Sister Lena Edmondson is the Mothers’ Union Regional Parenting Trainer for the West Indies and the Americas. Here, she highlights some of the work being done in indigenous communities in the Diocese of Guyana.
This short video from the Mothers’ Union shows the impact of the work that Lena describes. Do take a look; it’s really encouraging and inspiring! Watch here: Gloria’s story
Sister Lena writes, “Mothers’ Union members in the indigenous communities are very strong in their Faith. They encourage and participate in Bible studies and continue to be ‘Salt and Light’ in their community.
“There are quite a few programmes/projects being done in the indigenous communities to empower women, girls, families and teenagers (male and female). Such programmes/processes are: the Mothers’ Union Parenting Programme, The Church and Community Mobilization Process (CCMP), MULOA Process (Mothers’ Union Listen, Observe and Act). These are specialized areas where Trainers and Facilitators were trained with skills and techniques on how to deliver to these communities.
“These training programmes have been proven to be quite satisfactory. The communities are mobilizing and using their new skills to work together to meet the needs of their communities.
“Some other on-going projects are:
“Days for Girls Project – Making of re-usable sanitary pad kits for girls and distribute free of cost to them. Because of this initiative more and more girls are staying in school to complete their secondary education.
“Kiddies Park – A Safe Space where children gather after school in a supervised environment where they are assisted with their home-work. They also learn how to socialize with each other and to take care of their environment. This is helping to reduce child incest in those communities.
“Craft Center where women and children are taught how to do craft etc. using mostly indigenous materials.
“Sewing Center – Sewing school uniforms for school children, mosquito netting for the community etc. reducing the risks of infectious diseases spread by mosquitoes.
“On-going education on how to recognize and deal with the various forms of violence against women and girls.
“Empowering Teenage Mothers – This project is a work in progress in a very remote indigenous community where the rate of teenage pregnancy and malnutrition of babies are high due to lack of proper education and basic hygiene”.