Human Services Ministry launches New short story competition

The Human Services and Social Security Ministry said that it wishes to announce the launch of
its Short Story Writing Competition for young writers on the topic of Child Safety.
The ministry said that this new initiative forms part of the ‘Every Child Safe’ campaign that was
launched by its minister, Dr. Vindhya Persaud in September. They noted that it seeks to tighten
the grip on issues surrounding child abuse in Guyana. Children being targeted for the
competition is 12 years old and under, with the word limit being 250. The ministry pointed out
that entries being sent in to the Ministry must be completed with the participant’s name, address,
age and contact numbers.
The ministry disclosed that the10 best stories will be published in a special book produced by the
Ministry, adding that young authors with winning entries will receive prizes The ministry noted
that submissions can be made at the Ministry’s East and Lamaha Streets, Georgetown location,
or can be emailed to prmohsss@gmail.com. The deadline is November 11, 2021.
It further noted that under ‘Every Child Safe’, more is done than just seek to make information
available to the public. It stated that a personal and consistent check-in with members of
communities all across Guyana is carried out for help to identify perpetrators and bring relief to
sufferers. “These communities become essential partners of ours, so that wherever child abuse
rears its ugly head, we will be able to know because there are people out there as our eyes and
ears. Perpetrators will have the eyes of an entire community on them, so no one can escape that
kind of scrutiny,” Dr. Persaud stressed.
The minister said that this partnership will see heightened vigilance on child abuse in
communities and people will now be aware of crimes that they should look out for and how they
should report cases of child abuse utilizing the 914 hotline and all the other avenues available to
them.
She added that recently, 25 girls who are members of vulnerable groups across Guyana were
given the opportunity to write their stories and get them published under another project by the
Ministry called, “The StoryBoard Initiative.”