Season Five of the radio serial drama “Merundoi” commenced on Monday and is expected to run until December 31.
The new season will include behaviour change messages on civic education as it seeks to improve public awareness and education and highlights key issues in local government towards building strong communities in regions across Guyana, a release said. Issues will include income generation, youth unemployment, suicide, social cohesion, garbage collection, public security, health care and environmental protection.
According to the synopsis, some villagers are not happy with the way the new council has been functioning, as many problems are still evident in the community and movement on addressing the issues seems unhurried. Lucille Carter is adamant that the council must be held accountable and not given the opportunity to relax.
Even though her husband and son-in-law sit on the council she shows no bias. She organises a group and they approach James Williams who is the village chairman to air their concerns. The village council must engage the people of Merundoi on their plan of action for development. How this will work out is anyone’s guess.
Other matters in Merundoi include Ryan and Devine’s upcoming wedding and Devine’s aversion of her soon-to-be father-in-law, Ignatius Thomas; Sister Patsy’s attraction to Cecil and whether James Williams will return to his old ways when he sees Catalina.
The release noted that the fictional village of Merundoi is a microcosm of Guyana’s society, a mixture of races, cultures, economic and social backgrounds and professions with a variety of community services and structures including health and community centres, a police Station, school, church, temple, mosque, Chinese restaurant, all-purpose shop, market, seamstress, barber shop, veterinarian, taxi service, rice field turned housing project and koker among other things. Community groups offer counselling sessions and deal with gender-based violence and suicide.
The release noted that Merundoi celebrates its tenth year and is quite popular especially in the diaspora, attracting over 40,000 hits monthly on its website, www.merundoi.org.gy from an average of 25 countries including North America, Sweden, Israel, Spain, Cayman Islands , Barbados, Brazil and the Russian Federation. In Guyana, the audience includes a wide variety of persons from across the regions who listen at home, in offices, business places, cars and minibuses, the release said.
