Yvonne Harewood-Benn
Information Minister , diplomat, disciplinarian, loved by the media

SHE sat in the crowded auditorium of the National Cultural Centre, one of many others about to be bestowed with national honours by President David Granger.

With a Cacique Crown of Honour already under her belt, Yvonne Harewood-Benn was about to be invested into the Order of Roraima.
And as she waited, she reflected on a life that saw her moving from the Bajan Quarter at Skeldon Sugar Estate, where she was born in 1934, to her home across the way from the house where President Granger lived before he was elected Head Of State. Along the way, she served as a school teacher and hobnobed with Heads of State, occupied diplomatic postings and was instrumental in having Guyanese public servants benefit from a five day instead of a six day work week.
In an interview with the Pepperpot last week, the former Minister of Information recalled that she spent more than half of her childhood at Skeldon, the daughter of Gabriel and Eva Harewood, Barbadian immigrants who came down to ‘Demerara’ for a better life.
“Although we were poor, I was never conscious of any lack in our multi-ethnic , multi-cultural community. There were always lots to eat including bara, jelebi, gulab, conkie, sugarcake, chester and buns, everybody knew everybody and to a great extent took care of each other.”

Her school teachers did a lot in shaping her young life, and she remembers their dedication and disciplined manner. “And they really cared about us.”
When Yvonne was awarded a county scholarship at the then Grade Six assessment, the whole quarter celebrated and contributed to getting her ready for Bishops’ High School, where she sat in the same class as the daughter of the Skeldon Estate manager.
She excelled at school and after a few appointments as a teacher, she travelled to London University in the United Kingdom and earned her degree.
Returning home, she taught at Bishops’ High and then went to Linden as head of the Watooka School. There she served to weld the student body together with the introduction of a uniform, “which I am pleased to say they still wear”, she said last week. Extra-curricula activities at Linden included supervising the Wisroc self-help scheme ‘par excellence’ , where women made their own concrete bricks and the men were given time-off which they later made up for,
Later she served as Consul General to New York and recalls fondly the many “cottage meetings” held in the Tri State area when

expatriate Guyanese were kept abreast of happenings at home.
Back home, Yvonne Harewood Benn was appointed Minister of Information and here began a lasting ‘love affair’ with the media. She soon became the favourite minister among media practitioners, a no-nonsense official, a disciplinarian who did not accept excuses for a job not well done.
“But we loved her all the same, and we even referred to her fondly as ‘Fluffy’ ”, one still practicing media person recalls.
She speaks of working with a corps of newsmen who ‘knew their mission, including Terry Holder, Courtney Gibson, Godfrey Wray, Raschid Osman and Adam Harris.
It was during her tenure at the Information Ministry that Harewood-Benn, together with the Public Service Ministry and the workers union, decided that public service workers work from Monday to Friday. She visited offices on Saturdays and found that precious little work was done. “Mostly staffers sat and talked about the night before and what was coming up for the weekend, and so it was that the two-day weekend came into being.
Today, as the sun goes down, Yvonne Harewood-Benn could be seen watering her garden at the front of her home at D’Urban Backlands. Across the way is the former home of President David Granger, and looking up the road she could see the imposing façade of the National Cultural Centre.
In all this, in her journey from the Bajan Quarter at Skeldon to retired diplomat and government minister, Yvonne Harewood-Benn speaks of seeing the hand of God keeping her all along the way.