Hair chopping victim in no mood to celebrate Mash
By Nigel Williams
Stabroek News
February 22, 2003
While many will be engaged in Mash Day celebrations, one woman, Anita Singh, who had her hair chopped off by bandits last year plans to spend her day in quiet meditation.
“It will be a day of mourning for me, I am not going to be involved in any Mash,” Anita told this newspaper. She will be attending the Guyana Indian Heritage Association’s (GIHA) programme planned for Mash Day at Lusignan, East Coast Demerara.
On August 5, 2002 [ please note: link provided by LOSP web site ] three armed bandits, suspected to be residents of Melanie Damishana terrorised and robbed Anita and her family of over $300,000 in cash and jewellery. They then cut off her hair. She still has her shorn tresses to remind her of the attack.
For Anita this was one of the most undignified acts anyone has ever done to her. “That thing really hurt me and even now every time I am alone I think of it,” said the mother of three. She recalled that the bandit had whispered that he did so because she was a `Coolie.’ She remembered that the man had a very sharp knife which he used to slash at her hair.
It has also changed her attitude: “To be honest with you I can’t take Afro Guyanese now who I don’t know, if I know them is fair, but if not I can’t stand them. In fact, whenever someone who I don’t know comes to my shop I will not attend to them, or I will tell them that I don’t have what they want.”
On many occasions she turns them away because she was afraid. “You see I don’t want to be robbed again so that I am always on the alert. I am going to take precautions.”
Anita now closes her grocery as the sun goes down and during the evening some of her neighbours would spend a little time with her before she goes to bed. No one has been charged for the crime.
Her hair was touching her back before it was cut off and GIHA had arranged for her to receive complimentary hair care and styling to help it grow back to its former waist length. Anita said she was initially upbeat about the hair care, but has not bothered to go recently saying that she prefers to re-grow her hair on her own. “But it seem as if it has been blighted by the bandits. Boy, let me tell you, while I am making some progress in my business and my personal life this hair isn’t really growing as fast as I had expected. Look, it was since August last year now is February. Look at the length, it was really blighted.”
She was amused by the remarks of Minister of Human Services, Bibi Shadick who suggested that the act was worse than rape. Anita said while she acknowledged that women in general took a lot of pride in their hair, to cut off a woman’s hair was not worse than rape to her. She added that the Minister had offered to help her family with professional counselling, but she still has not received any help from the ministry.
She said her children were greatly affected by the incident, but were not letting it hinder their studies. Two have gone on to secondary school while the third will be writing Common Entrance this year.
Anita believes the government’s handling of the crime situation was very disappointing last year and this year.
In the wake of Anita’s tragedy which according to the Guyana Indian Heritage Association (GIHA) was a deliberate act of race hate perpetuated against her, GIHA had launched a public solidarity campaign titled “For Anita’s Pride”.
Anita was in high praise of the organisation which she said has helped her tremendously in regaining her emotional strength and being able to carry on.
GIHA believes that the violent slashing of Anita’s hair, apart from the robbery, was a particularly offensive violation of Indian dignity. The association stated that, “traditionally, long hair is the pride and beauty of Indian woman and the bandit’s act of cutting off Anita’s hair accompanied by words of race-hate is deeply shocking and disgusting.”
