By Desilon DanielsA 13-year-old girl walks into the Grove Health Centre,Wholesale Jerseys, clearly unsure of what to do. She looks around and takes in everything around her but,China Jersyes Cheap, before anyone could question her, she leaves.Dr. Oneka ScottHowever, she returns the next day. This time, she sits quietly in a corner, seemingly trying to muster some confidence. She is approached by the centre personnel, who gently ask her why she is there.“By the fourth question – which was still general information – she breaks down,” recalled Dr. Oneka Scott of the health centre. “This very fragile female – yet a child in many ways – was abused and raped. Her mother had not the slightest notion about what was going on. But worse of all, this little fragile human being was ostracised by her older siblings who knew what was happening in the home. Her story broke our hearts, even more so when we realised she was pregnant.”According to Dr. Scott, stories like these are far too common and therefore support groups for teen mothers are needed in every health care centre in Guyana.And this might actually be a reality in the near future.This is according to Shevon Lewis, Focal Point for Adolescent Health at the Ministry of Public Health, who shared this development during the annual general meeting of the Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association (GRPA).She revealed that the ministry is looking towards organising a teenage pregnancy clinic and teenage pregnancy support group in each health centre.“We know that many times when the teenagers go to the centres they are not treated with the most respect. Many of them are actually chastised and it’s not just by the persons who are at the centre but also by other patients attending the clinic.”She said that it was therefore thought best to separate the teen mothers from the general population. In these private areas, the expectant young mothers would be provided with counselling and advice on family planning.She revealed that a pilot of this setup was initiated in the Grove Health Centre last year and had been highly successful. She said that at this centre, not only was the teenage pregnancy clinic set up but a support group was also created.“Even the pregnant girls who cannot be managed at the centre and have to be sent off to the Georgetown Public Hospital can come back and meet with their peers, discuss their experiences and how they have gotten over their difficulties,” Dr. Lewis explained. “We’re trying to take the model from Grove Centre and roll it out to the rest of the centres,Cheap Flames Jerseys,” she added. She said too that the Ministry is open to suggestions to “achieve the common goal”.One of the young women who benefited from the Grove Health Centre support group is 20-year-old Vidyamatie Persaud, who yesterday shared her harrowing tale of teenage pregnancy.The young woman explained that things began going downhill after she dropped out of high school due to financial difficulties. She said though she returned just two weeks before her CSEC Examinations but she was forced to drop out again. She subsequently met a man who was 10 years her senior.“My home was broken – my mom and dad got separated due to their issues – so I decided that I needed someone I could depend on and help my Mommy and myself,” she explained.She said that she lived with this older man for eight months, who she referred to as her husband. However, the relationship was an abusive one. Her “husband” also drank too much for her liking. It did not help that his family did not approve of her youth, lack of education,China Jerseys Cheap, and poor background.“I had to endure beating at the hands of someone older than me but I stayed with him because I wanted a life,” she said.However,Chris McCullough Jersey, things went from bad to worse when she decided to return to school. She recalls excitedly heading to Georgetown to purchase school items. During this trip, she did not realise that her partner was slowly drinking himself into a drunken rage, spurred on by his family’s claims that she had not gone to purchase school items but rather to meet another man.She later returned home,NFL Jerseys Outlet, where the older man proceeded to beat her. Things did not stop there; in a horrible twist of events, the man doused himself in kerosene before lighting himself afire right before Vidyamatie’s eyes. Though she tried to save him, he died in front of her.“The only thing I could have done when he lit himself was to grab a sheet and wrap him,” the young woman said sadly. She said that she could not even attend the man’s cremation.Vidyamatie s

An E-governance tower will be erected in two weeks on the grounds of the University of Guyana Berbice Campus (UGBC) Johns location on the Corentyne. This is according to Director of UGBC, Prof. Daizal Samad who recently granted permission to the Office of the President (OP) to begin construction of the structure which will link both UGBC campuses with each other, along with the integration of the Turkeyen Campus in Georgetown.“It will absorb a little bit of space, maybe 100 meters but I’ve given permission for that to happen”,Andrea Barzagli Jersey, he said.Government is erecting 55 towers in Regions Two, Three, Four,Cheap Manchester United Jersey, Five, Six, Nine and 10 to roll out its Information, Communication and Technology programme. The erection of the towers began in Region Four and has attracted objections from residents in Plaisance and Triumph/ Beterverwagting.Prof. Daizal SamadThe tower, which would have 30 years warranty will be constructed by the Chinese contractor, Huawei. The contractor has sub-contracted certain parts of the project to Colombian, Trinidadian and Guyanese contractors.Prof. Samad stated that upon the completion of the tower, which is expected to be in use for the new academic year (September 2013), millions of dollars used to shuttle lecturers to meetings in Georgetown and other locations will be saved by the campus. UGBC pays a hefty bill of over $8M every six months to shuttle lecturers back and forth between campuses.? “Imagine what we can do with $16m every year—but let’s say we save $12M– that can be used to improve services to students, including banish this idea that students have to pay to use the computer centre”.He stated that the range of the tower will cover both Tain and Johns “so we will have full connectivity between the two locations–even better, we will be hooked up to Turkeyen which means that the days of traveling back and forth will soon come to an end—thank goodness because that will save taxpayers oodles of money and put our travelling lecturers at much less of a danger, the road being what the roads are”.He noted that all of the students will gain from the initiative “and schools too can piggyback on the UGBC network”. Also,Custom Manchester United Jerseys, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) can benefit from the tower. “There will be E- libraries through this e- tower so everybody’s reading online and the company contracted to build the tower has gifted two teleconference facilities—one at Turkeyen and the other at UGBC, so that when we have classes,Bayern Munich Jerseys, the classes could be run from these teleconference centres”.He commented on the fact that a lot of persons have been objecting to the ideas of erection of e- governance towers across the country, including the Plaisance, East Coast Demerara community.But according to a Georgetown Hospital Physicist, the e- governance tower would only be harmful if someone is within range of the emission, which is in the stratosphere. It was noted that only super towers that are sometimes as large as an entire block would be harmful. As such,Custom Bayern Munich Jerseys, large companies build them in isolated areas.Plaisance residents were the first to reject the project because Government wants to erect the tower on their Community Centre ground. Besides the absence of consultation and Government’s choice of location, residents were worried about the health implications, primarily cancer that the radiation emanating from the tower might have.“I think that’s a different kind of electrical pulse system. In Toronto which has the most concentrated cluster of radio stations in the world, by far—well Torontorians didn’t get up in arms against that….so I don’t think there is any danger—the benefits are tremendous. It is up to us, though, to make sure that all safety precautions are in place and that whatever is put up at taxpayers’ expense remains safe and secure”, Samad stated. Therefore, he is insisting that UGBC should have a Head of Security.Project Manager of the E- governance tower programme, Alexei Ramotar had said on many occasions that the telecommunication tower would not have a negative impact on people’s health. He said that the Self-Supporting Telecommunication Tower is being built according to international standards.Ramotar enlightened that the towers have varying heights: 36 metres, 42 metres, 54 metres and 60 metres. In addition,Ander Herrera Jersey, these towers are no different to those erected by the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company.