Denise Murray was always interested in what was happening in her community. Even if it was just to talk to a mother about a better form of disciplining her child, she seized the opportunity because she saw herself as a community activist. While she was comfortable with doing what she could quietly, a recent horrific accident in her community propelled her into taking the fight public.
Murray is from Friendship, East Bank Demerara, where five people died in a vehicular collision last month. Four of them were residents of the community and Murray was one of the mobilisers of a candlelight vigil and a petition which garnered over 100 signatures. Murray, who for years has been concerned about deaths on the roadways, also wrote several letters to the media, expressing her concerns and making suggestions for road safety.
It is not that she expects to start a movement, but she wants to add her voice and as she believes it is time that every Guyanese becomes a community activist to engineer behavioural change wherever they live. For her, it is not about waiting for a big platform but doing whatever you can in your community.
Murray, who remigrated from the United States 20 years ago, shared that she had been a community activist on a number of issues, but the accident touched a nerve.
“… [We] felt that it was just enough. We are plagued in our country continuously with accidents. We see them in Friendship all the time but this one was horrific, and it was unnecessary and unfortunate that it occurred,” she told Stabroek Weekend.
The crash occurred around 5.36 am on Tuesday, October 15th, when a speeding police car collided head-on with a car being driven by Leon Tucker. The collision resulted in the deaths of Ronnel Barker, 24, a Presi-dential Guard who was driving the police car; Tucker, 34, of 2544 Recht-Door-Zee, West Bank Demerara, a father of two and a member of the Guyana Defence Force; Tucker’s aunt, Lovern Stoby, 66, of Third Street, Friendship, who was a traffic officer at the John Fernandes Wharf; Denise King Josiah, 57, a cleaner, and her husband Hubert Josiah, 58, a porter, both of 105 Second Street, Friend-ship, who were employees of the Diamond Diagnostic Centre.
Many people came out and joined the vigil and sign a “Never Again” petition that was organised by Murray in wake of the accident. Murray said while she and other residents were on the street, people passing hurried home and returned with their candles and soon the number swelled to about 200.
Murray said that since returning to Guyana she has been working and raising her family and as a driver she has to be extremely cautious when navigating the country’s streets.
She said the incident “jolted the community” and it was time for them to do something to highlight the situation. In a matter of days, “a community meeting was called, a petition was put together and a vigil was held”.
Asked about sustaining this activism, Murray said she has held talks with organisations that have been involved in road safety and it is her intention to help where she can lend her voice.
“I would love to see a national outcry on this situation; changes need to come on the national, regional and local level. It is impacting on families, the employment area, private and public. It is an issue that cuts across the board and I would like to see some kind of national effort,” she said.
She believes that the interest is always there, but it is up to community leaders to stir it up and make a difference.
She wants to see more churches and faith-based organisations get involved and make strong statements on this issue in their spaces as there are children without mothers and fathers because of vehicular crashes. A baby, she said, cried for nights, because the mother was no longer in the home.
Fifteen years
Murray has been living in Friendship for the past 15 years and she said she has always been concerned about child violence as this a big issue in Guyana.
“I see parents who are not striving to raise godly children, children with values and beliefs that could assist them in their decision-making process whether at the nursery, primary or tertiary levels. We must advise our children, teens, young adults and adult children, what are the negatives of abuse,” she said.
She pointed out that the very children will become leaders one day and they are going to be in positions, and it is important that we ensure that they are taught the right way to handle situations. She suggested that parents who do not know should seek advice.
Describing herself as a specialist in education, Murray said she has worked on the Basic Education Access and Management Support (BEAMS) programme, which looked at education as a whole in Guyana, looking at school feeding, and teacher education, among other things. She shared that she came from the vantage point of not just observing citizens in society but also looking at trends, data, and analysing what is happening in Guyana in terms of child abuse and violence and the education environment.
She commended the Ministry of Education on its bold move to provide hot breakfasts in Regions 5 and 6. She is, however, concerned about the vast number of children at nursery, primary and secondary schools who are getting one meal a day or none. Children, she said, are going to school hungry and returning hungry. “That situation must change, we want them to grow and become educated so we must put systems in place to ensure that happens,” she posited.
Another sore point for Murray is alcoholism in Guyana. She pointed out that it has had devastating effects, touching the lives of many Guyanese regardless of their positions. She is concerned that alcohol is available to teenagers.
“I was really appalled that even at the funerals of the victims [of the Friendship crash] that alcohol flowed freely amongst our youths and that is dangerous. It is cultural, but then it is not good. I am constantly asking: Where is the legislation? Where is the enforcement to curb this in our youth?”
Murray said she has been working with a young man who is trying to quit but it has been difficult, and she hopes to convince him of the need to seek help. She said assistance for persons hooked on alcohol should be readily available the same way alcohol is available.
Over the past four years, Murray said, she has started bible clubs in Friendship and in Waikabra, better known as Ideal on the Highway and the young people have been very supportive and participatory. She has also distributed grocery hampers in the communities and hopes to have a bible in every home. For her, it is about trying in her “own little way.”
Nation building
Murray migrated with her parents to the United States when she was 12 years old, but she long realised that Guyana was her home and it was where she wanted to be. Since returning with her family—she has three children—she said God has been very good to her and she has managed to remain through “thick and thin” raising a family, working on various projects and also being involved in many ministries.
When she left the US, she was the dean of a business college and Murray said she transferred her skills to living in Guyana, for the betterment of society. “I don’t feel I have started as yet in terms of delivering on a mandate of helping with Guyana’s development, but I feel that it is in the works right now,” she said.
But it has not been all smooth sailing since returning to Guyana. Murray was candid enough to say that it has been frustrating at times. However, she said, she had to get used to the difference that comes with being a Guyanese in the US as opposed to being one on the soil. She noted that there were a lot of things to get used to as a professional, while adding that returning Guyanese are still considered outsiders.
“We give up everything to be here and we have a genuine love like anyone else to contribute and to build our nation. But I do believe that more education has got to be given in terms of cementing all types of Guyanese who we will see on this land, maybe in the next five years. We have to find a way to live and to join together racially, spiritually, culturally to build this nation because we are behind in terms of nation building,” she said.
She said that she faces some hostility, particularly when her accent is heard, but stressed that people should realise that they are all in the same boat together and it does no matter if she speaks with an accent. Rather, it has to do with whether they can join hands, roll up their sleeves and do what needs to be done.
Murray said she is known to be a person who says what she wants, as she wants to be able to speak in a society where changes can be seen.
“We all have voices… it cannot be the same five or the same two persons speaking all the time. We see things and turn a blind eye but in our jobs as community activists we will have to deal with the children who lost their mothers and fathers who picked up a habit, fell into drugs, or drinking the alcohol because that parental figure is no longer in the home.” The saying that it takes a village to raise a child is one she believes in.
As elections are just a few months away, Murray encouraged persons to go out and vote as it is their right. They should find themselves at their polling stations and vote as that is one way they can let their voices and fingertips do the talking.
She recalled that growing up in 60s and 70s in Guyana, people would see things and speak out and children were well aware that if they slipped up their parents would know about it, but today that is the exception and the she questions why that is so.
Speaking about her family, she said they were not rich, but they were very supportive and loving.
“My family heritage stems from the Sinclairs and Saunders from the Corentyne, Murrays, Daniels, Alexanders, Coppins and Logans. It is this strong family foundation growing up in Guyana in the 60s and 70s that I sensed a calling to return in the 90s to Guyana and raise my three angels in the land of my birth. I owe a debt of gratitude especially to my father Mr Daniel Murray, my faithful mother Mrs Irma Murray and my ever-going, strong grandmother of 98 years Mrs Ivy Sinclair,” Murray shared.
