[00:00:00] Speaker A: This is Guardian Radio, your station for up to the minute news and intelligent, interactive and engaging conversations. 96.9 FM.
The views and opinions of the hosts and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the management and staff of Guardian Radio.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: Good morning and welcome to Guardian Radio. AM Today is Monday. Monday, August 25th is a little after 11 o' clock in the morning. Once again, this is Ca Nury and I shall be your host for today. Today we have some distinguished guests in studio who's talking about a new program that the government, the ministries. I'm not even saying necessarily government. I need to correct that narrative. Right.
Religious figures have come together to correct to assist families. It's actually a family violence program and I'm going to get more detail about the narrative on how it started, why it started and how Bahamians need to get involved, how they could benefit from the program. Again, the program is called Tamar, right? It's from the Bible, actually. It's a story that most Bahamians are not familiar with. But the story about family, I think that's dissonance. When you see things, you don't actually say what's happening or get yourself involved, but when the family structure is not nice and someone did not do what they should do. But I'm gonna get a better narrative for the whole story. We have in studio Reverend Angela Palaciosis. Of course, we have Reverend Cheryl Carroll and Ms. DeAndre Miller, who is a part of the Tamar program.
When we're going to start. Now we'll start with Ms. Palacious. Reverend Palacious. And she's going to go in detail or give a narrative of how, when and why. What is Tamar? Tamar, how was it all is involved and why you decided to do it. So without further ado, welcome Reverend Policius.
[00:02:09] Speaker C: Thank you. Thank you. My joy to be here with you.
We began discussing the whole concept of family violence during COVID when the statistics began to increase. And the we was, I was at that time recently retired, the Anglican hospital chaplain. And I spoke with our bishop about what we were hearing, the escalation, and he said, yes, we can go ahead and have a think tank.
So Sandra, Dr. Sandra Dean Patterson and Ms. Leila Green and Ms. Ms. And Terry Fountain. We had a group of us virtually of course, discussing how could we respond to what we're hearing. And so out of that think tank came the concept of prevention and so the mentoring program, and we made it a school mentoring program.
So you'll Hear more from Ms. Miller about that fifth grade, and we've now expanded to seventh grade. So this year we're on board with LW Young, and we are sending information to other guidance counselors to see if their principals approve. They can get on board as well. But LW Young is our pilot. But we will expand. Now, we realize the cry has come. We heard principal of H O Nash asking about programs, and so we're expanding. So we've got. The Tamar program was eventually the umbrella proposal that we offered to Bishop. And Tamar is a young woman who is King David's daughter. Her half brother is Amnon, and her full brother is Absalom.
And Amnon wants to have with his sister, and he devises this plan where he is going to pretend to be sick.
He's going to ask for her to bring him some soup. And then when she comes and this is a friend of his, the two of them concoct the plan.
He sends all the servants out, and he proceeds to rape her. But before she says to him, why don't you marry me? Because he said, I've been in love with you all this time, et cetera, she said, daddy will agree for you for this. In those days, that culture, that was possible, but he chose not to. And then, of course, as often is the case, he then wants to get rid of her immediately. So he has her put out that same day.
And her brother Absalom sees her, because you rent your garments when you're in grief. And he sees her distress and he guesses what happened, because he knew she had gone to this house. And he says, come home with me.
So David does nothing.
Absalom seems to do nothing.
Amnon has gotten away with it. And two years later, Absalom kills Amnon for raping his sister. And so this whole dysfunction in the family, of course, has come from David having had Bathsheba's husband killed so that he who had impregnated her could have the child born, and then the child dies, et cetera. And so out of all of this family history comes this event. And so we chose to highlight Tema and the whole sense of what is going on in the family, unfortunately, the.
[00:05:40] Speaker B: Trauma she went through, right?
[00:05:42] Speaker C: And that that represents the trauma of incest, the trauma of family violence, the whole. And so we have the mentoring program, we have the parenting program, and Reverend Sherrill will tell you more about that. And we have the perpetrator counseling program where we train persons using Dr. Allen's family support group to journey with them while they come to healing and wholeness and wellness for the family. So we have a Joshua group for males and an Esther group for women. So we've kept all the biblical names to try and help people to appreciate what the Bible has to offer.
And we years ago. So the mentoring is prevention. The parenting is partly prevention for those who are borderline, and intervention for those for whom the courts send. And then the perpetrator counseling is for persons who are not incarcerated, but who obviously have been reported or have an issue, et cetera. And we are wanting those persons to acknowledge they need help. So we've met with court magistrates and they're going to be working with us. But I want my team to be able to get into their areas of ministry.
[00:06:52] Speaker D: And.
[00:06:52] Speaker C: But that's to give you an overview. We also make a donation to Crisis center and to Links and to the domestic violence new unit. Both Reverend Carol and myself are on that task force. So we wanted a holistic approach with prevention, intervention, transformation. We wanted to get in there and make a difference in the nation ecumenically. We have community leaders.
We just are partnering with whoever is willing to partner with us so that we can make a difference.
[00:07:23] Speaker B: Okay, so the overarching program is called Tamar Program.
[00:07:28] Speaker C: The Tamar Project. Right.
[00:07:29] Speaker B: Project. Project. And then you have different segments of the Tamar Project that goes in detail.
[00:07:36] Speaker C: Different focus.
[00:07:37] Speaker B: Different focus. And you're saying that it's not a domestic violence, it's family violence.
[00:07:41] Speaker C: Yes. We chose the concept of family violence because most people presume that domestic violence is inter his partners, that kind of intimate partnership. But what we realize is you have adolescents who are terrorizing parents, you have parents who are violent toward their children. You have siblings violent toward each other. But you also have caregivers that can be violent toward the elderly or the caregiver. So you can have any number of forms of violence under the roof where these persons live together as family. And so we broadened the concept to make sure that it wasn't just dismissed as something between intimate partners.
[00:08:25] Speaker B: And before we introduce the other guests to hear their focus. Right.
Is the Tamar project government sponsored? How do you get money to do what you are doing? This is mentoring and facilitating things.
[00:08:39] Speaker C: The diocese has a small budget.
[00:08:41] Speaker B: When you say the diocese, you mean the Anglican diocese.
[00:08:43] Speaker C: Yeah, the Anglican Diocese has a small budget because I am the director of pastoral care for the Anglican Diocese. But I am in a voluntary capacity now that I've retired as hospital chaplain. And what it is you just asked me funding, we have an anonymous donor, and we are, of course, open to funding. But we have managed our money in such a way that we could share with others. We give a small stipend to the mentors, and you'll hear about that. We give a small amount to the group leaders for the groups. And when people present us in our training, we give them. We have remuneration for them. We have party for the children. So you'll hear. If you want more details, I'm going.
[00:09:34] Speaker B: To ask you some more questions.
[00:09:35] Speaker C: The finances. But yes, we are in that way nonprofit and we are always open. But we make. We do what we can as good stewards of the money that we have received.
[00:09:47] Speaker B: Is it government funded at all? Like, no stipend?
[00:09:49] Speaker C: No.
[00:09:49] Speaker B: So it's Anglican diocese and whatever kindness of any Bahamian who comes forward and says, I see what you're doing, yes, okay, but you could need some more money.
[00:09:56] Speaker C: Well, we're happy if government can, but we know that there are many demands on government funds at this time. So we wanted to make sure that the program is not dependent on anything that would be up as much as possible. So we try, but we do. We do, you know, have one or two persons that we've approached, et cetera. But for the most part, we've not tried to tax government on this.
[00:10:19] Speaker B: I understand.
[00:10:20] Speaker C: If we expand to the schools, though, then we'll have to. If we get all these schools now that you have lwn, and we're in nine family islands, so you'll hear about that. And we've got other Nassau ones being already primary school. So the junior high. Is this beginning for the first time in September.
[00:10:37] Speaker B: Okay. Let's speak to Reverend Cheryl Carroll.
[00:10:40] Speaker E: Yes, sir. It's my pleasure.
[00:10:42] Speaker B: You have a focus in the Tamar project. And what is the focus of your committee?
[00:10:48] Speaker E: Well, the focus. Thank you so much for having us. The focus is two aspects. One is the virtual parenting program.
[00:10:57] Speaker B: Virtual parenting program.
[00:10:59] Speaker E: Virtual parenting program. Reverend Palacious and I, when I worked at Social services, I retired two years ago from Social Services after 36 and a half years.
And so Reverend Palacious and I, I was the coordinator for the program under the Department of Social Services.
And Reverend Palacious and I worked closely together within that program. She was one of the facilitators.
And when I retired, she made the observation, why don't you just come and help us? Because as she explained that these are some of the things that we are involved with. And so I readily agreed. And prior to that, she and I had communicated about the concerns that she expressed earlier, what we were seeing happening in the Society happening with family violence and all of it. And so I just continued doing. Once I retired, I just continued doing what I was doing at social services. But it's now virtual because after Covid, we found that it was more effective and meaningful. And so now we have the virtual parenting.
[00:12:09] Speaker B: I want to go in detail what you mean by virtual parenting. And before then, Reverend Palacios mentioned that during COVID the numbers seemingly spiked. I know.
[00:12:20] Speaker E: In terms of the violence.
[00:12:21] Speaker B: Yes, I know. I was doing some research about recessions and doing some research about when people are forced to stay home and forced to be confined. Confined. And what happens. And when I was doing the research, they said there tends to be a lot of domestic violence, tends to be a lot of sexual abuse. And are you saying that during COVID the various resources saw that that was happening?
[00:12:48] Speaker E: That's what we understood. Yes.
[00:12:50] Speaker B: And that's why this whole Tamar project came about.
[00:12:54] Speaker E: I think that's one of the catalysts for it coming forward.
And with the virtual parenting program, do not now want to readily come into a. In space and.
Well, but they do come into. In space. Let me say we collaborate with the government. The government has a national parenting program, and so we collaborate with them. They have their program in the day on the Tuesday, and we do the virtual program in the evening every Thursday, 5:30 to 7:30.
And so, like Reverend Palacios said, the individuals are referred through the courts as well as they can walk in or they can call and say they're interested in the program.
[00:13:42] Speaker B: So what is the program exactly? I want to visualize it.
[00:13:45] Speaker E: The program is. We have 12 weeks. We have facilitators who present on varied topics that we feel the families can benefit from. The power of forgiveness, finances, discipline, communication, patience, parent, child relationship, fathers, the importance of having our fathers.
So these are some of the things that we share with the parents and we give. It's like a psycho educational den. We provide them that they can utilize personally as well as with their relationship with them and their children. There's some that I've heard of parents who said to me, my child stole $50 from me and I took his hand and I put his hand on the stove.
[00:14:33] Speaker B: So they can learn.
[00:14:34] Speaker E: Right? So that's what they said. So they can learn. And I saw the scar where the two fingers are meshed together.
So our thing with the. With the virtual and in person is let us provide you with information whereby you can find a more positive way of dealing with that child.
[00:14:53] Speaker B: So how do you get your clients?
[00:14:57] Speaker E: We do virtual Just like we're doing now. We can come on the regular.
[00:15:01] Speaker B: I know to go to you, right?
[00:15:04] Speaker E: This is what I'm saying now.
We promote it through the. Like we say just how we having the show. We promote it through the Guardian, the media, through the NASA Guardian and the Tribune, the ads, we put it on social media, so cable TV and it's in the bulletin, bulletins within the Anglican diocese, all of the churches.
So we spread the information.
[00:15:31] Speaker B: And that ad would say what exactly?
[00:15:33] Speaker E: The ad will say that free virtual parenting program, Thursdays 5:30 to 7:30. And it gives you the site, it gives you the zoom and it gives you an email and a phone contact that you can communicate and say you have an interest.
And once you do that.
And the positive parenting for today. What's that?
The name of it is the Positive Parenting for Today. That's the name of it, Positive parenting for today. And so once the people see the ad, they will contact us and say they're interested. And as in collaboration with the national Parenting Program, Social services, National parenting Program, those persons who cannot do the day session, they refer to us to be a part, participate in the virtual, you see? And so those who can do the virtual, they go to the day session. So it's a collaboration there. So now on the day that we have the session, we have facilitators who are trained to present the information on that particular day. Say we begin now, next week, Thursday, Reverend Palacious will be the presenter on the power of forgiveness. So we have that session, the power of forgiveness. The following week, somebody will prevent on effective communication between you and your child.
[00:17:01] Speaker B: So it's a series.
[00:17:02] Speaker E: So It's a series. 12 weeks. 12 weeks. And at the end of the 12 weeks, in collaboration with social services, we have a graduation whereby persons are provided with a certificate indicating that they would have completed the parenting program. And when the courts refer them, we have to provide information or report to the court saying that they have completed the requirements of the classes. Send that certificate to the court now. The court then deemed them, you know, you've met the requirement, whatever it is that they need to do as a result of that.
[00:17:36] Speaker B: So I want you to walk me through the video stairs. I want you to walk me through something. Now I'm say I'm. Now I'm the host, right? But I'm listening now. So I'm listening audience, right? I'm hearing you speak, right?
Just say I happen to read the information in the bulletin and say I need help. I need help. And so I want you to walk me through the steps.
[00:17:58] Speaker E: You call a number, send me an email or.
[00:18:00] Speaker B: Send an email.
[00:18:01] Speaker E: Once you call me or send an email. We have an online. Online application. The application that you can fill out.
[00:18:09] Speaker B: An application online. Okay.
[00:18:11] Speaker E: Right. You don't have to come in personal. And we email that application to you. Once that is completed, then we say to you, these are the days that we have the classes.
[00:18:20] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:18:21] Speaker E: We give you the link.
[00:18:22] Speaker B: I gotta pay for this or anything?
[00:18:24] Speaker E: No, this is all free.
[00:18:25] Speaker B: Okay, good.
[00:18:25] Speaker E: We give you the link and on the day that we start, you sign in at that point in time and you are now in.
Enrolled in the program.
[00:18:34] Speaker B: And I follow the courses.
[00:18:36] Speaker E: And you follow the courses. And like I said, at the end of the 12 weeks, we have a graduation provide you with a certificate saying that you have met the requirements.
[00:18:47] Speaker B: I like that. That's. That's doable.
[00:18:49] Speaker E: Yes.
[00:18:49] Speaker B: And I like the idea that I could do this by myself. I don't have to go to the courts.
[00:18:52] Speaker E: Yes.
[00:18:52] Speaker B: And have the court order me that I gotta attend. I could call and say, I need to be a part of this. I have some issues with my child and I need some advice.
[00:19:00] Speaker E: And we've had. We've had persons who've done that.
We've had persons who are not even parents yet, but they said they want to get some information to help them and help prepare them. And we have persons who are engaged. We have persons who were just newly.
[00:19:17] Speaker B: Married so I could be like getting engaged. And I saying, I want some. I want to speak about some things.
[00:19:22] Speaker E: Yes.
[00:19:23] Speaker B: Make sure this marriage thing work.
[00:19:24] Speaker E: Yes.
[00:19:24] Speaker B: And I can just come.
[00:19:25] Speaker E: Yes, you definitely can just.
[00:19:28] Speaker B: I thought for people who have an issues.
[00:19:29] Speaker E: No, no, no, no, no. Anyone who needed. Want information. If you just want to be a part of it, like I said, somebody who said, you know what?
I'm not a parent yet, but I just want to get some information, make.
[00:19:41] Speaker B: Sure I have a good parent.
[00:19:41] Speaker E: There are some persons who are just guardians of their siblings or whether it is a blended family. And they said they want to get information as to how they can be effective in dealing with their family.
[00:19:55] Speaker B: And so who wants to engage us? Right, so we can have this caller come through, but is this an Anglican thing or any denomination could come.
[00:20:04] Speaker C: It's a Bahamian thing. Right.
[00:20:07] Speaker E: Reverend Palacious already told you, I'm a Baptist clergy.
[00:20:11] Speaker C: So we have bishop as a presenter. We have doctor.
[00:20:15] Speaker B: There's all denominations.
[00:20:16] Speaker E: All denominations.
[00:20:20] Speaker B: And lay people, too.
[00:20:21] Speaker E: Yes.
[00:20:22] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:20:22] Speaker E: Yes. We have housewives who've been trained. We have, you know, you from different aspects then. From different aspects.
[00:20:28] Speaker C: Mindfulness is one of them.
[00:20:30] Speaker E: Mindfulness.
[00:20:31] Speaker B: I can talk about men soon because I want to talk about how men can get empowered. But let's go to the caller first and then when it talks about the youth because you know, I have Ms. Millie here, so I want to get her involved in this conversation. Let's go call the Guardian Radio. AM caller can hear us. Call her one.
I heard you. Oh, hang up. You can call back. Caller. Be happy to engage you and have join in this conversation. But we also have miss the. Or the caller call back. Pass it through quickly there, Kermit. Go ahead, call. I'm sorry.
[00:20:58] Speaker F: Yeah. Good morning. See you. And good morning to you again.
[00:21:00] Speaker B: Good morning.
[00:21:01] Speaker E: Good morning.
[00:21:02] Speaker F: And by the way, you have some good guests in there.
Back in the 90s when I moved into Santosi and they were always neighborly, they invited us to coffee just to introduce ourselves, which I thought was good. But I've been an advocate for fathers, single fathers, children born out of wedlock, which is a big percentage of us in the Bahamas. And I also been looking at these high numbers of child abuse from July 13, 2003. We've been at this trying to get government, successive government to look at these deep social issues that is plaguing our community.
And by the way, the only person this seems to be an easy fix because the only person who are killing up one another are person the white behemoth isn't doing this thing. The foreigners who we, I mean the expatriates who we do, who we invite into the Bahamas, they're not killing up one another. The only people who are killing up one another and by the way, just had another murder just a few yards away from where I'm standing. And I don't know the details of it, so I wouldn't want to preempt anything, but someone was shot and killed again.
But my point that I'm trying to make it for the last 22 years I've been at this and I saw the numbers when 2007, I said that if the government don't look at addressing these deep social issues, we'll be doing over triple digits. Imagine this, a small archipelago nation like the Bahamas where the world standard is five murders, perhaps 100,000.
We are living in this small country where most of the murders happens on the 287 island where we are doing over 100 murders per year annually on a consistent basis. The numbers of child abuse have skyrocketed. We have been averaging around 4, 500 reported cases for over 20 years.
And we all, we noticed to be notice numbered.
For each one that goes reported, at least three or four goes unreported. So you see where we are. But why are we. Why are we missing? Keep missing. No matter what program we come up with, we keep missing it.
What you think is really going on, Father Palaciosius, why we keep missing it? Despite some people's greatest effort, we keep missing it.
[00:23:27] Speaker B: So I'll let Reverend Palacios answer that. Why we keep on missing? That's Advocate Clever Duncombe just speaking now. He's. He's an advocate for young boys and fathers in general. Thanks, man. We keep on talking about it. We talk plenty. Bag him out. But it seems that the problem still seeps with us.
Just recently, not being political, one of the political parties put forward their crime report on how they're gonna address crime. There was a response by one advocate said, if you don't address the family, this crime thing you're talking about, I can do this and I can do that. Ain't gonna never work.
Going back to Clever saying, why we.
[00:24:04] Speaker C: Keep on missing it, I gonna have to give you a basically spiritual answer. We are in spiritual warfare. We are under attack. We are an amazing nation with gifted people where we go anywhere in the world, what we touch turns to gold. People rise to the top of any profession. And so I am convinced that this is a target to destroy us as a people because we have so much potential. And that's why we have worked ecumenically. That's why we work with community.
We have to join together with persons of like mind to say, look, what is the battle that our people are battling? If it's poverty, if it's lack of social positive neglect, what is it that is going on in the faith, family, in the home? And that's the conversation that we had during COVID looking at where is the church going to make a difference? Our church, because other churches, many people are trying to do many things.
And so we resolved that we needed to be on the firing line. And because of the people that we had in the think tank, we came up with all of these approaches. Children, parents, perpetrators, victims, that as many different approaches that you could take would help you to be able to see what are the results.
When Reverend Carroll was talking, I remembered that we are moving even more firmly into evidence based research so that we can document what are the parents saying normally at graduation, because we share the graduation with social services and we share all the presenters, et cetera, people will speak at the graduation. But we've resolved that. We want every person to fill out an evaluation to say, how effective has this program been before and after? And Ms. Miller will talk about the pre and post inventory for the children, for their parents, for the teachers and the mentors to fill out. Because we need evidence that what we are doing is effective because it's working. And what it is that we could do more of or less of or better. And so to keep an ongoing developing program. And so that's where the journey is. But to go back to the question, we are wanting our men and boys to know how valuable they are to us. And the enemy is seeking to destroy that seed. So we are having to get in there with our boys early with the male mentors to be able to influence them. We have male parents that are in the program, and of course we. We have male perpetrators and female perpetrators. So we're trying to go to the basic problem of how we are socializing our people where the nurture is lacking in the family. But it's a spiritual thing. We need.
I can't say it more clearly. We need the Lord and we need Jesus to come into our homes and hearts. And we have that level of love that allows us to. To have a vision of possibility that goes beyond what we can see with just our natural eye.
[00:27:11] Speaker B: We have representative of the Tamar project.
They're talking about family violence and how they are dealing with it and how they are helping bohemians overcome such. We have in studio we have Reverend Angela Palaciosis, we have Reverend Cheryl Carroll, and of course we have Ms. DeAndre Miller, who I'm going to come back and speak directly to because she deals with the youth. She's deal with the youth and the issues and how the issues that the parents are having with children. Children are having with parents and how she is giving them the tools to deal with that. So I'm going to come back and speak with her. They're going to talk with the man. Them just three women inside, studio or no amen. And I want to know, is there men inside this program that I can go to and say, man, I have man problems. Man problems I don't want talks about. Reverend Palacious, you know, everyone talk about man problems. I need a male to talk to. We're gonna be right back.
[00:28:01] Speaker C: Just sign in and have a seat, please. They'll call you in for your X ray shortly.
That's why they call it a waiting room.
[00:28:08] Speaker D: You won't have that problem at 4th Terrace Diagnostic center or imaging at Groener. We never schedule multiple appointments, so you'll.
[00:28:16] Speaker C: Be in and out in no time. And if your initial screening reveals a concern, our radiologist can conduct a alternative screening right then and there. Call 328-8157 to schedule an appointment at.
[00:28:27] Speaker D: 4Th Terrace Diagnostic center or Image.
[00:28:32] Speaker C: For.
[00:28:33] Speaker B: All your printing deeds.
[00:28:34] Speaker E: There ain't no one better, no. For posters and binders, magazines and flyers.
[00:28:40] Speaker D: For window decals, reading cards and newsletters.
[00:28:44] Speaker E: No job too big and there's no job too small.
You name it, we can print it. Just give us a call.
Let printmasters bring your masterpiece to Located.
[00:28:55] Speaker C: The Nassau Guardian Building. Telephone 302-2361.
[00:28:59] Speaker E: This is how we do.
[00:29:01] Speaker A: Get ready to kick off the new schooling air with a bang. It's the Guardian Media Group and Rotary Club of South Ocean's Back to School Jamboree Friday, August 29th in the parking lot of the Nassau Guardian in Oaksville. 11 11am to 3pm Join us for a day of fun, games and back to school excitement. We've got something for everyone from bouncing castles and face painting to health screenings, hair grooming and giveaways. Meet some of your favorite local businesses and get ready for the new school year with all the essentials. We'll have school supply vendors and local eateries with delicious treats. Don't miss out on the fun. The Guardian Media Group at Rotary club at South Ocean's Grand Back to School 29th at the Nassau Guardians parking lot 11am to 3pm it's the perfect way to celebrate the end of summer and get excited for a great school year.
See you here.
[00:29:52] Speaker F: Brought to you by the Walk in Clinic Boss Alai FML Asa H. Pritchard Nassau Agencies Original Parties Caribbean Borderling Limited Purity Ari the Artists Little Caesars, Marcos Wendy's.
[00:30:09] Speaker E: Love the Show. Want to give your support?
[00:30:11] Speaker D: Become a sponsor today. Call 302-2300 for our rates and packages. That's 302-2300. Become a sponsor on Guardian Radio 96.9 FM. Fresh news.
[00:30:23] Speaker E: Smart talk all day.
[00:30:28] Speaker D: Are you searching for something new?
[00:30:31] Speaker E: Something exciting? Exciting? Your dream job in paradise?
Well, look no further. Royal Beach Club, paradise island is hiring.
Join a dynamic group of passionate hospitality professionals. Craft unforgettable moments and thrive in a vibrant, welcoming atmosphere.
Play your part in shaping the future of our team while growing your own career. Every day, bring your energy, your passion and your creativity to a workplace that's as dynamic and fun as you are. At Royal Beach Club, paradise island, the.
[00:31:09] Speaker D: Opportunities don't just exist, they're limitless so are you ready to find your perfect fit?
[00:31:15] Speaker E: Visit Royal beach
[email protected] and step into a world of exciting possibilities.
[00:31:27] Speaker D: Beulah Gal can you believe this? We are now the patrol queens of the neighborhood. We now large and in charge. So we need to check out what going on in everybody yard. What about that gun that we know that Junior and his homeboys just ran out. Can we report that too?
[00:31:40] Speaker E: Of course we can but we could.
[00:31:42] Speaker D: Be in deep trouble if they find out. We need to reply a call in Miami so then we can report everything.
[00:31:48] Speaker C: Guns, where they hiding the drugs, who.
[00:31:50] Speaker D: Shoot who, who part of which gang or who disturbing the peace with the.
[00:31:54] Speaker C: Loud music and the motorcycles.
[00:31:55] Speaker D: Then our neighborhood will be the best in the Bahamas and everybody gonna want to come live here and then our house price will go up. Gal so what we waitin on?
[00:32:03] Speaker E: What's the number?
[00:32:04] Speaker A: If you see something, say something.
[00:32:06] Speaker B: Let us all pitch in and stop the crime before it's your time. Call 328-8477 from Nassau or 242-300-8477 from the family islands or text us through the crack crime Bahamas up stop the crime before it's your time.
And welcome back to Guiding Radio am. Of course we have representative of the Tamar or Tamar Project before we go into break. I know Ms. Reverend Carol wanted to say something and of course after that we go directly to Ms. DeAndre Miller who controls the youth arm of the Tamar Project.
[00:32:47] Speaker E: Yes sir. Thank you so much. I just wanted to add piggyback on what Reverend Palacious has said in terms of the spiritual aspect because the column question what can be done? What is being done? And I truly believe that it is really a spiritual aspect.
There are five areas that a person is functioning. You have the spiritual, spiritual, the emotional, psychological and all of these aspects that a person functions as.
But if we function a 4 out of the 5 at least of dysfunctional, so we can have all of those social programs to give to our children and our people. But if we leave the spiritual out of it, which is the foundation, I believe if we leave that important part out of the out of the equation, then we are just like you said, going around the mountains. Yes, we can give information and yes there are psychiatrists, psychologists, other persons who are impacting and doing an awesome job. Unfortunately we don't hear a lot about it. But spiritually your heart is changed.
You accept Jesus Christ, God is in control. Your heart is changed. When your heart is changed, your mind is renewed.
Without renewing the mind and changing the heart, we continue to do the same thing.
[00:34:14] Speaker B: Okay?
[00:34:15] Speaker E: So the mind and the heart has to be changed. And I think Jesus Christ, like reverend Balacious said, is the core. Because we can do everything else, but when we leave, don't become Ms. Norma with. With church, you know, because there are so many things we can say about the church. We're talking about a relationship.
I have a relationship with my husband. That relationship causes us to grow in our marriage.
When I break that relationship, things happen. If I have a relationship with Jesus Christ, he renews my mind, change my heart and my attitude and my behavior changes.
[00:34:54] Speaker B: Relationship. That's you, Ms. Milanell.
We have concerns with our youth. I remember reading some statistics the other day where they said people at ub, the girls believe their. Their boyfriend's supposed to discipline them when they do things off.
[00:35:09] Speaker F: Right?
[00:35:10] Speaker B: I want to know what are you doing to fix the issues we have amongst our children right now? What is, how. How is your program, your focus in the project? What is your goal, your objective, your mandate? How you fix this?
[00:35:24] Speaker D: Big question. Thank you.
So we understand that to effect change in our young people, there's also a parenting aspect to the program, right? So we do understand that there's some foundational work that needs to happen, which is why this is a great relationship that's happening within the tamar program specific to our young people. The power up program, which was designed in collaboration with the doctor Novia Carty Carter Loki. Excuse me, I was trying to remember the name of the department.
[00:35:57] Speaker C: Oh yeah, drug council.
[00:36:01] Speaker D: So with the collaboration of that department and her creating the work, we are mandated to help young people build six core pillars.
Five core pillars, excuse me, which is self discovery, resilience and mindset, communication and leadership, goal setting and action and connection and community. What does that mean for self discovery? We're helping them build their self esteem. So if I have high self esteem, I'm not looking for a gentleman to come in my adult years, in my later teen years to tell me that. Because in grades five, six and seven, I've already learned, no, no, I love me. This is how I want to be treated. So you either follow suit or you have to go.
Right? So when we talk about resilience and mindset, we cannot avoid bad things happening in our world. We're going to experience heartbreak and pain.
What we teach them with this program is how you get up from that.
[00:37:03] Speaker B: So who do you focus on?
Your section, your focus? Is it children or the parents?
[00:37:10] Speaker D: My section focuses on the children. But we also have. So we are 12 weeks as well. Right. So there must be a magic thing in the 12.
So 12, 10 of our 12 weeks is all about the young people. Right. Grades five, six, and seven.
But two of those weeks, we interact with parents. That's the goal. We don't always get to achieve it, but that's the goal. And what we're looking at there is we've built these foundational principles into these young people or highlighted them, because it's not where we're in the schools. It's not that they're not getting it in the schools. We're trying to shore it up. Right. We're trying to make sure that it's properly grounded and reiterated over and over and over.
But you don't want to do that. And then you send them back to. You send them back home.
[00:37:52] Speaker B: Same environment.
[00:37:53] Speaker D: Exactly right. So wanting to make sure. Look, we have this. Sometimes it's new information, sometimes it's information that we did learn from our own parents. And then the pressures of life, we've forgotten or we've put it aside or we don't do it as often.
[00:38:08] Speaker B: Do you deal with children who've been abused physically, emotionally, mentally?
[00:38:13] Speaker D: So I would say not specifically that we.
They've come to us because they've been abused. I have. It is uncovered while we're in the program. Ah, right. So. And then for that, because we have laypeople, it's not, you know, you're not necessarily trained in psychology or whatever. Then we refer to usually to the guidance counselor, and we say, look, there's some behavior here that's happening. But again, even as I say that, the school is already aware. Right. So it's just a matter of confirming. And then in nine out of ten cases, when we. When we transition that to the counselor. Yes, we know.
[00:38:47] Speaker B: But how do you or your program gets involved? Cause I understand how Reverend Carroll gets involved. But do you get your courts and how do you get your clients?
[00:38:56] Speaker D: We're planted in the school. So start off as a predominantly Anglican situation. So of course we're in Anglican schools. But it's not just that. We're also in places like E.P. roberts. We're in Sandaland's primary is doing amazing things. They invited us in.
So to see them work with the material is also been heartwarming and inspiring. We're in the family islands. We're in so cym, Christian Youth Movements or ministry.
Some of our mentors there have been using the program in groups. So for us, it's not Necessarily court mandated. It is that we are in an environment where young people already are and then we're exposing them to the information.
Sometimes that's in school during school hours for an hour, one hour every week for 10 to 12 weeks or after school. We prefer the in school but you know, wherever the school tells us is the best place for them. Where we know we're gonna get the young people is where we activate.
[00:39:58] Speaker B: So what is your program's objective? You're inside the school. So what is the goal?
I'm here and I'm trying to get there. What is the goal?
[00:40:05] Speaker D: Self discovery, resilience, better communication, goal setting and community and connection.
[00:40:13] Speaker B: What if I'm in church and I have home.
[00:40:17] Speaker F: Right.
[00:40:17] Speaker B: And I have. I recognize that my child needs some additional support.
How do I get into get involved in you, with you?
[00:40:26] Speaker D: That's a great question. So right now I don't think we are separated as in call me and then I will put you into a program.
So I would say if you are someone that would like this program for your individual child, let's expand that. We've gone from you're now speaking to me as an advocate, maybe take action and ask us to come into your community and have the program that's possible.
[00:40:47] Speaker B: Come and explain some things.
[00:40:49] Speaker D: Absolutely. The only hindrance to us would be is there a mentor to step in to be able to do that. So now I'm going to call to action the advocate that just came on the radio and was like. And you said he's an advocate for young boys and.
And men. I don't know the story, but is he actioning? Is he just calling on the radio?
[00:41:04] Speaker B: No, no, no. He's active man. He's a prominent figure now.
[00:41:07] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:41:07] Speaker B: Loud.
[00:41:07] Speaker D: I don't know who he is.
[00:41:09] Speaker B: Clever Dun. Come Loud. Clever Duncan. Loud.
[00:41:11] Speaker D: Forgive my youth.
[00:41:12] Speaker F: Yeah, no problem.
[00:41:13] Speaker B: Clever Dunham. Loud.
[00:41:14] Speaker F: Go ahead.
[00:41:14] Speaker D: But that we need more of him then, right? We don't want to just hear you say there's a problem.
We need you to be one of those people that says there's a. I see that there's a problem.
You have determined that you are the solution. Let me come and help you.
[00:41:27] Speaker C: Right.
[00:41:27] Speaker D: And in coming to help you, we're going to come and train you in that help.
[00:41:31] Speaker B: You're constrained too well.
[00:41:32] Speaker D: We can't just have you come off the street.
[00:41:34] Speaker B: I did. Okay, okay, I appreciate that. Go ahead.
[00:41:36] Speaker D: So you're trained and you're vetted. So that's important too with interacting with young people.
You do have situations where people with not so good intentions will try to, you know, bring themselves into situation where they have access, we don't want them. So there is a vetting process.
[00:41:53] Speaker B: I have a text who wants to be engaged. So let me read the text. Right? Say, I believe in God's power to save and to transform. But can this program be effective for those persons who don't believe in God or desire to have relationship with God? Can this program be implemented and effective without a faith based focus? Example, teaching adults, children to share, to love and how to present themselves with the car.
[00:42:18] Speaker D: So I'm gonna let the reverence answer that, but I want to just say one thing.
It is my perspective that everything is faith based. We may not call it that, but whether we want to or not, our morals come from faith, our ethics come from faith.
Right. So we're using it whether we want to acknowledge it or not.
[00:42:41] Speaker E: Excellent. Very good point. And if I can jump on that, yes, to the person who text, yes, you can be involved without acknowledging a relationship with God. But we stress at the beginning of the program that it is faith based.
Everybody is entitled to how they run their program. But if you become involved with this program, we're going to say to you it's faith based. But that is not a requirement for you to engage in the program. Let me give you two quick examples. With two males, we had a young man. If you go on Facebook right now, I do not even remember his name.
Last year we had the graduation ceremony for the parenting program and he went on Facebook, he posted on Facebook. He and his baby's mama used to get into so much discord because of their way of communicating with each other.
After he completed the program. Listen, his daughter was so happy. He said he and his and the baby mama were communicating and things, but he just recognized there were some things he needed to adjust. There were some things she needed to adjust. The information that they received, they incorporated into their lives and made a difference personally and in the life of their child. That's one. The second one is we had a male who was referred to the perpetrators. We call it the Joshua group. And this is the Joshua group. We have the Joshua and the Esther group for family violence. In the Joshua group, we had a male who came out of prison, participated in the program.
And his thing was he was having such a challenge with. He was having such a challenge with his relationship.
Being a part of that group, he was able because of the confidentiality and the acceptance. We call it the safe space and the safe space. He was able to share personally what he was going through.
That man wept because that was the first time he had a space where he was able to honestly share his feelings, share what was happening with him.
And so yes, and he did not acknowledge himself as no Christian or anything like that. He needed an environment where he was accepted, acknowledged, validated and was able to safely share how he felt. And because of that, his life was changed.
[00:45:19] Speaker D: And that's across all the programs.
[00:45:20] Speaker E: All the programs.
[00:45:21] Speaker B: So I know you all have a number of activities you all are doing right. But I want to quickly is Men and the Esthers for women. And this is part of the Tamar project also. And you join into these communities the perpetrator counseling. Perpetrator. Now just reiterating, it's a perpetrator counseling.
[00:45:38] Speaker D: Then there is the Power Up Youth Mentorship program.
[00:45:41] Speaker B: Say it again.
[00:45:42] Speaker D: Power Up Youth Mentorship program.
[00:45:44] Speaker B: And they're the two main umbrellas.
[00:45:45] Speaker C: And then the parenting and then there's a parenting. Positive parenting for today.
[00:45:49] Speaker B: Okay, just making sure. Let's talk about some activities. What's happening?
[00:45:52] Speaker C: Well, we are having first of all a virtual mentor training for the mentors in that program. It starts tomorrow at 7pm and that's for part one and part two on Tuesday.
[00:46:09] Speaker B: Who can join that?
[00:46:10] Speaker C: Well, okay, just give me. I just wanted to put out the dates.
[00:46:12] Speaker B: No problem.
[00:46:13] Speaker C: So it's this Tuesday and it's next Tuesday at this Tuesday and next Tuesday. Right. Virtual parenting. And so virtual mentoring. And so four persons that are involved. And we have a flyer with and I'll get that information for you. We have a flyer that's out and you have four contacts, two for male and two for men because we didn't mention. But the children are divided into groups of five students within the classroom. So you've got all these different groups. And a male mentor is with the boys and a female mentor is with the girls. And the idea is a small group allows the children to talk more easily among themselves. So they have 10 minute presentation of material and then they have 20 minutes of activity. So the mentor training is to allow the mentors to be exposed to the material.
So they get to see what this information is about and then they get to experience the activity and that will reinforce the teaching. And so that's why it's part one and two to make sure they cover the 10 topics that they're going to be dealing with when they're 12 weeks in a school. Vaping and gangs and things like that can be added as extra topics. If the principals that we are in Exuma and Eleuthera and Long island and Rumke and San Salvador and all over. If they want certain things, they can have that in addition as well.
So those are the expanding mentor program. So it's Tuesday, Tuesday the 26th, tomorrow at 7 and Tuesday the September 2nd.
[00:47:47] Speaker D: Can I just mention, we do have a website that's launched now where you can sign up. So the website address is www.pcmbtci.com. so pastoral care Ministries, we are a part of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. So it's just the first letter of each of those words.
[00:48:08] Speaker B: Okay, give again one more time.
[00:48:10] Speaker D: Www.ppcm Pastoral Care Ministries.
Www.pcm btci.com okay, and I can go.
[00:48:21] Speaker B: There and get more information and to sign up, correct? And you say sign up there to be people who want to be mentors or.
[00:48:27] Speaker C: Okay, yes, correct.
[00:48:28] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:48:28] Speaker D: There's also in, in there, there's, you know, you could do actual prayer requests. You can by, by the end of the week we'll be able to sign up for the Perpetrator Counseling Lay readers as well.
[00:48:38] Speaker B: Okay, continue. What else happening?
[00:48:39] Speaker C: The Virtual begin on September 4th. That's the first day, September 4th at 5:30.
[00:48:45] Speaker B: That's next week.
[00:48:46] Speaker C: Right. And that will run for the 12 weeks.
[00:48:49] Speaker B: And what is that about?
[00:48:50] Speaker C: That's the parenting that Reverend If I.
[00:48:53] Speaker B: Need parental counseling or parental ideas, I sign up for that.
[00:48:58] Speaker C: Right.
[00:48:58] Speaker B: And that starts next week, Thursday.
[00:49:01] Speaker C: Right.
[00:49:01] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:49:02] Speaker C: Fourth of September. And then we have a prayer retreat that's going on for persons who may be interested. But we have the healing conference is October 17th to 18th.
[00:49:15] Speaker B: What's a healing conference?
[00:49:16] Speaker C: That's at All Saints Anglican Church. That's where you come in to hear speakers to about different topics. So again, family focused.
And so we are dealing the theme for the diocese is family, but as the nation is focusing on the family. And then you have perpetrator counseling training that's going to be on the 3rd to the 8th of November. That begins on the 3rd of November and it runs for the 12 weeks to the 8th of December.
[00:49:45] Speaker B: Repeat that name again.
[00:49:46] Speaker C: That's the perpetrator counseling training. So, so if you want to be a leader in these small support groups, the Joshua Group and Esther Group, we train laypersons, but we also have persons like Dr. Richard Adley, Dr. Nelson Clark, Dr. David Allen. We have those persons as a part of the training team to make sure that people have enough of what they have persons that they can go to that are professional because we offer individual Counseling as well. And then you have these lay counselors.
[00:50:18] Speaker B: If I'm a youth leader, can I take advantage of these opportunities?
[00:50:22] Speaker C: Any and everybody. We've trained the brigade leaders. We'll be working with the defense force, so anybody that's interested, we're more than happy to train.
[00:50:30] Speaker B: Oh, good.
[00:50:30] Speaker C: And then we have even mission trips where we do prayer visits to the islands to help with their youth programs and to help with other programs. So we are on the move as much as we can.
[00:50:46] Speaker E: You'd ask about the involvement of the men and that is what we desperately need, male volunteers.
We have a lot of females who are coming and are involved.
[00:50:59] Speaker B: So how can men like people like clever Duncombe volunteer give us some information?
[00:51:02] Speaker E: It's the same. Once we make the contact, we have the flyers out. You make the contact 552246 I know that's my personal number. And then you, Reverend Palacious number is listed. The Anglican diocese head office where Ms.
[00:51:17] Speaker B: Miller, you all have any Facebook page?
[00:51:19] Speaker D: I like Facebook, yes.
[00:51:20] Speaker E: She does social media.
[00:51:21] Speaker B: What's this Facebook page? I'm a social media person.
[00:51:24] Speaker D: So just remember pastoral care ministry, PCM and then you can find us from there. So for Facebook it's pcm BTC as well.
For the website, same thing. So for Instagram it's underscore btci.
But we managed to get all of, all of the social media sites have.
[00:51:44] Speaker B: The same domain and I can actually go there and get more information because you know, the show went quickly. So say I want to reinforce the information and say, boy, I forget what they say. I go to Facebook and get that flyer.
[00:51:56] Speaker D: I go website first. I go website first.
[00:51:58] Speaker B: Website first.
[00:51:59] Speaker D: That's built out and has a lot more information. Information and then they all link you to the various social channels. So Facebook, Instagram and we are, we have developed a, a YouTube channel but it's not as active yet. But the key there is as we get more, as we get more involved in this relationship, then we'll start posting.
[00:52:18] Speaker B: Things 19 LD Young a couple times.
[00:52:20] Speaker D: It's just for the seniors now. So we've been dealing with the primary school age young people. So now we're getting into the grade sevens to be and it's the same material. We're just changing the activity so that it's a little bit more grown up. We're changing the scenarios because they're getting exposed. I mean the little ones getting exposed too. But we're able to get a little bit more in depth with them and not have that anxiety that maybe we're exposing the babies where we know these seventh graders in large part have already at least heard about it.
[00:52:52] Speaker B: Yes. And so Reverend Palacious, I know you have support by the courts and stuff like that. If I not want, I'm not ordered by the court to attend. You say I can go and look up and say I want to participate.
[00:53:01] Speaker C: Oh yeah. We want prevention more than cure. So we're hoping to get people before they have to be sent.
[00:53:07] Speaker B: And you're saying that if I'm a youth group leader, right, dealing with mentoring men or women and counseling in general, that you're willing to train me?
[00:53:16] Speaker C: Oh yes. Oh yes.
[00:53:17] Speaker B: All I got and it's free. I just need to go and sign up.
You get all the information.
[00:53:22] Speaker C: Just want to be consistent.
[00:53:23] Speaker D: We just want, we need 10 weeks of your time.
[00:53:25] Speaker B: 10 weeks and it's like, like one hour a week. How does that, how is that.
[00:53:29] Speaker D: For the most part, material is executed within 45 minutes.
[00:53:33] Speaker B: 45 minutes for the children.
[00:53:34] Speaker C: But the training, training for the mentoring is just the two evenings. Now the training for the parenting, for the perpetrator counseling. That Training is the 12 weeks. Okay, but yeah, and the parenting. If people want to be facilitators, they can be trained as well.
[00:53:50] Speaker B: What about young mothers? Young. When I say young, I'm talking young parents. Because I shouldn't just say young mothers. Young parents who say boy, I can be a daddy now I need some support.
[00:53:58] Speaker C: Oh yeah.
[00:53:59] Speaker B: Can I come and sign up?
[00:54:00] Speaker C: Oh yeah, come sign up.
[00:54:01] Speaker B: So young daddies can come and sign up everybody.
[00:54:03] Speaker C: And that's why daytime for those who want to do social services at the just John F. Kennedy right there opposite the police college right there. That is in the first, the face to face and then the virtual is Thursdays 5:30 so that you can be at home.
[00:54:20] Speaker B: Resolution. I have our young baby and my baby mama difficult. Can I come and get some counseling? Let's deal with that.
[00:54:28] Speaker E: All of that is part of it.
[00:54:29] Speaker D: And I appreciate any and everything.
[00:54:31] Speaker B: Give me a phone contact before we leave.
[00:54:33] Speaker E: Some phone contacts and email again 2469.
[00:54:38] Speaker C: See frasercarrollmail.com angelapalaciousmail.com 3593149 okay, this has.
[00:54:46] Speaker B: Been Guardian Radio AM with C.A. neary. Thank you very much to Ms. DeAndre Miller, Rev. Angela Palacious and of course Rev. Cheryl Carroll. Have a wonderful day.
[00:54:54] Speaker E: Thank you.
Pay attention. She was going away too fast.
Before she knew it, she was spinning on a thin black sheet of glass.
[00:55:05] Speaker C: She.
[00:55:06] Speaker E: She saw both their lives flash before her eyes.
She didn't even have time to cry?
[00:55:12] Speaker B: She was so scared she threw her hands up in the air?
[00:55:20] Speaker D: Jesus, take the wheel?
Take it from my hands?
[00:55:26] Speaker B: Cause I can't do this all my own?
[00:55:38] Speaker E: Save me from this throne.
[00:55:47] Speaker A: This is Guardian Radio, 96.9 FM, streaming on guardiantalkradio.com and the Guardian Radio app, Nassau, Bahamas.
