-=-Guyana Citizens' Initiative-=-

The Guyana Citizens’ Initiative is sponsoring a public presentation on the topic ‘Plunder without profit: an investigation into forest governance in Guyana’ by Janette Bulkan who is currently completing a PhD at Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Janette Bulkan has travelled and worked for over twenty years in Guyana’s interior on issues of local development and governance. Prior to pursuing a doctoral degree, Janette Bulkan was employed for over 15 years in the Amerindian Research Unit at the University of Guyana, and then as Senior Social Scientist with the Iwokrama Rainforest Programme for 3 years.

Janette Bulkan’s presentation will focus on findings of her research on developments in the forestry sector in the last ten years. The findings of this research are meaningful to all Guyanese who have an interest in good governance and sustainable development of Guyana.

Janette Bulkan’s presentation will focus on developments in the forestry sector in the last ten years. She catalogues the impact on the Guyanese economy, forest-dependent people, and the forests themselves of the export of an increasing volume of unprocessed logs, not peeler logs, but the prime Guyanese hardwoods. These logs are mostly shipped to Asia by the Asian-owned enterprises which now dominate the forest economy in Guyana. Yet these companies have or have had FDI incentives to invest in value-adding processing, employment and skills training for Guyanese.

Janette Bulkan argues that:

1-         Forestry sector reforms were abandoned or not implemented and penalties not enforced on major companies; TNCs and local collaborators behave like pirates and abuse FDI arrangements;
2-         Renewable natural resources are under-taxed when exported unprocessed;
3-         Progressive national policy statements are not backed by adequate legislation and regulation; and
4-         Oversight of regulatory agencies by the National Assembly / Select Committees and by civil society remains weak.

The outcomes of this regulatory vacuum include irregularities such as transfer pricing; under-declaration of log volumes in break bulk shipping; and mis-naming of timber species to evade controls, which result in the loss of hundreds of thousands of US $ monthly to the national exchequer and the liquidation of Guyana’s premium timbers without commensurate benefit to the nation.

Janette Bulkan advocates a return by regulatory agencies to the national interest (public good) versus private profits and sets out a programme of reforms that can be undertaken to stem the hemorrhage of the grossly under-valued patrimony of Guyana.

A public forum for presentation and discussion of these findings will be held at Cara Lodge in the Woodbine Room at 18:30 hours on Thursday, 9 November 2006.

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Joint Press Release from the Civil Defence Commission and the Guyana Citizens’ Initiative

Farmers Urge Emergency Relocation of Cattle from the Flood Affected Areas in the Mahaica and Mahaicony Riverine Villages

The Guyana Citizens’ Initiative met last Saturday, January 28, 2006 with the Civil Defence Commission and the Guyana Islamic Trust (GIT) to discuss the current state of the livestock that remain stranded in the flood waters in the Mahaica and Mahaicony areas. Although there has been an ease in the rains, the prediction is that water will remain on the land for up to a minimum of three weeks in the affected areas and the situation remains grave.

A joint reconnaissance mission of CDC, GIT and GCI representatives to the affected areas was subsequently carried out on Sunday, January 29, 2006 to determine the extent of the problems and to hold discussions with the farmers in a search for solutions. The team held meetings with farmers in Little Biaboo and Big Biaboo in the Mahaica River and at Mora Point in the Mahaicony. An estimated number of 2000 head of cattle in the Mahaicony and 1100 in Mahaica will need to be relocated based on requests by over 75 farmers who attended the meetings. There is an urgent need to relocate the stranded and, in many cases, stricken animals from No. 10 to Joe Hook in the Mahaica River. The immediate solution being proposed for the Mahaicony area included transporting the sick cattle via pontoons to a temporary holding area at Mora Point; mobilising veterinarians to treat the animals; transporting cattle and other livestock by pontoons/punts from the affected areas to the identified holding sites at Fairfield in the case of the Mahaica River animals and Burma for those from the Mahaicony. Also, mobilising resources to feed and medically treat the animals from the Mahaica and Mahaicony areas. The immediate challenges facing the movement of cattle include stability of punts and pontoons, making the pontoons safe with upright bars, tagging of unbranded cattle and herding and moving the wild cattle. The Mahaica Riverine villages have already begun moving some of the cattle to higher grounds. There was general concern over the identified security of the animals at the holding site due to the fear of rustling. However, farmers agreed to work out a roster system to ensure security of the animals. Farmers have already reported deaths of livestock and a survey of losses needs to be compiled.

The Civil Defence Commission will be responsible for the overall coordination of the evacuation and relocation of the livestock exercise. The mobilisation, logistics, command and coordination will be under CDC arrangements, with facilitation by GCI, GIT and its community networks. The CDC representative at last Saturday’s meeting outlined four phases of the exercise as being mobilisation including sourcing feed and medicines for animals, transport/ passage of cattle, disembarkation and management of the holding sites.

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On Saturday, we went up to West Coast Berbice as far as Onverwagt. At the time, the villages East of the Abary were 8" to 18" under flood water North and South of the public road. This area had been the scene of the recent protests. We visited the pumping station at Onverwagt where an irrigator was in operation. Given the volume of water on the ground, the efforts looked futile. Cattle farmers reported that while the front lands had some water, it was in the backlands that the flooding was at its most severe and destructive. Cattle farmers spoke of serious losses to herds, with calves being hardest hit. Reports as of 24 Jan indicate that the front lands have now drained. The opening of the sluice at Profit by the contractor at work on the sea-defense (BKI). in addition to the deployment of 2 additional pumps seem to have been effective as far as the front lands are concerned.

On Sunday, a team led by GCI members went up the Mahaica River as far as Grass Hook. The river was swollen. The water was rising steadily and by Sunday had already reached 3 inches above the level recorded in January 2005. Reports as of 24 Jan indicate that the level has risen a further 3 inches. Cashcrops have been totally decimated. The cattle showed signs of terrible distress. Calves -- those saved from the deep water -- were again huddled on Ite rafts. One farmer who claimed to have already lost over 40 head was carrying 4 of his animals to be slaughtered. He and other cattle farmers were trying to sell off as many of the animals as they could, even at very low prices now being offered.

We had hoped to up the Lama to the gates, but were informed that the Coast Guard was preventing unauthorised visitors at this time.

The GCI team carried in some relief supplies -- 6 bags rice, 10 packs of water, 4 cans of vegetables, and a small number of other items -- that were handed over to the Grass Hook CDC chairman, Sugrim Sarjoo for packaging and distribution.

The GIT distributed hampers. The leaders of the GIT team hoped to distribute 700 hampers to residents from Biaboo to Joe Hook.

Some of the farmers, rice, cashcrop and cattle, were in despair and did not see themselves restarting yet again.

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The Guyana Citizens Initiative (GCI) believes that there is a very slim chance of the dam of the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) collapsing due to heavy rainfall but urges government officials to meaningfully consult with flood-battered farmers and residents who have grassroots ideas on how to combat the floods.

Engineer Bert Carter and Col John Lewis, who were members of the EDWC rehabilitation task force, told at GCI seminar held on Tuesday, 17 January 2006, at the Methodist Outreach Centre that an 8 to 12 mile stretch of the northern dam was unlikely to collapse.

Carter noted that more than 20,000 clay bags have been placed along the northern front of the conservancy dam and he was unaware of any leaks in that dam. “A lot of work was done on the conservancy dam. The most vulnerable portion is an eight-mile stretch and a lot of work has gone into that," Carter told the gathering that included top envoys of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), the British and Canadian governments. "I don't know of any leakage or any seepage through the dam. All that we knew about have been stopped and, in fact, just in the nick of time," added Carter.

He also said there were some leaks on the crown dam that were also sealed, although one East Coast Demerara resident reported at the seminar that quite recently there were three leaks on the crown dam and at present another one was spotted behind Two Friends village, all of which residents and the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) have been sealing.

The engineer noted that serious efforts were expected to be made to replace a missing section of the crown dam behind Buxton.

Col. Lewis explained that due to the elevation of the EDWC, the authorities were trying to strike a balance between building up the crest of the conservancy dam with clay and sand bags to avoid over-topping and managing the weight and pressure of the increasing volume of water on the dam.

"If you let the water rise, it will run over the dam and could in time erode the crest of the dam and create a breach so what they are doing is putting sand bags and mud bags on the crown of the dam so that raises the height and prevents the over-topping but it also adds to the height and weight of the water-the pressure- against the dam. There you have to strike a balance, which one do you take the chance on- let a bit of it over-top and keep an eye on that or raise it and watch out for a fair bit sliding away ?, so that's where the danger really lies," Lewis said.

Authorities on Monday released water from the EDWC into the Mahaica creek to reduce the level of the 227 square-mile conservancy whose reservoir is about 190 square miles and contains at least 5.6 billion gallons of water.

GCI Steering Committee member, Major General Retired, Joe Singh, who has been in contact with President Bharrat Jagdeo, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, and Head of the Civil Defence Commission, Chabilall Ramsarup, called for real consultation among central and local government officials, farmers and other residents to use local grassroots knowledge in finding solutions.

"What is absent in our view is the lack of consultation and a lack of collaborative networking so that people can work on resolving their problems, coming up with creative- thinking out of the box-creative solutions to their problems and it will be wise for the decision-makers to really invest in that type of management-system rather than waiting for crises to then result in fire-fighting," said Singh.

Despite discussions during the 2005 Great Flood on the structure of civil defence, national and cabinet responses as well as decentralization at the level of regional administrations, Singh noted that "the lessons from last year's flood are apparently still not being applied this year to address the traumatizing crisis in Guyana's four main agricultural areas.”

A fact-finding Mission comprising Guyana Citizens’ Initiative staff, and Board, along with farmer’s representatives, visited West Coast Berbice and Black Bush Polder on Wednesday, January 11, 2006. Three site meetings were held with farmers and community residents at Plantation Washington, Bush Lot and Yakusari.

A number of drainage and irrigation problems are frustrating the efficient removal of flood waters caused by the intense rainfall in recent weeks. The most urgent tasks identified by farmers are:

Farmers reported that discussions with Minister of Agriculture Satyadeow Sawh and the MMA should result in raising the banks of the canal from Belladrum to Onverwagt and repairs to the self acting koker doors.

Generally speaking, the levels of communication among farmers (rice, livestock and cash crops), GRDB, D&I personnel, Management of the MMA,RDCs and NDCs, need to be enhanced and sustained.

A general conclusion drawn by the Fact-Finding Mission from discussions relating to drainage and irrigation issues is that levels of communication among the agencies (GRDB, D&I, MMA, RDCs and NDCs) and farmers (rice, livestock & cash crops) need to be more systematic, relevant and sustained.

On reparation and relief for losses, rice farmers stated that the Guyana Rice Producers’ Association (GRPA) has three officers compiling lists for relief packages (Von Better-Fort Wellington; Fort Wellington-Onverwagt; Onverwagt-Profit. With respect to cash crops, farmers have to travel to the Crops & Livestock Office at Onverwagt. It was alleged by one farmer that no one was present, as scheduled, in the office to compile information. A concern was that land-owners, rather than the farmers to whom they have leased the land, were submitting claims for relief, when the leasees were the ones who had taken the losses.

With respect to food, the loss of cash crops has resulted in little food being available to feed some families. Community representatives with whom the Mission spoke, indicated that while in some cases monetary relief was promised, they have not yet received the same.

The GCI endorses the recommendations made by the communities and farmers with respect to accelerating work on the D&I issues outlined above. GCI also supports the farmers’ recommendation that Water Users Committees be set up in order to ensure sustainable and transparent consultations on water management.

Sadly, as the New Year begins, some of our citizens and friends in several parts of the country are again experiencing the trauma of being flooded out and facing another loss of their investments, for which they cannot be adequately compensated. They are angry and frustrated listening to the repetitive excuses from decision-makers and those responsible for protection against flooding and maintenance of the drainage infrastructure.

On Friday January 6, the Guyana Citizens’ Initiative (GCI) received a welcome briefing from Colonel Ramsarup of the CDC in which he provided an overview of the situation in the various regions affected, from the Pomeroon to the Corentyne.

Colonel Ramsarup also reported on actions taken by government agencies and a few of the international agencies like OXFAM in relation to compensation and the provision of water and health care.

As we begin the New Year let us hope that the suffering of those in the flooded areas would not be prolonged and that this new wake up call will galvanise those who fell into complacency to gird up their loins and implement the contingency measures identified after the 2005 floods. We must heed the lessons learnt from the January 2005 flooding and invest resources in creating functioning regional structures and reduce the level of man power involvement from the Office of the President and central Ministries. We must urgently build on the community citizens’ networks, many led by “ordinary housewives” that came into being during the January flood.

GCI will be monitoring the situation. In addition to the briefings we have received, a team from GCI will also visit the Mahaica/Mahaicony, Black Bush Polder and Canal areas the coming week and later, the Pomeroon. CDC has agreed to be in contact with the GCI and to notify GCI of any unmet needs in the affected communities.

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Guyana Citizens’ Initiative gives flood relief donation to Georgetown Hospital, communities and local organizations.

The Guyana Citizens’ Initiative for Flood Relief (GCIFR) donated a significant number of medical supplies to the Georgetown Hospital. These items included oxygen masks, bed pans, gloves, sterile dressing, syringes, doxycycline tablets, mounting dispensers, catheters, tracheal tubes and many others. GCIFR received approximately eight (8) pallets of medical supplies, clothing and food items from a non-governmental organisation, Flames of Influence coordinated by Guyanese activists, Malaika Scott, Feyi Rodway and Shermine Smith in England last September.

GCIFR in partnership with the Guyana Cancer Society also received food and sanitary items from the Organisation for Social and Health Advancement in Guyana (OSHAG) based in New York.

East Coast and Sophia communities and several charitable NGOs benefitted from the range of items distributed by the GCIFR. Recipient organizations were the Salvation Army, Alicea Foundation, Community Development Action Committee, Kitty Women’s Institute for Golden Age, Joshua House, Rotary Club of Demerara, Red Thread, Genito-Urinary Medicine Clinic, YWCA, WAVE, Drop in Centre, Amerindian Hostel and others. Some schools such as Better Hope Nursery, Annandale West Nursery, Sophia Special School, Cropper Hall Nursery, Plaisance Nursery also received relief items. Over the past year, approximately 5,000 households in thirty-five communities on the East Coast have benefited from GCIFR actions.

The Guyana Citizens’ Initiative for Flood Relief (GCIFR) was established in late January 2005 by a group of concerned volunteers – professionals, social activists and community-based leaders – to contribute meaningfully to the national relief efforts in response to the severe flood on sections of the densely populated Atlantic Coast. GCIFR remains committed in rapid responses, timely information and assistance in recovery efforts due to flooding in Guyana.

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As fears recede that the May-June rains may provoke a repeat of the January floods, the situation on the East Coast continues to benefit from a range of local community initiatives, supported by a range of national and international organisations. Linking the work on the ground with the solidarity from beyond the East Coast, the role of the Citizens initiative for Flood Relief continues to evolve. What began as a programme of distributing relief to people who were helpless, has grown into a movement of supporting self-help, community-based networks of activists who are taking charge of their communities.

Over the five month period 5,000 households in thirty-five communities on the East Coast have benefited from GCIFR actions. GCIFR was and still is involved in a number of community projects such as the assessment of poultry and crop losses, the distribution of mattresses, mother/baby hampers, cleaning kits, clothing and medical supplies.

From the outset, the most important service the GCIFR sought to provide was timely, accurate and detailed information on all aspects of flood relief. Now that GCIFR operations have been streamlined in keeping with evolving demands of restoration rather than relief, information gathering remains at the core of GCI operations. Rapid assessments and surveys provided invaluable information to planners, donors and relief organisations during the flood itself. Similarly, as efforts move to more structured medium to long-term community-based responses information remains a crucial factor. Information is power. When people have access to accurate information concerning drainage and irrigation, sanitation and garbage-disposal, technical information to safeguard crops and livestock, they become capable of influencing the way things are done in their communities.

While we would never wish for anything like a repeat of the January floods, it is true to say that should similar tragedies strike again, the East Coast communities would be more self-reliant and better-equipped, less helpless and disorganized. GCI will continue to accompany the communities on their various journeys to a more self-reliant future.

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The Guyana Citizens’ Initiative for Flood Relief (GCIFR) facilitated the coordination of delivery efforts by several local and international organizations to match the needs of local communities with resources from February to June 2005. In five months, GCIFR established community networks with over 25 communities consisting of approximately 6000 households in the East Coast of Demerara, East Bank of Demerara and Greater Georgetown.

GCIFR is presently completing distributions of critical relief items such as mattresses, mother/baby hampers, cleaning hampers, clothing and medical supplies. GCIFR has a working partnership with the Alicea Foundation who generously donated 90 mother/baby hampers for the vulnerable women including single and unemployed mothers and pregnant women affected by the flooding in January 2005. GCI received funding for approximately 725 mattresses from the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce, Canadian International Development Agency and Guyanese Friends in Jamaica (Leon Rockliff). GCI has distributed mattresses in approximately 30 communities. GCI also actively worked with the Alicea Foundation to distribute cleaning hampers to approximately 5000 households within the established community networks.

GCIFR collaborated closely with the local communities by establishing credible and efficient networks where the community representatives who provided information on the vulnerable households in each locality and identify needs and support required. This has allowed the Citizens’ Initiative to work with communities to match needs with resources and provided rapid responses in delivery of services and facilitating communities with linkages to various non-governmental organizations and other institutions in areas of social services etc. The achievements were significant evident in the kinds of credible relationships established with community representatives and organizations and also partnerships with the humanitarian local and international NGOs.

Guyana Citizens Initiative expresses their appreciation for all the help and support from their partner organizations and the tireless efforts of the community leaders who identified needs and provided advice and inputs to ensure distributions were successful and equitable within local networks.

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Citizens' Initiative Mattress Project attracts funding

Guyana Citizens' Initiative for Flood Relief (GCIFR) continues to receive local and international funding for the supply of mattresses to people in several communities still reeling from the effects of the devastating flood in January and February.

The Canadian High Commission through the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives is the latest organization to assist in the acquisition of this vital household necessity, with 16,771 Canadian dollars (GUY$2,606,000)

This money is expected to procure at least 373 mattresses and cater for the disposal of mattresses damaged or destroyed by the flood.

Based on well-established criteria, 282 mattresses have been delivered to people in at least 19 communities on the East Coast Demerara.

The provision of mattresses to those areas was financed by, among others, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce with GUY$1 million and GUY$697,430 from Guyanese Friends in Jamaica.

GCIFR wishes to emphasize that the criteria for receiving mattresses are living in very low or ground-level houses, persons living on high houses with bedrooms on the bottom flat and mattresses having been damaged or destroyed by the flood.

Consideration is also given to persons with bedroom/s on the bottom flat of high houses.

The communities have established groups to determine who are in dire need of mattresses.

GCIFR's Mattress Project commenced in February 2005 after community groups, working with affected residents, identified mattresses as one of the items urgently needed.

A fact-finding mission by members of the GCIFR found that many residents were either forced to discard their mattresses soaked with polluted flood waters or at best wash and use them again.

Though washed, many of the mattresses still pose a serious health hazard as they emit odours, excessive dust and possibly fungal spores that have been severely affecting persons with respiratory ailments.

Many people have also complained of skin problems. During joint assessments by GCIFR representatives and community leaders; GCIFR has verified that numerous residents have discarded damaged mattresses or still utilize them.

A combination of problems associated with a lack of this household necessity has been contributing to an exacerbation of post-disaster stress through domestic conflicts among members of several of the affected households. The affected households regard the acquisition of mattresses as a starting-point for the return of domestic normalcy.

Most of the needy are single mothers with young children, and elderly and disabled adults, living in congested wooden and zinc shacks that are flat on the ground or very low. This architectural feature had resulted in their entire homes flooded, resulting in severe damage or destruction to their household effects.

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The Guyana Citizens’ Initiative for Flood Relief (GCIFR) wishes to thank those citizens in flood affected communities who have been selflessly contributing their time and energies in carrying out detailed assessments of the agricultural and household losses suffered by their fellow citizens in the hardest hit areas. Among the areas where agricultural assessments have been done are Mahaica River, Nootenzuil, Foulis, Bachelor’s Adventure, Bare Root, Paradise, Enterprise, Non Pareil, Melanie Damishana, Good Hope Phase 2, Triumph, De Endragt and Martyrs Ville, Mon Repos and Area ‘J’ and Crown Dam, Industry. Most of these communities have completed the collective verification exercise to ensure the accuracy of the assessments while some others are in the process of doing so. These assessments have made it possible for GCIFR to direct the resources of donors to the neediest within the communities.

GCIFR was able, in the first weeks of the flood, to provide this and other flood related information to an appreciative United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordinating (UNDAC) Team that made the initial assessment that triggered the UN’s Flash Appeal. At the beginning of the Economic Commission for Latin America and Caribbean (ECLAC) assessment exercise, GCIFR was invited by the Head of the Presidential Secretariat to assist the Statistical Bureau with the compilation of the economic data that was to inform the ECLAC assessment. The ECLAC team has expressed its gratitude for the assistance GCIFR was able to render.

All of the information accumulated and processed by GCIFR has been made available throughout the period to the JOC and later the CDC and the Office of the President, as well as the international community. GCIFR will continue to carry out this vital work of assessment and analysis and will continue to make all of its information available to all international and local agencies concerned with relief and recovery.

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The five-member team is headed by UNECLAC official, Erik Blommestein, who explained that their mission is aimed at helping Guyana, like any other similarly affected country, attract much needed resources to improve the livelihood of those affected by the disaster.

“The reason a government would ask us to come in and do an objective assessment is that they want some validity to ask for resources," UNECLAC's Social Affairs Officer, Dr. Asha Kambon, told the GCIFR's team.

At the end of the more than two-hour meeting, Blommestein said "we learned a lot and it was part of the process of consultations," which is ongoing. A second round of discussions with GCIFR is scheduled for later this week.

The ECLAC team commended the GCIFR for its work in communities and for its systematic gathering of important data about the impact of the flood on health, sanitation, and livelihoods.

GCIFR made available to the team several reports and other documents, including an assessment of the impact on the vital agriculture sector in the Mahaica and Mahaicony areas, where cash-crops, rice and cattle farms were devastated after water was released into the Mahaica river from the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) to avoid a potentially catastrophic breach of its earthen dam.

GCIFR also briefed the assessment team about efforts being made, through community initiatives, to grapple with the immense garbage disposal problems created by the flood, especially in the East Coast Demerara villages. GCIFR activists reported on the continuing initiatives to provide counselling to women still traumatised by the flood, as well as on the organisation’s work with cash-crop farmers in the East Coast villages.

In response to questions about the possible mechanisms to move the relief effort forward, GCIFR commended the proposals set out by Professor Clive Thomas for the creation of an independent Trust Fund administered by both government and non-government personnel into which all relief and reconstruction money is paid and which would be audited by an “outside/independent” firm.

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The Guyana Citizens Initiative (GCI) shares the concern of President Jagdeo over the slow pace of the post-flood clean-up on the East Coast and welcomes his intervention. The displeasure of citizens that great mounds of garbage are still to be found in villages over most of the affected areas is entirely justified. Animals and further rains risk much of this waste finding its way back into trenches and drains. The clean-up operations represent a positive opportunity for modernizing sanitation systems neglected over many years on the East Coast.

This opportunity will be lost if the response to post-flood clean-up operations is simply one of getting the mounds of garbage off the road as soon as possible – important as it is to do this. Removing flood-damaged solid waste from the districts is more than a matter of picking up what residents place on the two main highways. The first step at the community level is to ensure residents remove all such materials from their homes and yards. A measure of community mobilizing is essential to remind residents of the danger of keeping contaminated materials lying around premises and to urge them to get it all out. This operation needs to be harmonized with availability of removal trucks and other equipment such as back-hoes in the communities. The same applies to contaminated goods in public places – schools, health centres, community halls and markets.

As demonstrated in the Plaisance/Industry area, effective community mobilizing will produce huge volumes of solid waste. The recently-announced emergency response will now have trucks entering villages, but still pays no attention to synchronizing their visits with clean-up efforts in the community. Having trucks move around the East Coast without a schedule known to communities will ensure the trucks will have to be circulating for a long time to come before all flood-generated solid waste is removed.

The Citizens Initiative is concerned that adoption of emergency sanitation responses without following the relevant technical guidelines is irresponsible. The widely reported proposal to create one-acre plots in each NDC for garbage disposal dumps to dispose of contaminated flood-damaged waste is one such instance. Technical personnel in the Ministry of Local Government, the CDC and technical agencies – both local and inter-governmental, as well as waste disposal contractors - are aware that the term ‘dumps’ with all its connotations of unregulated, careless ‘just get rid of it’ approaches to waste is obsolete and a major contributor to the repulsive pre-flood garbage-choked environment of the East Coast. The Director of Solid Waste management of the Georgetown M&CC has stated repeatedly throughout this crisis that the only safe place to dispose of flood damaged waste – despite all its problems - is the Mandela Landfill Site. The GCI urges that the haste to remove flood-damaged waste not be approached in a way which risks East Coast communities being exposed to long-term environmental health risks.

While part of the opportunity referred to earlier is to create more effective partnerships between local government and citizens’ groups, this will be lost if NDCs are not encouraged, instructed even, to seek out and work in cooperation with such groups. GCI believes NDCs should be part of the post-flood relief response, as a step in the process of rehabilitating them. However, they have never been expected to manage emergencies, as demonstrated by their low visibility to date in the relief operations. An important distinction should be made between NDCs encouraging community involvement and having NDCs direct it.

Mobilizing communities to get rid of flood-damaged goods is excellent preparation for creating new, higher environmental standards. Placed in this context, we are addressing one problem in several phases – clean houses and yards, remove flood-spoiled goods from the districts and introduce new systems of solid waste management. It is important that these steps be seen as separate activities. The development of ‘holding sites’ on the East Coast as part of a sustainable system of sanitation, for example, should not be invoked to justify creating emergency dump sites in order to remove flood-damaged waste. To do so is to squander the opportunity to secure higher environmental and sanitation standards and to prolong the squalor we all wish to become a thing of the past.

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Overseas Guyanese medical professionals lend helping hand
By Shawnel Cudjoe

FOR one week, 23 nurses and three doctors living in the United States of America (USA) volunteered their time, skills and expertise to helping Guyanese in Georgetown and along the East Coast, who suffered in the recent flooding that left homes and lives destroyed.

The team arrived in Guyana on Friday February 18, through the collaborative works of the Organsation for Social and Health Advancement in Guyana (OSHAG), headed by Carol Bagot, Guyana Folk Festival headed by Claire Goring and Support Guyana Underprivileged headed by Dennis Nelson.

The team's journey to Guyana was made possible with the assistance of Universal Airlines which offered a reduced airfare of US$200 to the medical team and OSHAG.

The Chronicle caught up with some members of the group yesterday morning at the Windjammer Hotel in Kitty, before they began their outreach for the day.

President of OSHAG, Carol Bagot said that the team worked with the Health Ministry at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) and at health centres and mobile health clinics on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) - the area that was most affected by the flooding.

She was full of praises for the Health Minister and his team, who she noted was very instrumental in coordinating all the events and giving out the information, so as to make the team's work less tedious and more effective.

The Citizen's Initiative and the Guyana Cancer Society, with which OSHAG has a partnership were also commended by Bagot for their work.

The medical outreach began in De Hoop, Mahaica, on Saturday, and they also visited Anns Grove and Unity on the East Coast Demerara (ECD), on the same day. Sunday, the team distributed medical supplies to persons in the villages of Bare Root, Bachelor's Adeventure and Foulis, Monday saw the team in Plaisance, Sparendaam and Ogle, while yesterday they were in Sophia, Nabaclis and Industry.

In all, over 1500 persons received medical attention from the volunteers whose day begin at 08:00 hrs and end at 17:00 hrs.

Bagot, also noted, that in rare cases, persons were referred to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) for treatment, where some of their nurses were also hard at work in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), and the Pediatric Ward.

Plans are currently being put in place to send another team, when this one leaves tomorrow, Bagot stated

Dr. Delores Gayle-Barton, born in Jamaica, married to a Guyanese and living in the United States is one of the three doctors on the mission.

She said that the experience in Guyana in terms of helping people have been wonderful but she was asked to come on very short notice. "I got two days to prepare for the trip and then I had to rush over", Gayle-Barton said.

"So far we have been seeing all kinds of patients, who need help", she said. However, more persons are being treated for high blood pressure and high blood sugar, rather than the dreaded disease, Leptospirosis, as they expected it to be.

She pointed out that many of these persons were not even aware that they suffering from these various problems. According to Dr. Gayle-Baton, it was their hope that they saved lives with their medical outreach.

Guyanese-born Dr. Berman Saunders described his experience in Guyana as a mixed one. " On one hand, you get a feeling of doing something, but on the other hand, you are frustrated, because you recognise that there is so much more to be done", Saunders explained.

He said that the team was confined to treating persons with infections and fevers, and echoed what was said by his fellow doctor about the number of persons treated for high blood pressure. He also praised the East Orange General Hospital in New Jersey for making drugs available to them.

Earlier, some 31 barrels of food stuff were sent to Guyana to assist persons during the flooding, after the three organisations held a meeting and decided that their homeland needed some assistance.

Additionally, boxes of long boots, blankets and mosquito nets were also sent to the country and Guyanese can expect another 31 barrels of stuff, Bagot assured.

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The Mattress Project of the Guyana Citizens Initiative for Flood Relief (GCIFR) began on Tuesday, February 22, 2005 after community groups, working with affected residents, identified mattresses as one of the items urgently needed.

A fact-finding mission by members of the GCIFR found that many residents were either forced to discard their mattresses soaked with polluted flooded waters or at best wash and use them again.

As part of efforts to satisfy this basic need because many of the residents cannot afford to purchase new mattresses at this critical period, the GCIFR expects to distribute the first of 76 mattresses later this week, through grant financing of $500,000 by the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce.

The two communities initially identified to benefit from the Mattress Project are Good Hope Phase 2 and Plaisance on the East Coast Demerara.

The GCIFR urges other institutions and individuals to join the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce in providing additional financing of at least GUY$6,600 (US$33) to purchase a double mattress for at least one flood-affected family.

The GCIFR is a one-month old non-governmental organization that has been focusing on current and long-term measures to alleviate the effects of the flood and its impact on the affected population.

The GCIF has a working relationship with the Guyana government, non-governmental and international organizations as well as network with affected communities through their representatives.

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February 6, 2005

Citizens' Initiative urges help for people willing to leave flooded areas

The Guyana Citizens Initiative for Flood Relief (GCIFR) wants the authorities, along with non-governmental organisations, to find ways of helping people who are willing to voluntarily evacuate from flood-affected villages, even as the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC) dam remains under threat.

GCIFR Coordinator, Major General (Ret'd), Joe Singh yesterday (Saturday) told a regular meeting of governmental and non-governmental stakeholders that many people in villages along the East Coast Demerara are eager to leave because of the increasing threat of water-borne diseases but they have no one to turn to.

"Those people out there want us to explain what we are doing about their welfare and some people have made up their minds that they want to move and they need to be engaged," Singh said.

The GCIFR has been informed that more than 2,000 people from the East Coast have sought refuge at friends and relatives in the bauxite mining town of Linden.

People, he said, are hungry for information about what created the problem and how they can help in finding solutions.

Mr Singh urged that a needs assessment be conducted and groups and networks be "treated in a dignified manner, not as refugees but people who are empowered.'

The GCIFR has urged President Bharrat Jagdeo to address the nation on the disaster

A GCIFR survey team on Saturday found that many people preferred face-to-face discussions, rather than the print and television, about the flood and the emergence of diseases like leptospirosis.

President Jagdeo has already scoffed at a call by the Guyana Medical Association (GMA) for people to "vacate" villages that pose a grave health risk, saying that government would entertain the idea of evacuation if the health-professionals make such a recommendation.

In addition to being exposed to potentially deadly water-borne diseases, GMA President, Dr Surendra Persaud said many flood-affected people with chronic diseases do not have ready access to medicines and health care could eventually die.

With yesterday's height of the EDWC standing at 58.9 GD, heavy rainfall in the area of the conservancy and the likelihood of the rain spreading to other coastal areas, Mr Singh lamented that many decisions are not being made and the focus still seemed to be on the distribution of hampers and water, rather than putting in place "contingency plans."

"This problem is not going to go away. The conservancy dam is going to become more and more fragile," the GCIFR Coordinator said.

Mr. Singh recommended that, as part of an integrated planning system, the villages be identified and rated according to threat level and community groups be identified to filter relief, rather than depend on hampers and cooked food from a centralized distribution point.

He said reaching out to flood-affected communities required a "total collective effort" rather than work being done by "distant planners" while people wallow in complacency.

"We are now accustomed to seeing people in squalor and filth. We don't see anything wrong with it and they themselves have become complacent," Mr Singh said.

Present at yesterday's meeting were residents of flooded communities, senior staff of the University of Guyana, Guyana Red Cross, Indian Arrival Committee (IAC), Chairman of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), Robeson Benn; geotechnical engineers, veterinarians, businessmen and volunteers.

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The Guyana Citizens Initiative for Flood Relief will tomorrow (Saturday) be discussing the impact that the flood is having on the health of animals and people.

Experts in human and veterinary medicine will be present to share their views at a meeting of the Citizens Initiative.

The meeting is slated for 5:00 PM at Demerara Life building above BWIA International, Robb Street.

The Citizens Institutive will also discuss the response to the crisis by banks, utility companies and other players in the business-sector.

The Citizens Initiative says Saturday afternoon's meeting is open to all other non-governmental organisations as part of developing a systematic way of learning about what each other is doing to bring relief to the thousands of people affected by the flood.

The Citizens Initiative is newly formed network of professionals and volunteers and is being coordinated by Retired Major General, Joe Singh.

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The Guyana Citizens Initiative for Flood Relief (GCIFR) and the Guyana Association of Professional Social Workers (GAPSW) have joined hands to conduct a detailed socio-economic and psychological impact survey of the now three-week old flood, which has been caused by un-seasonal and very high rainfall last month.

Coordinator of the survey group, Dr Desrey Caesar-Fox said the 10-member core-team has already examined the proposed methodology and has been refining the assessment forms.

Dr Fox said the results of study would be used to determine the type of counseling that might be needed as well as determining the medium to long-term measures that might be required for future similar disasters.

"It is really important because I think we need to have that recorded so that they can advise future decisions at a policy level and you must have this kind of information to feed into the type of decisions that are very necessary," Dr Caesar-Fox said.

A sample of the total number of shelters in Georgetown and East Coast Demerara, which are housing more than 3,000 people, would be taken and the occupants asked to respond to a few simple questions about life in the shelter such as access to water, food and sanitation, she said.

Caesar-Fox added that a number of people would be interviewed in detail to develop case-studies to, among other things, ascertain the impact of the flood on female-headed households mainly in depressed areas such as Sophia.

"I think women in a lot of ways have garnered themselves to try and make a future life for their children by building their own homes in Sophia Squatting areas, since most of the are women, but the floods came in and just got rid of their dreams," she said.

The GCIFR was established on January 26 by a small group of professionals to contribute to the national response to the disastrous flooding caused by unusual heavy rains last month, meanwhile urges community organisations to join the Citizens Initiative at Demerara Mutual Life building and help assist in speedily identifying the suffering of human beings.

The latest available figures show that 293,988 persons have been affected (39 per cent of the total population) in 113 villages. This represents some 60,000 families, mainly on the East and West Coast of Demerara, and the West Bank of Demerara. The most affected area is on the East Coast of Demerara between Georgetown to Mahaica where an estimated 72,020 people in 68 villages have been affected.

The GCIFR works along with community-based organisations, non-governmental organisations, the private sector and professional organisations to assist in the coordination efforts and responsibilities of the government, United Nations (UN) agencies, donors and others who have allocated human, financial and material supplies.

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The Guyana Citizens” Initiative for Flood Relief,(GCIFR), is now in its third day of operation. It has been established by a small group of professionals to contribute to the national response to the disastrous flooding that has dislocated the lives and livelihoods of over 200,000 citizens in the scores of villages along the Guyana’s capital and coast.

In matching needs with resources, the GCIFR has over the past three days, established links with community-based organizations, NGOs, the private sector and professional organizations. These links can assist the coordination efforts and responsibilities of the Government, the United Nations agencies, the donors and others who are allocating and have allocated human, financial and material supplies.

GCIFR has established a data and information system- the objective of which is to compile precise data on affected villages, communities and wards. Its purpose is to assist in the speedy identification of suffering human beings whether they be families, women, pregnant and/or lactating mothers, children, the aged or the infirm. The system and its data and information is also being made available to the designated government agencies such as the Joint Operations Command (JOC), headed by Colonel John Lewis and the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), led by Colonel Chabilall Ramsaroop.

The overall objective is to act as a clearing house for the NGOs and community-based organizations whose reports on their life-saving and other activities in the communities can be used to build a comprehensive database that will provide a total picture of the disaster areas and their particular needs.

In this regard, the GCIFR is calling on all organizations active in the communities to register with our technical team based at the third floor of the Demerara Life Building at Robb Street. These efforts are aimed at avoiding duplication between the needs of the communities and the local and international donors. The GCIFR has established a close working relationship with the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination team (UNDAC).

It is the intention of the GCIFR to publish a regular bulletin of the activities of the various organizations so that the efficiency of the relief operations can be improved by greater coordination and transparency.