A chat with Vannie Edwards, a young PLA from the North West District

Vannie Edwards and youths at Wauna Nort West. ( Photo: Vannie Edwards)

In a recent conversation by WhatsApp with Ms. Vannie Edwards, a Parish Lay Assistant (PLA) from West District, she narrated that she is one of the youngest at her church, St. Theresa, an outstation of the main parish at Hosororo. I asked Miss Edwards a few questions which she responded to and which gives an understanding of the youth and church engagements there during this time of lockdown. Her narrative I share with the Catholic Standard.

When did you become a PLA?

“I became a P.L.A for my church St. Theresa in 2018. The community is an outstation of the main Our Lady of Lourdes chapel at Hosororo, located a little way from the town of Mabaruma. At the main church, there is one priest for twenty eight parishes”.  

She narrated that at St. Theresa there are three PLAs and she works mostly with the youths and children.

After becoming a youth leader and PLA, Vannie, as she is popularly known, went to St. Ignatius, Central Rupununi, in 2018 as part of her church team to participate in the Presynodal meeting on the Amazon. She and team also visited Trinidad that same year for the Jesus Explosion, a charismatic movement of praise and worship with focus on how to be a better Christian.

What did you do before becoming a PLA?

“I was active in church activities engaged in a youth group, assisting fellow young people to be prayerful, to visit the sick, shut-ins and elderly in the community. Our youth group also visited other young people, encouraging them to form youth groups in other outlying parishes. To offer them some things to do from the church aspect. This initiative came from seeing that young people needed support and guidance to live meaningful lives centered on God. In other words, how the church can assist young people. It’s sad to see that some are killing themselves by suicide; in recent times four young people killed themselves in different places in the sub-region: one in Kaituma, one in Mabaruma, one in White Water and one in Hosororo. Those youths needed help and our youths need to do more to combat this issue”.

How did the youth groups get started?

“It began as a charismatic group that reached out to the young people in the area. The main youth group is comprised of youths from Hosororo, the main parish, but now there are young people from all over the sub-district. The network of youth groups reached out to other parishes to keep prayer meetings etc. The youth groups also have senior church members who accompany us. They also encourage some of us to be nuns and priests and so on”.

Miss Edwards shared that Mabaruma and the Northwest is blessed to have produced their own priest, Fr. Marlon Innis SJ: “We are all proud of him. He is a wonderful priest, very down to earth”.

There are three main youth groups from different outstation churches from the main Church at Hosororo. The name of the youth group at Our Lady of Lourdes in Hosororo is Young Apostles. The one at Mabaruma is the St. Joseph Youth Group; there is Army Anointed Reigning Mighty Youth group from Kumaka, and St. Theresa´s Youth Group.

What are the groups doing to engage youths and others during this time of the pandemic when the churches are closed?

Her responses were: “We have a group chat on WhatApp where we engage with other young people and also adults. We do bible sharing, reading, meditations and songs on the social media platform. The group has members from all other places like Hosororo, Kumaka, Mabaruma and Wauna. There are also others from as far as Trinidad who take part in the activities in the group chat”.

She continued, “everybody contributes in the chat group and it’s encouraging. I found it a good way to support each other in order to keep the faith alive by praying, and sharing about church and God during this crucial time of COVID-19 lockdown.”

Besides this faith activity on WhatsApp, Miss Edwards and her fellow youths assist elders in the area who need help in cleaning and washing, and also carry food for them. They do these things observing the precautions of COVID-19 such as social distancing, wearing masks and praticing hygiene.

Besides church activities, Vannie is a nursery school teacher, and of recent through the church she got a job with UNICEF. According to her: “I go out to teach using resources from a kit given to me for early childhood children most of whom are Venezuelan migrants in the area”.

At home she keeps regular prayer meetings with her family, along with being active in the group chat on WhatsApp. The family prays the Rosary, the Divine Mercy chaplet and offer prayers for the entire world, the pope, the church, for the poor and suffering in the world during this pandemic crisis.

The young missionary, who loves working with children, also prays for them: “Especially those who suffer from domestic abuse, aborted children, and for families that need God, particularly those who have gone astray. Prayers are also offered for the political crisis in Guyana and the effects the pandemic is having on the world. I think that God is putting people to the test with these things. And it’s sad to see Guyana being upside down, where people forget about Jesus and get worked up over politics that results in anger and bitterness with one another”.

My the good Lord help us!