2017-MAR-11-1053Hrs
Dear Errol,
It was good to see you at Dimanche Gras. A pity it was not better organized. I guess we can talk world-class, but we have along way to go.
I have been following the debate with Scratchy in the media and wish I could find time to give a comprehensive intervention. Suffice it to say, that the privileged do not recognize that they are privileged. It comes naturally to them and they and politicians do not seem to understand the structural violence in the society which militate against the youths reaching their fullest potential. if we do not seek to change mind-sets and alleviate the societal conditions which promote inequality, we will continue to see the downward trend. The solution lies in our hands.
I listen to the pronouncements on zero tolerance on school misbehaviour and I wonder if none of our well-paid technocrats is aware that the United Nations issued a report from an expert panel in February last year, which rejected zero tolerance policies as an answer to curb school violence and recommended restorative practices .
This week I was invited to a meeting where a foreigner was sensitizing certified mediators about restorative justice. I sat through the hour-long presentation in thoughtful silence. I was trained by the New Zealand Restorative justice Network in 2001 to facilitate restorative justice conferences. That same year,I was invited by the Organization of Caribbean Bar Associations to address them on restorative justice at their annual general meeting being held at the Trinidad Hilton Hotel. I was also trained by and am a licensed trainer of the International Institute of Restorative Practices (the IIRP) a graduate school in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania ,in restorative practices and restorative justice. I have done a number of other courses with them and have been conducting training here since January 2013, that is, for four ( 4) years. The IIRP uses a video-taped interview they made with me to advertise their programmes. (My husband found it on youtube one day) I have been on radio and television several times talking about restorative justice. I have spoken on the subject at Mediation Board symposia and conferences. I have a graduate certificate in restorative practices and have almost completed my Masters degree. The IIRP used a photo and a quote from me, to advertise their Masters programme even before I embarked on my studies. At a training I conducted in 2016, I had more people from the OECS,than Trinidad.
The Chair of the function said she had conducted an extensive search to get someone to speak on restorative justice before she found this particular foreign speaker. Many times, I have invited the Mediation Board to my training and they had not even responded. The Chair of the function knows me well. She even attended a session I conducted in youth justice at a conference in Orlando, Florida some years ago. She says she loves my passion for restorative justice. At the discussion period, it was clear that the foreigner did not have as good a grasp of the subject matter, as I do, to respond satisfactorily, to some of the questions posed. In Trinidad, foreign is better. I have to say, like the calypsonian, "my papers no use, no use, no use."
I end, as a popular radio caller is wont to say, " I love my country."
Hazel Thompson-Ahye 70
No comments:
Post a Comment