Misuse of alcohol and domestic violence targeted at Mallali one-day workshop

THE MISUSE of alcohol and domestic violence were targets of a one-day worship for Mallali
residents in Upper Demerara – Berbice (Region Ten) under the auspices of the Indigenous
Peoples Commission.
Drunkenness and spousal abuse are worrying for Mallali residents and its Toshao, Mr. Orlayne
Williams, organised the one-day event to shine the spotlight on the anti-social behaviour in his
community. Residents revealed that drunkenness triggers spousal abuse in the community and
the former is threatening to get out of hand.
“Domestic Violence is not very high here, but our biggest problem lies with alcohol abuse,” a
Mallali resident told www.aroundtheregions.com
“There are cases when persons drank too much and become violent towards their partners.
Together with the Indigenous Peoples Commission, we are seeking to address this problem early
so as to avoid any increase,” the resident explained.

However, there are other drivers, such as the current economic and other hardships, behind the
destructive behaviour, according to the Mallali resident.
“The time for ignoring Amerindians is long gone as they too play a pivotal role within society. I
must congratulate the Toshao and all those involved as such a workshop will create awareness
and help to educate the community on a number of issues regarding these two very important
topics. I trust that such a workshop can be replicated in other Amerindian communities as the
issue of alcohol abuse is a long-standing one and while domestic violence among Amerindians is
not as severe and high as other races, we are seeing an increase which should raise concerns for
all,” the residents said.
Dr Util Thomas, Director of the Mental Health Unit in the Health Ministry acted as a resource
person at the one-day seminar. The use of testimonials drew residents to share their experiences
on the twin issues openly which they unanimously agreed need to end immediately.

“We enjoyed the workshop as we were allowed to share our experience as too many times when
you attend a workshop that sees most of the participants being Amerindians (and) they are
generally spoken to rather than them being allowed to share their views and opinions. This, many
of us feels is because Amerindians are viewed generally as not being able to contribute to
ongoing discussion and this image has seen many of our Amerindian brothers and sisters not
wanting to participate. But we were happy that we were allowed to share from our perspectives
and to express how we are affected and how we feel. This approach saw greater participation
from all and we are certainly happy that we were allowed to contribute meaningfully,” a
spokesperson for the group said.