Our team of mediators is in Guyana delivering another round of ADR training to community leaders with the IMPACT Justice project. Learn more about our complex cultural experience in Georgetown!
I am in Georgetown, Guyana this week with colleagues Regina Thompson and Akbar Ebrahim, all family mediators working with mediate393 and all experienced trainers.
We are working with the IMPACT Justice project— a Canadian government funded project designed to improve access to justice in the Caribbean in a wide range of ways.
This training is one of several that we have provided or will provide for police officers, community leaders, and social workers in St. Kitts, St. Lucia, Grenada, Dominica, Trinidad, and Belize. Participants from other Caricom countries are attending these as well.
Our “students” in Guyana are social workers— in the child protection, courts and probation sectors. They are all experienced professionals. As well, we have the honour of having Professor Velma Newton, the regional project director, with us for this segment of the training.
We have learned a great deal about Guyana in our first two days here. The country’s history is complex— with a legacy of colonization of indigenous peoples by Spanish, Dutch, British and French and the subsequent waves of people who were brought here or came here to provide plantation labour. This included slaves from Africa; indentured workers from India; and labourers from Portugal and China, all of whom have brought cultures and differences and contributions to the demographics and politics and diet and way of life and conflicts that exist today. Add to this the economic impact— both positive and negative— of an economy largely based on resource extraction. All of these factors have played out in the discussions and role plays we have had in our conflict resolution training.
I have learned that this large landmass has only 750,000 citizens…. which seems so small given that many of the people in my life, personally and professionally, are of Guyanese origin! And that the interior of Guyana— which we will not have any opportunity to explore this time—is pristine and stunning.
We have been welcomed by great warmth, tolerance, and understanding, factors I understand are common to Guyanese culture. This, along with their great insight, has made for a truly wonderful and enlightening experience here in Guyana so far.
Our Team in Guyana!
Hilary Linton is a Toronto lawyer whose practice is restricted to providing mediation, arbitration, teaching and consulting services. She has used her years of experience to launch her ADR business, Riverdale Mediation, which specializes in family mediation and arbitration, teaching mediation and negotiation theory and skills, and private training and consulting for corporations, government and individuals.
Akbar Ebrahim is an Accredited Mediator and a Master Trainer certified by the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR), London, England in 2013 and accredited Family Mediator certified by the OAFM Ontario in 2014. Akbar has mediated over 150 matrimonial, commercial and Wills/Estate related disputes and during his term as Chairperson of the Ontraio RCAB, he managed over 400 cases.
Regina is a parenting mediator, a family/child protection mediator and a Certified Adjudicator. Regina is founder and principal of Strategic Intervention Services Associates; a full-service culturally contextualized ADR consultancy.
