Members of the Guyana Women’s Miners Organisation (GWMO) yesterday dramatically rescued four young girls who were being kept against their will in Tiger Creek, Puruni Backdam and the head of the group, Simona Broomes was later physically attacked by the owners of the shop where the quartet was being held.
Last evening Broomes and her members transported the girls-ages 14, 15, 17 and 18-to the Bartica Police Station where they were originally expected to give a statement to the police and be handed over to the Ministry of Human Services & Social Security. However, Broomes told Stabroek News that the ministry said it was unable to take custody of the girls yesterday and so they spent the night at the Bartica Police Station.
Broomes said she had been prepared to keep the girls at a private residence in Bartica but wanted one policeman to offer protection considering they had been threatened and chased in a vehicle by the shop owners. However, the Bartica police said they could not provide a policeman and so the girls had to stay at the station on a bench.
Broomes says she was very upset by the police response.
Earlier in the day, when the girls were removed from the shop, one of them had to be given a garbage bag to put her clothes in since the travelling bag she had was taken away by the shop owners.
The vehicle the women miners were in was later stopped by a mines officer at the Guyana Geology & Mines Commission (GGMC) Puruni Office where Broomes was attacked by the shop owners.
“She [the shop owner] collar me from the back and held on to me and then her husband came up to me and started to push me and telling me how he will shoot because nobody ain’t stopping him from making money and all the time the mines officer just stand there and did nothing,” Broomes told Stabroek News shortly after they left the area yesterday afternoon.
Even more frightening, the couple caught up with the party as they were about to board a pontoon at the Itaballi Crossing where the man continued to issue threats even as his wife begged Broomes for them to “talk.” Broomes said their vehicle was on the pontoon with the trembling girls and she had to ask the persons operating the pontoon not to allow the couple on board.
At Tiger Creek, Broomes said it was the mines officer, who stood around as she was being assaulted, who went onto the road to stop the vehicle, demanding that the girls give a statement even though she pleaded with him that they were heading to the Bartica Police Station where statements would be given. Broomes said it was a man who observed her being assaulted who came to her rescue along with her members even as the shop owner boasted that he had already taken “a bullet to the foot and how he serve time in jail.”
Child labour
Broomes and her members had travelled into the area after receiving repeated calls from concerned persons who said that some girls were being kept against their will. They had anticipated overnighting in the area to meet with persons and to also verify reports of child labour but because of the volatile atmosphere they decided to leave the area immediately since they were not only fearful for their safety but also for the girls.
She told this newspaper that when they arrived at the shop they observed the wife of the shop owner with two of the girls and immediately she noticed that one appeared below the age of 16. When she asked their ages the shop owner answered and said they were 19 and 17.
However, Broomes said it was obvious that the girls were fearful and she requested to speak to them alone.
“Immediately the little one held onto me and started to cry and tell me she want to leave and she said she is only 14 and the other one who is 18 tell me she want to leave too but how they took away her bag and tell her she can’t go anywhere,” the GWMO president said.
She said she took the girls back to the shop owner and indicated to her that the girls wanted to leave and that she should allow them to pack their bags. Two other girls who were in the shop also said they wanted to leave.
“We had to give one a them a garbage bag to put her clothes because she had no bag and if you see the condition under which these girls were living, two of them in a room which just had space for two bed frame, one of the bed didn’t even have mattress,” a disturbed Broomes lamented.
While she knew she was putting her safety and that of her members at risk, the GWMO president said there was no way she was going to leave the girls in the backdam after seeing how scared they were and the conditions they were living in. Before they left with the girls she contacted the Commander of the E&F Division and the Minister of Natural Resources.
The shop owner’s husband was not at the location at the time and they were allowed to leave. Broomes said they travelled and met with a mines officer where they reported what had happened. It was while there the woman and her husband followed in a vehicle and the man proceeded to threaten her before going to the GGMC’s office where another mines officer was located. Broomes said as they were about to leave, the first mines officer indicated that his colleague wanted to speak to them but she smelled trouble and told him they had to hurry to get to the Bartica Police Station.
But the officer came onto the roadway and stopped the vehicle and they had no option but to stop.
“But I saw them [the shop owners] in the office and so I didn’t want to stop because I knew there was trouble. And the girls said that up to last night [Saturday night] the shop owners were at the office drinking and two of them were there with them…” Broomes stated.
The girls also related how another girl was badly beaten last week by the couple after she attempted to escape but she was later allowed to go and it is believed that this matter is engaging the attention of the police.
‘Police officer implicated’
Of more concern to Broomes is the fact that a named police officer is implicated in taking the 14 year-old into the Backdam. The child told the women miners that she had left her home in the North West to spend the Christmas holidays in Georgetown and it was while she was at her relatives that the police officer approached her.
He reportedly said that he had a shop in the backdam and wanted girls to go and work for them and according to her eventually he took her and some other girls into the backdam where they were told they had to work as sex workers. The child said the man owed her $100,000 and 30 pennyweights of gold but when it was time to pay her he refused. She eventually managed to escape and hitched a ride on a truck up to the Tiger Creek area where she was told by a female that she could approach a shop for help. However, when she arrived at the shop sometime last week she was told that if she “just sleep with one man she would get five pennyweight of gold and she could leave.” This was done and the gold was handed over but the shop owner took it and told her she was not leaving.
The other three girls hail from the East Bank of Essequibo and they told the women miners that they were approached by the wife of the shop owner who said she wanted girls to sell clothes at her shop in Bartica and that they were going to be handsomely paid.
However, when they arrived in Bartica they were given “high wine to drink” and later were told that the shop was in the backdam. When they arrived at the shop they were told that they had to “pick fare” and that they cannot leave until the shop owners says so. While they wanted to leave they were fearful and they also had no money.
Last evening, Broomes said she would not be deterred in her attempt to tackle the issue of trafficking in person but called on the authorities to collaborate more with the organisation so that the issue could be addressed in a holistic manner.
“It is sad that this is going on and everybody knows it is happening and nobody is doing anything. We don’t have a choice we will continue to do this even if we have to endanger ourselves,” she said.
She noted that the girls had expressed fear and had indicated their wish to leave and it was this that saw persons contacting members the GWMO in an effort to solicit help for the girls.
“As soon as I see that little girl [the 14 year-old] I see she is just a baby and we couldn’t leave her there…”