About Help and
Shelter
- Studies of domestic violence in Guyana estimate
that between
1 in 3 and 2 in 3 women are victims. We also know that domestic
violence
against children, against the disabled and against the elderly is
endemic.
- Help and Shelter's mission is to is to work
towards the
elimination of violence in all its forms by helping to create a society
where attitudes to use of violence and practices of violence have been
transformed.
- In a client base of over 5,000 persons, 85% are
female , 14%
are under 18 and 80% are victims of spousal abuse
Download Annual Reports 1997
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
Stats for 2004 report
Help and Shelter was
the brainchild of
a support group created in 1994 as an adjunct to the Georgetown Legal
Aid Clinic; it was incorporated in November 1994 as a company limited
by guarantee. Managed by a Board of Directors in collaboration with a
management team consisting of a Coordinator, Counsellor\Training
Coordinator and Project Development Manager, the agency has three other
paid members of staff. Since its inception, it has relied very heavily
on volunteer services and has been able to build a pool of resource
persons whose skills are continuously upgraded and enriched to serve
the needs of our clients.
Volunteers are always needed for fund raising, public education
&
advocacy, administrative duties and from time to time, to be trained as
Hotline Counsellors.
If you would
like to become a volunteer please click here
The members of the board elected at the
Tenth AGM held
on 20 November, 2004 are :-
| Josephine Whitehead |
Lisa Thompson
|
Danuta Radzik
|
| Yvonne Quintin |
| Elizabeth Cox |
| Patricia Noel |
Patricia Gray
|
Nicky Mendes
|
Colleen Reis
|
Sandra Plummer
|
Volunteers Rep is
Patricia Isaacs
|
The directors are all volunteers.
Our goals are:
- To work to
build respect for the
right of women, children, youth and men to live free of violence and
the
threat of violence, by actively fostering a high level of awareness
among all sectors - governmental and non- governmental- about the
prevalence, causes and costs of violence, including violence in the
home
and in other personal relations; and about alternatives to the use of
violence through public education, advocacy and networking with like
minded individuals and groups.
- To assist
women, children, youth
and men to develop alternative ways of handling power and resolving
conflict by providing progressively enhanced counselling for victims
and
perpetrators of violence through counselling services, including a
crisis hotline.
- To widen
options for victims of
domestic violence by providing temporary shelter for abused women and
their children, with training that can develop psychological and
practical skills needed for increased self-sufficiency
- To provide a
recourse for victims
of domestic and sexual abuse by lobbying for the strengthening of
relevant laws and implementation mechanisms where necessary.
- To establish a
resource base to
ensure the sustainability of Help & Shelter by working towards
the
economic self-support of the proposed shelter and implementing a
well-articulated fund-raising plan.
Our
achievements
Help &
Shelter has become
recognized in Guyana as a repository of experience and skills related
to
alleviating the impact of domestic and sexual violence. This has led to
a significant increase in the demands placed on the board, staff and
volunteers to expand training, counselling and advocacy to a national
level.
We provide continuous
training for staff
and volunteers in counselling and the conduct of public education.
Training has also been provided to volunteers from community based
organisations (CBOs) in areas outside of Georgetown.
- Court
Support and Advocacy
In addition to another NGO,
Red Thread,
Help & Shelter has been providing "in court" support to victims
of
domestic and sexual violence and has been granted a formal standing.
This activity has potential impact on the entire context of how
domestic
violence is perceived and dealt with by the legal system. With
assistance from CIDA Gender Equity Fund, we have participated in
training sessions with the Police and we have met with magistrates. A
colloquium on Domestic Violence for Magistrates was held on October 23
-
24, 1999 and repeated in 2003. We provide assistance with completion of
application forms
under the DVA. We have facilitated training with the police. We
continue
to make input into the promotion of related public policies and
processes.
Public education in support
of the
eradication of domestic and sexual violence is an on-going activity of
Help & Shelter. We have facilitated public education sessions
with
a
number of agencies and organisations including schools, CBOs, private
sector organisations, service organisations and religious
organisations.
Help & Shelter is working an on going media campaign to educate
the
public on the issue of domestic and sexual violence.Work also continues
on advocating against child abuse.
The construction of a shelter
on land
donated by the Government was completed in April 2000. Women who are
victims of domestic violence will be able to remain at the shelter,
with
their children, for up to six months, during which they will receive
training in life skills and income generating skills. Cultivation of
fruits and vegetables and the rearing of fish and poultry will
contribute to the self-sustainability of the facility.
Counselling is provided at
the offices and
over the telephones. The charts shown in this section are based on data
for the period 25 November 1995 to December, 2004 .
More up to date statistics are available from the Statistics
section of this website.
| By
Category of Abuse
The problems
which our clients
suffer are categorised according to the kind of relationship with the
abusers. Victims of spousal abuse form the majority of our client base.
Child abuse is still under reported and various activities have to be
designed to deal with this problem
|
 |
 |
By
Age
Approximately
82% of our clients
are in the 18 to 50 age group. Reports indicate that women over 50 find
it difficult to challenge the abuser by seeking our help. The majority
of children are female and the victims of sexual abuse.
|
| By
Gender
The majority
of the clients of
Help & Shelter are female. Recently, more male victims have
come
forward. Some male abusers have also approached Help & Shelter
for
assistance.
|
 |
 |
By
Ethnic Origin
The ethnic
diversity of our
clients indicates that domestic abuse is not particular to any one
ethnic group in Guyana. 60% of our clients come from Georgetown which
way may explain why the majority of our clients are of African origin.
|
The Challenges
ahead..
We feel confident
that we have, and can
continue to develop, the human resources to do the work we have set for
ourselves even in the context of the continued drain of skills from the
voluntary and public sectors to the local private sector and overseas.
The more serious challenge is to find the material resources not only
to
sustain what has already been created but to expand to new areas in
Guyana. This is what people are demanding of us and it is moreover,
what
the spread of domestic violence in Guyana requires of us.
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