek Sport caught up with the two women on Thursday at the All Saints Ground, New Amsterdam, where they were assisting with officiating the first of two semifinal matches in Region 6 between Berbice Education Institute and Vryman’s Erven Secondary.
The women who were sentenced for drug trafficking are members of the prison football team ‘The Republican’ and it was from there that they were selected for a three- day referee programme organised by the Guyana Football Federation (GFF).
The programme, according to twenty-seven-year-old James, is a further intervention in the sport which she has come to love.
“I always liked football and being on the team and becoming a referee has given me more insight into the game and I am privileged to be doing it.”
James said that previously she only watched football and in fact attended a number of the Kashif and Shanghai Football competitions over the years.
“I enjoy the whole thing, I used to go to all of Kashif and Shanghai games but I never really understand. I would see a goal score and I am arguing with the referee saying it was a no goal but then I did not understand. Now I know the difference between a goal and a no goal, the referee training was part of that because there were some times when I playing I did not understand. So the referee training has opened my eyes a lot and I will pursue it when I get out.”
Twenty-nine-year-old Newsun on the other hand said she was not interested in sport at all, whether as participant or spectator.
“But being in here for twelve months now refereeing has given my life new meaning. Something meaningful to do and I am going to take refereeing beyond prison.“ Refereeing, she said, has opened her eyes to a number of things that she did not know before. “I am a mother of two and I think it will make me a better mother because of the whole training and our reintegration into society I think will be better.”
They said that they were chosen for the football team because of good behaviour, but it was not an opportunity they were prepared to forego because they were not involved in sport prior to their incarceration.
“When I first came out here I just wanted to get out, to be active and involved in something because being in there your movement is very short from dorm to the dining hall and back again, so I just wanted out. In the beginning of my training with the team I started to like the game and now it’s a major part of me.” Both women said that now they are awaiting their turn to officiate an entire game as they are tired of the title assistant referee and standing on the sidelines.
The two said that they should be leaving the prison system in June next year, but with parole they should be out sometime this year, which according to James is their main focus.
Prior to entering the prison system, Newsun said apart from being a mother to two young children she was a part-time hairdresser, while James also a mother of two young children said that she was self-employed. “Before my life was hairdressing and my family until I got involved in the whole narcotics arena,” Newsun said.
Getting into drugs she said was only to provide for her family. “Being in prison I have realized that my mistakes did not just affect me alone, but it affected my kids, my family and everybody else, so I intend to be a better person when I get out there.” Both women said that while they were doing drugs to support their families it was easy money, “knowing the amount of bills you have to pay, the job was not exactly giving you the amount of money to sustain a family, striving for independence and partly because I was fed up being a housewife and I wanted things beyond what I could afford, which is what pushed me to that step,” Newsun explained.
In prison the women said they are allowed visits from family members every three months which according to them are the happiest moments of their lives as they get the opportunity to see the children they left behind when they were convicted.
Robena said that her children are being cared for by her uncle. “At first it was hard but now I think that they are coping because they are doing better in school, the grades went back up but not where it used to be before, but they are getting there. When they come to see me now they don’t really cry anymore and I guess they realized that soon I will be back home with them.”
“My kids aren’t exactly doing well because every time I get on the phone my daughter most times would cry and say ‘mommy when are you coming home’ and my son has somehow shut himself down socially.
He is not the jovial child he used to be, he is now more quiet and has isolated himself from people a lot. So when they come to visit me they are very sad,” Newsun said. Newsun said her children are eight and four-years-old -her daughter is the youngest, while James said that her two children are eight and five-years-old.
