Oluatoyin Alleyne

—Coordinator In 1975 Aubrey left his homeland as a bright Guyana scholar and after he graduated with a degree in Business Economics and Informa-tion Systems from the University of San Francisco he easily found employment.

Twenty-four-year-old Kumarie Kooseram always aimed to do her best but she would also tell you that the tragic loss of her father when she was just 13 moved her to want to make him proud even though he was no longer around.

At age 14 Mahendra Sookraj started farming, and over the years it has been good to him.

Growing up Murphy Franklyn ‘limed’ in a shop that made shoes but it took a literal slap behind his head by the owner to propel him in the direction of learning the trade which later gave him  earning power.

-as parties draw lines on Rohee Speaker Raphael Trotman yesterday said that he acted in his own deliberate judgment when he adjourned Thursday’s sitting of the National Assembly after opposition members chanted down Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee, adding that only a “political neophyte” would suggest that he should have suspended the entire opposition.

-gov’t urges stronger action after Trotman adjournment Speaker Raphael Trotman prematurely adjourned yesterday’s sitting of the National Assembly after opposition members refused to allow Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee to speak in keeping with a no confidence motion passed against him, even as government accused them of trying to save face through bullyism.

Child labour in the Puruni Backdam A little boy is down in a mining pit working feverishly among adult men who are puffing their cigarettes and chatting among themselves, their conversations punctuated with profanities.

Years of mental and emotional abuse have served to make Karen Hall a stronger person but she said that without a mother and a grandmother who never saw her disability as a challenge she would not have been where she is today.

Prime Minister Sam Hinds accused the opposition parties of instigating the disturbances to destabilise the country and get into power yesterday, in the light of the recent protest in Agricola.

– puts exploiters on notice The Guyana Women’s Miners Organisation (GWMO) says it continues to see disturbing signs of human trafficking in gold mining areas and its president said that the organisation is in the process is compiling a report which it plans to release next year.

–say proceeds should fund awareness programmes Women rights groups and activists have roundly condemned the government’s support of the upcoming Chris Brown concert, saying that the administration is not serious about effectively addressing the increase in domestic violence when it supports a man who has been convicted of battering his partner.

“At that tender age [in primary school] I looked at members of my family and I realized that all of them were at a particular stage in life and no one was really advancing financially or educationally so I decided that I wanted to go in a different direction…,” As a child, Wanda Fortune woke before the crack of dawn and got halfway prepared for school before marching out with her mother and siblings to sell newspapers at street corners and then scurrying off to school.

Women’s rights activist and founding member of Red Thread, Karen De Souza, last evening warned that all Guyanese are in danger of suffering from police and executive excesses, since the problem was not just the deaths of young men, but also the callousness of people in high positions.

-court rules that refusal to renew medium-scale permits on proposed titled lands unlawful The Guyana Geology and Mines Commission’s refusal to renew medium-scale prospecting permits, for properties for which Amerindian communities are seeking land titles, has been found to be unlawful.

A stall on Bourda Green was damaged by fire on Saturday night, the second time in months that the owner has been hit by suspected arson.

Female police officer hostile A frustrated North Sophia woman says she can no longer take a male neighbour verbally abusing her teenage daughters in the vilest manner, and while she has turned to the Guyana Police Force for assistance there still seems to be no end in sight.

Superwoman is the most appropriate word to describe 39-year-old Vanessa Simon who has three jobs, strips and sells brooms, sells plants, helps her five sons with their homework and attends church on Saturdays.

Thinking positively: Jimmy Roos was physically, verbally and emotionally abused as a child and those traumatic days left an indelible mark on him, so much so that when he became an adult he struggled with his self esteem and as a result always second-guessed himself.

For women in the Hopetown and Bel Air, West Coast Berbice communities life is a daily struggle, and while many of them work hard their spending power remains limited.

Forty-seven-year-old Carol was raped by her former partner who forced his way into her home and today, more than a year later, she is still seeking justice which she feels may never come.