GUYANA: Mothers Meeting & March

To mark the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day

Sat 19 March 2011 - All welcome

Organised by Red Thread, co-ordinator of the Global Women’s Strike in Guyana, and endorsed by Grassroots Women across Race and the Red Thread Domestic Violence & Rape Survivors Self-Help Group

For Everyone’s
SURVIVAL & WELFARE
Living incomes for
mothers & all carers;
End violence vs women & children

Why a Mothers Meeting & March? Because:

Worldwide:

• Mothers’ basic contribution to survival and welfare is unrecognised and unpaid.

• Mothers produce and care for the world’s people while those who care only about profit and power destroy us and the planet – and everywhere, children are hurt the most.

In Guyana mothers of all races are meeting and marching to say:

► I work as a domestic in ...(another country or region) because it does give me enough money to send for the children food and school, but they does have to look after theyself.

► I am a old age pensioner and I glad for the little increase government give we, but $2.42 a day still can’t feed me.

► I am a mother in a wheelchair with 2 children, and with the money we get for public assistance I can’t feed them and send them to school every day.

► I does work in a cookshop with 16 hour shifts and I does barely see my 17 year old daughter who running wild.

► Security guard work is the only work I could get and I does have to leave my children home alone while I work a 12 hour shift day or night.

► Selling is all I know and my mother before me; now I can’t even keep a space where customer can reach. How me and my children going live?

_{We are destroying our children by not valuing their mothers!}

Invest in caring not killing

Marches in: England, Haiti, India, Italy, Peru, US (LA, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, San Francisco), Venezuela

Why march with us? Because:

Many of us do caring work, whether we’re mothers or not.

We’re all being robbed of benefits, services and wages our labour and taxes have paid for.

Mothers can bring together all who stand for life, against violence and exploitation.

Everyone’s contribution and struggle must be counted and supported.

Fathers, sons, brothers, spouses...it’s time for more of you to show your support

Women, men, young, old – gather at Red Thread Centre, Princes & Adelaide Sts., Charlestown, after lunch, 12.30 pm, Sat March 12. Discuss with women & child activists & religious reps the harm done to mothers and their children by poverty and other violence.

“A Mothers’ March” - Poem by Eusi Kwayana

The poorer we are, the harder it is for us to run from violence/violent people:

• Unwaged and low-waged women feel forced to stay with their abusers or to go into other relationships which might turn violent just for money and shelter for themselves and their children.

• Women living on Old Age Pensions alone and women with disabilities depending on Public Assistance are vulnerable to exploitation.

• Children left alone while their carers scramble for an income are left prey to sexual predators.

Everywhere people are standing up to bring change – from Egypt to Kashmir, from Palestine to Honduras to Haiti.

For more information contact Wintress, Nicola, Joycelyn or Halima, Red Thread, Tel No: 227 7010 Email: red_thread@gol.net.gy