Local Poet unleashes her magic at Guyana’s TEDx Talks
Maryam Haniff and Keiba Murray, organiser of TEDxLamahaSt  along with the esteemed guest speakers who attended the TEDx Talk event in February
Maryam Haniff and Keiba Murray, organiser of TEDxLamahaSt along with the esteemed guest speakers who attended the TEDx Talk event in February

Many young people often feel like their voices go unheard or whatever they may have to say is swept under a rug forcing them to keep their ideas to themselves. However, TEDx Talks affirms people with the notion that whatever ideas or opinions they have, it is worth sharing with the world.

Guyana’s first uploaded TEDx Talks, hosted by Keiba Murray, organizer of TEDxLamahaSt saw the likes of artists showing their talents along with many established speakers sharing ideas. However, one individual, in particular, stole the show with her poetic talents performing an original piece called ‘Unleash your magic’ which speaks to the slogan of TEDx Talks ‘ideas worth spreading’.

Maryam Haniff proved that no matter what others may say or think, whatever you have to share despite how little you may think it is, it’s worth sharing with the world.

Maryam Haniff, during her performance at TEDxLamahaSt held at the Umana Yana back in February

The 25-year-old who has been writing since the age of eight told The Buzz that she has always been a fan of TEDx Talks and was elated to find out that there was one set to be held in Guyana. She noted that she immediately made contact via Facebook for tickets for the event but was instead asked to be part of the main stage.

Haniff described her experience and performance as an amazing, once in a lifetime one to which she poured her heart and soul out giving her newfound confidence that whatever she has to way is worthy to be heard and is appreciated.

“For me now, I feel now that whatever I have its worth sharing, because of the tag line of TED, its ideas worth sharing it’s like an affirmation for like what I have and what I do is worth sharing with the world,” she said.

The young woman noted that there are a lot of people who want to draw, to paint and to step away from the traditional careers and peruse the arts which and this is not always accepted in society as a career, but rather a hobby.

Hence her poems speak to be being true to one’s self and living out their authenticity and sharing their talents with the world.

“My message in my poetry is all about being about yourself and being confident enough to show the world that this is you and don’t let society tell you who to be because in the end it’s about you and you have a message to give to the world everyone,” Hannif explained.
Aside from Haniff the event saw esteemed speakers from various backgrounds within society. They were Vishal H. Joseph, Dr Vishnu Doerga, Lisa Mae Agard and Harrison Hunter Reid Fischer. Joseph is a youth advocate who recently completed his Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS). Dr. Doerga is executive chairman of ActionINVEST Caribbean Inc., as well as being a certified ActionCOACH. He holds a PhD in management, specialising in entrepreneurship, as well as an MBA and engineering qualifications.

Agard holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration, in addition to a Postgraduate Diploma in International Studies. She also studied French at the Université des Antilles and Université Nancy 2 in France. She has more than 10 years of experience in managing and coordinating projects at a national and international level.

Fischer is a serial entrepreneur, international speaker, and world traveller. He went from being fired from almost every job he ever had to currently running two businesses. One of these businesses, Koohlah, is helping to relieve the global obesity epidemic by crafting affordable and delicious radically healthy snack foods. The other helps American financial institutions structure their benefit programmes to instantly generate substantially more income for both their employees and owners.

The event was held back in February, however, videos of the event was recently uploaded to YouTube and other platforms making TEDxLamahaSt the first to be shared not only with Guyanese but the entire world.

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