Oluatoyin Alleyne

Nine years ago when Amani Mohamed entered this world she was a bouncing baby girl who was developing as per norm.

Come January, it will be six years since the Women’s Chronicles column became a reality and to be honest I was not sure it would have made it this far.

The events related here took place in a relatively quiet East Coast Demerara village and were told to me by a sister.

When Michelle Cumberbatch was a child, her Regent Street neighbour ‘Aunty Ethel’ discussed her marital issues with her and, she recalled, she was always ready to listen.

Today Christmas is 63 days away. Yes you read right. I promised last year that this year the ‘hustle and bustle’ will not get me this year and I want to help my sisters too.

Francine Leitch was 20 years old and had just entered her second year of study at the University of Guyana when she was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.

As Guyana and the rest of the world observed World Mental Health Day on October 10, a locally registered clinical psychologist was beginning to see results from two initiatives she had taken in an effort to normalise mental wellness and seeking assistance for one’s mental health.

From time to time we hear the saying ‘women can be our own worst enemy’; meaning that often the most hurtful situation for a woman is created by another woman.

Twenty-three-year-old Jared McPhoy always knew he wanted to become a teacher.

“I had just given up and figure that was my lot in life.

“My name is Mandesa Williams and I am HIV positive.” It took ten years for 30-year-old Mandesa Williams to say those words publicly and now that she has revealed her status to the world, the mother of two is on a mission to make the journey of HIV+ Guyanese one where they do not have to live in perpetual fear of being outed.

As Guyana joins the rest of the world to observe Breast Cancer Awareness Month (observed annually in October) one survivor is calling for more family support for cancer patients because for her the illness has not had as much of an impact as a lack of support did.

“If I could turn back the hands of time, I would not be married to the same man.

At 28 Esther Samuels is a self-made hair stylist and fashion designer and she is not shy of revealing that she has no formal training in these two areas, as, according to her, they are in her DNA and her hair salon, her only source of income, has been flourishing over the years.

For Verna Walcott-White being part of the inaugural Carifesta in 1972 and two subsequent Carifestas in Cuba and Barbados has helped to shape the journey her life has taken, which involved her opening a dance school in the US and being a dance instructor at several schools.

“For me that is the worst job ever. I had to do it because I need money but if I had another choice that would never be for me.

At 91, Doris Harper-Wills is still basking in the afterglow of Carifesta 72, the first ever such festival to be held in the Caribbean.

“It really break my heart to see how he cry and if it was not for pride I would have break down tuh and cry.

Social media can be both helpful and dangerous and its dangers are well known.

If unconventional was a person it would have to be Sadie Amin, a woman who wears the hats of human rights advocate, sexual and reproductive health advocate, environmental advocate, cancer survivor and politician.