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University launch hailed as `exciting new adventure’
THE launching here of the Nations University has been hailed as an “exciting new adventure” which has full support from the Guyana Government.
Through the first private university here, Guyanese can now study for degrees from the prestigious University of London
University of London International Development Advisor, Dr Susan Gidman who was here to help Nations University make the arrangements and organise the study programme, at the launch last week assured that the quality of the degrees awarded through external study is comparable to those gained through residential study.
She explained that studying externally offers greater flexibility and students could complete a degree programme in about three to eight years, but cautioned that students have to programme their time in a disciplined manner.
Prime Minister Sam Hinds, assuring the government’s full support of the venture, said the new university would create competition and help the University of Guyana “keep on track of getting better” which is good for improvement of higher education here.
He urged too that Guyanese should strive to learn from people and institutions from everywhere and said the collaboration with the University of London is an opportunity to learn from others.
He also recalled that obtaining degrees through external study is not new to Guyana as it was fairly common during the 1940s and 1950s.
Nations University is the brainchild of Dr Brian O’Toole and his wife, pioneers of the local private School of Nations in Georgetown.
At the launching, O’Toole stressed the importance of creating an environment where learning is a joy, declaring that Guyana “does not need more pessimists” but a new vision.
He also noted that President Bharrat Jagdeo and the government have pledged full support to the establishment of the university.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Guyana, Al Creighton, said an opportunity has been created for collaboration with the new university and to charter the path for further growth of partnership between the two academic tertiary institutions.
He recalled that after its establishment in 1963, UG expanded into providing the training needs of Guyana and the Caribbean and kept pace with national development.
He added that there is a parallel between the growth of UG and the growth of the country. However, because of rapid changes, the institution cannot provide for all the training needs required and therefore Nations University will help meet these.
British High Commissioner to Guyana, Stephen Hiscock recalled that the University of London has been offering degrees through external study since 1858, and said the establishment of the Nations University marks an important partnership which is good for the people of Guyana.
Now it is possible to get a British degree without all the “harassment” of having to get a visa and incurring travel costs and other inconveniences, Mr Hiscock pointed.
He urged that those who obtain degrees from the University of London should be encouraged to stay and help develop Guyana.
He described the new university as an “exciting new adventure.”
DiCaprio assaulted at party
-- reports
LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) -- Actor Leonardo DiCaprio was treated at a hospital for stitches to close a cut in his head after a woman hit him with a beer bottle at a Hollywood Hills party, according to media reports yesterday.
The Oscar-nominated star of "The Aviator" and "Titanic" required about a dozen stitches, People magazine online and Los Angeles television station CBS2 reported.
DiCaprio had been attending a party on Friday at the home of an ex-boyfriend of Paris Hilton, Hollywood restaurant owner Rick Salomon, the reports said.
Los Angeles police said they had no information about the incident and a representative for DiCaprio could not be reached for comment.
However, DiCaprio's publicist confirmed that the actor had been assaulted in a statement reported by City News Service.
"While leaving a small private gathering, Leo was attacked by a woman who was trespassing and had repeatedly been asked to leave the property," DiCaprio's publicist, Ken Sunshine, said in the statement.
Media reports said that the woman had been looking for an ex-boyfriend, not DiCaprio, when she struck the actor in the head with the bottle.
Other party-goers restrained the woman, and friends drove DiCaprio to a local hospital, People said.
The magazine reported that the actor, who had been taking a break from shooting the Martin Scorsese film "The Departed" in Boston and New York, was expected to be able to return to the set and continue working.
REHAB CORNER
PHYSIOTHERAPY – WOMEN’S HEALTH
STRESS incontinence is a common condition encountered during pregnancy and following delivery.
Incontinence refers to the involuntary loss of urine/faeces which occurs at inappropriate times and places. Urinary incontinence is most common and distressing pelvic floor problem whereby frequent leakage of urine occurs when there is a sudden increase in pressure within the abdomen as is the case when you sneeze, laugh, cough, lift or pull heavy objects.
The pelvic floor (PF) is a large sling of muscles at the base of the pelvis, mainly responsible for supporting the contents of the abdomen and pelvic organs including the womb as well as controlling the sphincters (opening) of the bladder and anus.
Pregnancy jeopardises the strength and elasticity of the PF because of the increased weight of the enlarging uterus.
During vaginal birth, the baby stretches the PF and often injures it, especially with prolonged pushing or if an episiotomy was done. The onset of these problems may be subtle; the leakage of the “faucet” starts as a little loss only on exertion.
However, in some cases of severe weakness, just the combination of being upright and having a full bladder can cause women to “dribble” all the way to the bathroom on arising in the morning.
Other signs of weakness include tampons being dislodged or falling out as well as uncontrollable breaking wind from either the anus/vagina on exertion.
Usually too embarrassed to do anything about it, women often wait a long time to admit they have problems “down there”. It is a rather ‘shameful’ event for the afflicted woman who must cope with a skin irritation.
One of the main forms of treatment for incontinence and possible the most appropriate for women of childbearing years are pelvic floor exercises. For better support of the uterus and other pelvic organs during pregnancy it is ever more advantageous to exercise your PF before delivery.
There are a few steps that can be followed:-
1. Tighten the muscles around your back passage, vagina, front passage and lift up inside (scoop) as if trying to stop urine and wind at the same time
Avoid - pulling in your tummy
- squeezing your legs together
- tightening your buttocks
- holding your breath
Try holding for five seconds; build up to a maximum of 10 times. Rest then repeat contractions. Do a maximum of six times daily.
2. Repeat steps (1) vary by doing fast contractions. Quick flicks.
3. Alternate quick flicks with long squeezes. Exercise can be done in any position
Events such as menopause and aging also contribute to such problems. Therefore women over 40 are highly susceptible to urinary incontinence.
(BY DEBITA HARRIPERSAUD – PHYSIOTHERAPIST – GEORGETOWN PUBLIC HOSPITAL CORPORATION)
Food prices up
-- bureau reports
THE Guyana Bureau of Statistics has recorded a 0.2% increase in the prices of consumer items monitored in the Urban (Georgetown) Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket of goods and services for last month.
The price index value accordingly moved from 199.2 in April 2005 to 199.5 in May 2005, the bureau said.
As a result the year-to-date inflation rate (from December 2004 to May 2005) was measured at 2.7%, it said in a statement.
On an annual basis, that is when comparing May 2004 to May 2005, the index rose by 5.4%.
According to the bureau, the increase in the prices of 0.2% in May was primarily influenced by an overall increase in the prices in the Food Group of 0.4%.
This increase resulted from upward price movement in sub-categories Meat, Fish and Eggs by 2.0%, Milk and Milk products by 1.1%, Oils and Fats by 1.2%, Fruits and Fruit Products by 5.1%, Alcohol Beverages by 0.2% and Prepared Meals by 0.2%.
Declines in the sub-categories Condiments and Spices by 3.0% and Vegetables and Vegetables Products 2.9% did not reverse the overall upward price trend in the Food Group, the agency said.
Additionally, there were increases in the prices of other goods and services, it reported.
The retail prices of the Furniture and Transport and Communication groups increased by 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively, with their sub-categories Cleaning Materials and Operations of Personal Transport (Gasoline) recording 1.2% and 1.8% increase, respectively.
The Housing group, however, decreased by 0.3% of which the sub-category Fuel and Power (Kerosene Oil) declined by 0.8%, the bureau reported.
Rapid urbanisation pressures under focus
`In an effort to give everybody land, quantity and not quality was catered for and so certain things were not considered necessary…’ – Ms Shanomae Rose, lecturer on Environmental Studies
LOCAL groups zeroed in on the problems associated with rapid urbanisation at a panel discussion GUYBERNET, a non-profitable Global Sustainable Development Information and Training Centre, initiated and managed by young Guyanese to educate about global issues, organised last week.
The discussion in the conference room of Demerara Mutual Life building, Robb Street, Georgetown was put on with support from the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) Guyana.
It was among activities to observe World Environment Day celebrated earlier this month, under the theme “Green Cities – Plan For The Planet”.
Presenters were Head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Environmental Study Unit, Dr Mark Bynoe; University of Guyana lecturer on Environmental Studies, Ms Shanomae Rose; Programme Coordinator of World Wild Life Guyana, Dr Patrick Williams and acting Town and Country Officer, Central Housing and Planning, Mr Rawle Edinboro.
Ms Rose, who spoke about the quality of the current public sector housing drive, said the Central Housing and Planning Authority faces difficulties in its drive in that Guyana is a vast and unique country.
She explained that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government in 1992 made housing a priority and from then to 2000, distributed 50,929 lots.
“In an effort to give everybody land, quantity and not quality was catered for and so certain things were not considered necessary like the 14 feet reserves, which the ministry thought would harbour thieves and garbage…but it is important to maintain and the recent floods is an example of why”, she said.
She said another initiative – The Improper Land Use Plan - which would have prevented many activities that occurred to the detriment of health, never came to being.
As a result, the Mandela dumpsite now exists in Georgetown and causes much discomfort.
Rose opined that Guyanese are “laid back” about their health, pointing out that “children are often playing in the canal that borders the dumpsite and contaminating and infecting people because of improper land use.”
Unsanitary conditions also originate from little or no space between buildings and overcrowding, she said.
Rose said a recent survey found that 95 per cent of a total of 1,396 secondary school students admitted being sexually active with 48 per cent not using contraceptives.
She said between 1998 and 2003, 22 per cent of births were by teenage girls.
PAHO Environmental Health Advisor, Dr Teofilo Monteiro, in opening remarks, said nearly half the world’s population today live in urban areas and the proportion will be more than 60 per cent by 2030.
According to him, at least one billion people mainly in Asia, Africa and Latin America live in improvised slums and informal squatters settlements which are neither legally recognised nor serviced by city authorities.
“Virtually all population growth in the next quarter century will be in urban areas in the less developed countries, and the fastest growth, will not be in the bigger cities but in urban centres with fewer than 500,000 people,” Dr Monteiro pointed out.
He said one target of the Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations is to ensure environmental sustainability by significantly improving the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020.
Those slum dwellers generally have to contend with poor air quality, he noted, adding that about two million children, under five years old, die each year from Acute Respiratory Infections, aggravated by environmental factors such as indoor and outdoor air pollution.
The PAHO official reported that in developed countries global health cost from air pollution is estimated at US$1 billion, and in developing countries, the cost is close to two per cent of the Gross Domestic Profit (GDP) as the figure is between five and 20 per cent.
On solid waste management, he stated that in developing countries, the cost can be as high as 50 per cent of recurrent budgets as infrastructure for safe disposal of waste is often lacking.
Monteiro said that between 30 and 60 per cent of urban solid waste is uncollected and although municipalities can spend up to 30 per cent of their budgets on waste disposal, the costs are often exacerbated by diminishing availability of suitable land as urban areas spread and land prices rise.
Noting that urban dwellers in the developed world generate up to six times as much waste, as in the developing countries, he said “urbanisation and economic development habitually go hand-in-hand with increased per capita resource consumption and waste generation.”
He reiterated that unsafe water and inadequate sanitation are also typical hazards of living in slums.
More than half of the freshwater tapped for human use goes to urban areas for industry, drinking and sanitation or via irrigation for crops and up to 65 per cent of water used for irrigation is wasted, he explained.
According to Monteiro, in many developing countries, between 40 and 60 per cent of costly drinkable water is lost because of leaks in pipes and illegal connections.
Unsanitary conditions and environmental factors are major causes of deaths, disease and loss of productivity, all of which conspire to perpetuate poverty, he said, pointing out that diarrhoea is the second most common cause of child mortality, estimated to be responsible for 12 per cent of deaths of children, under five, in developing countries with 1.3 million deaths every year.
He mentioned too, that climate change is a threat to low-lying and coastal towns and cities because of sea level rise and more frequent and severe storms, adding that about 40 per cent of the world’s population live within 60 kilometres of the coast.
Monteiro advocated the need for an environmental culture worldwide to promote better environmental health. (RENU RAGHUBIR)
Family in U.S. help extend Islamic school here
By Delana Isles
A FAMILY living overseas has made it possible for the Met-en-Meerzorg Islamic Academy, West Coast Demerara, to be extended to encompass a secondary level school.
Construction of the new building, which will also house a library and a computer lab, began on June 17, and is funded by Anthony and Lionel Zafar in memory of their late father Mohammed Zafar, who lived in the village before migrating to the United States in 1969.
Chief Executive Officer for Education and Daw’ah of the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG), Mr Shaik Moeen-ul-Hack said the academy built by the organisation, caters for 200 nursery, play school and primary level pupils from all sections of society.
But since it was opened in April last year, demand has outgrown its capacity and that necessitated them seeking overseas funding for expansion, he said at the sod-turning ceremony on Friday.
He said the CIOG received the funding after contact was made with an Islamic priest in the U.S., Imam Zameer Sattuar, who briefed the Zafar family on the project.
The cost of the project is estimated at US$35,000 or G$7,000,000 and will be financed entirely by the family, he said.
The Zafars have also paid off the cost of one of the mini- buses the school uses to transport students to and from classes, Moeen-ul-Hack said.
He added that the school has received donations of computers and other materials from Muslims residing in Canada and from local donors.
The CIOG head said he is grateful for the assistance as the school had been forced to turn away those they wanted to reach, and the new building, which will be named ‘The Mohamed Zafar Building’ will enable them to house 100 more students.
He said the organisation had embarked on a deliberate plan to make education accessible to the poor and underprivileged when it built the school, while at the same time providing such high services that would attract all kinds of students.
The CIOG has satisfied its motto of ‘Reaching the Unreached’ regardless of colour, religion or social background, he said.
The project also caters for orphans, and persons who cannot afford to pay the school’s minimal fee, but want to attend, are sponsored annually by private individuals, the CEO said.
Head Master of the institution, Mr Mohamed O. Ali explained that even though the school is funded by and is being maintained by the CIOG, students have the option of taking religious classes and are not required to dress in Islamic clothes.
They are required to wear the school’s colours of green tops for girls and white for boys, paired with khaki pants or skirts.
Ali said he is expecting an intake of no less than 125 for the next school term, adding that the institution not just teaches the compulsory subjects but students also acquire engineering skills through a system set up by the academy so that their options are not limited when they graduate.
He hopes that with additional funding the school will also have an equipped science laboratory, a home economics department and a craft section added.
Moeen-ul-Hack said the CIOG has funded similar projects in Anna Regina, Essequibo; Enmore, East Coast Demerara; New Amsterdam, Berbice and another in Woolford Avenue in Georgetown, because it believes that it is only through an effective education system can Guyana meet the challenges of the global pressures on its potential to survive.
CARICOM Day July 4
THE Ministry of Home Affairs has announced that Monday, July 4, 2005 will be a national holiday in observance of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Day.
Father’s Day tragedy
A FAMILY preparing to celebrate Father’s Day yesterday was plunged into mourning when the breadwinner died on the spot in a road accident.
Gladwyn Williams, called ‘Trevor’, of Lot 122 Oronoque Street, Bourda, Georgetown, was killed instantly when the car he was driving slammed into a parked truck, police said.
The 34-year-old father of four was a driver with the Legal Affairs Ministry and he was reportedly returning to Georgetown when tragedy struck at about 04:30 h.
Police said Williams was driving motor car licence plate PHH 5882 when he apparently lost control on a turn in the road and the vehicle ran into a lorry parked on the southern side of the road.
Police said he died before receiving medical attention at the West Demerara Regional Hospital. His body is at the hospital awaiting a Post Mortem examination.
His wife Nirmala said she last spoke to her husband between 04:00 h and 04:15 h yesterday, probably a few minutes before the fatal crash.
“I got a call from him around 04:00 h-04:15 h saying he was on his way home after dropping off someone in Leonora…but he never came home,” a distraught and emotional Nirmala told this newspaper yesterday afternoon.
She said that based on reports reaching the family, Williams was at the Dem Amstel turn when he swerved to avoid hitting an animal on the road but ended up hitting a Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) lantern post which came crashing into a parked truck on the roadside.
Williams was alone in the car at the time.
Relatives and friends were yesterday afternoon trying to console the grieving widow who said that their children had bought “a huge gift for him” but would now not be able to give it to their father.
Nirmala said her husband was always helping others and could not say ‘no’ when it came to helping others.
He was also described as a committed and loyal worker by Ayesha, wife of Attorney General, Mr Doodnauth Singh.
Nirmala also recalled that they were making preparations for the birthday of her daughter, Zanneel, who will be nine on Saturday. (PRIYA NAUTH)
Man found with gun, military uniforms
POLICE have held a man in the Rupununi after he was found with a gun, ammunition and a military uniform on Saturday.
Police said he was detained at St Ignatius Village in the Central Rupununi after ranks on patrol saw him acting suspiciously.
He tried to escape but was held and police said they found him with a 14-gauge shotgun and two live matching cartridges.
They searched his home and also found pair of Guyana Defence Force-type uniforms, police said.
Pensioner killed in road accident
A 64-YEAR-OLD pensioner from Berbice was killed when he was struck down by a lorry while crossing the Hopetown road on Saturday night.
Police said Kenneth Joseph had come out of a mini-bus and “ran across the road into the path of motor lorry GHH 8108”.
Joseph died before receiving medical attention at the Fort Wellington Hospital and the driver of the lorry was being questioned, police said.
Police hunt visa scam suspect
THE police are seeking the assistance of the public to apprehend a man wanted in connection with a visa scam and other offences, including obtaining money by false pretence.
Police said the man, Tameshwar Beekham, makes telephone calls to unsuspecting persons and plays a tape recording which “causes them to believe that they are now having a conversation on how to acquire a visa.”
The man claims to be working at the United States Embassy, police said in a press release Saturday.
They said that at the end of the tape recording, a telephone number is given and when persons call the number, the pretence begins and Beekham later obtains money.
Beekham, also called Pryarilall or Terry Persaud, is of Lot 6, Grant 1804 Crabwood Creek, Corentyne, Berbice.
He was born on August 21, 1977, is medium built and is five feet, six inches tall, police said.
Anyone knowing his whereabouts is asked to call the nearest police station or the following numbers: 226-9941, 225-8196, 226-6978, 227-6123 or 225-3650.
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