Copyright stabroeknews
Married at 17 years old, Stella Odie-Ali, now 83, endured seven years of spousal, emotional and severe physical abuse and rose above those circumstances to become a trained teacher, sociologist and social worker. Also a patriot at the professional and political levels, she launched her book, “Reflections – a Guyanese Story”, which is autobiographical, on Friday at the University of Guyana (UG) Turkeyen Campus. The former UG lecturer, who was minis-ter of home affairs in the Desmond Hoyte administration, and a welfare officer with the then Interior Development Department, hopes that women facing abusive situations could learn from her experience. Odie-Ali, who was also a consultant with the Commonwealth Youth Programme’s distance education programme, recalled, “We travelled all over the Commonwealth. I thoroughly enjoyed it and fulfilled some of my childhood dreams of travelling.”
