– The Yukuriba farming community & evergreen nature study club

I’ve already confessed to being obsessed with this issue of Guyana’s National Identity, especially as it affects my profile as an African Guyanese; however, as focused on my own aesthetic as I am, on this issue I keep reminding myself not get carried away from the fact that our particular GUYANA NATIONAL IDENTITY is unique in its variety; it is not all about self or any individual group…we African Guyanese…Indians or Amerindians, Chinese or Portuguese and Europeans.

From my POV, our initial task is to conceive the glue that would unite (and bond) the wholesome disparate constituents of our cultural plurality into the medley that is our national identity.
Speaking for the creative community at Yukuriba Heights, The Yukuriba Creative Farming Community, the solution is in FARMING; this is what we believe will fuse our unity. I’m comfortable with that idea essentially because my great fore grandparents, those maroons in honour of whom we’re creating The Maroon Sculpture Trail on Yukuriba Heights, were farmers. They gave meaning to the very art of agrarian culture, the idea of Agriculture, Agronomy, and plant husbandry. The maroons survived in marronage, mainly because of their ability to sustain themselves in the forest; not only because of their wealth of knowledge from Africa that survived THE MIDDLE PASSAGE with them, knowledge of the forest’s abundant resources – the medicinal plants (pharmaceuticals), edible leaves and roots; they also knew enough to wheedle produce, sometimes from the most unfriendly terrain, in order to endure…
Focused as I am on the overall montage of Guyanese Identity, nothing is escaping my imagination….will help you picture my POV of a national Identity with this recollection –

Remember when Guyana was known as ‘THE BREADBASKET OF THE CARIBBEAN’? Whatever became of that label? I believe we lost that designation because it celebrated the ‘Burnham Era’ was inspired by President Burnham’s vision to: FEED HOUSE AND CLOTHE THE NATION BY 1976, therefore those revisionist, myopic fools, in their effort to falsify the true picture, have been slopping some careless paint all over the canvas of our recent history since Britain cut the colonial umbilical cord. Anything to do with Forbes Burnham…the Burnham image and era, had to be torn down or tarnished and the initiatives such as National Service which propelled national development strategies during that era, were mindlessly rejected; Guyana slipped into the mediocrity of the PPP era.
Consider the Burnham vision expressed by Major General (retd) Joseph G Singh at an occasion commemorating the 23rd Death

Anniversary of President LFS Burnham, OE, SC, Wednesday, August 06, 2008 –
“I do believe however, in that Vision of President Burnham as outlined in the 1973 State Paper of the GNS-promoting the concept of the new Guyana Man and Woman, oriented towards their role in nation-building, equipped with the appropriate skills, fired with pioneering zeal and enthusiasm, working collaboratively in a spirit of mutual respect with persons of all ethnicities, religious and cultural affiliations, carving out viable settlements away from the coast, developing the lines of communication and infrastructure to facilitate access, courageously defending our territory against the would be invader, supporting our hinterland communities with basic services, and developing centres of enlightenment that would-be catalysts for broad based national development. In my opinion, such a Vision cannot be faulted in the context of the national, regional and global environment at that time. I would also be bold enough to posit that such a Vision has relevance today… 35 years later”
Eight years after Joe Singh expressed that, and 43 years after Burnham’s vision, it’s even more relevant. A basic element of that vision, the pursuit of Agriculture, could be the glue that will hold together the cultural components of our NATIONAL IDENTITY; our farming activity could bind us together like cells in a honey comb…Queen Bee – Guyana! We need to start with the children, begin teaching them respect for the land in a vision of the future in which we revisit Forbes Burnham’s idea of feeding ourselves and the wider Caribbean.
Throughout the decades in which his focus has centered on stimulating the imaginations of our children to see their future in Agriculture, no matter what other vocation they may choose to pursue, I’ve been in conversation with Fitz Ogle, Chairman of the The Evergreen Nature Study Club about

collaboration in my vision to establish a farming community at Yukuriba. The Evergreen Nature Study Club has led the way in environmental education and advocacy for nearly twenty (20) years, coordinating tours to various parts of Guyana in a bid to expose our students to the multifaceted nature of our biodiversity.

Over these years, Fitz Ogle, an Agronomist himself…trained at the Guyana School of Agriculture and later at University in Brazil, has managed to establish Evergreen Club Chapters in all ten regions of Guyana. Club activities include Outreach educational programmes for Secondary and Tertiary Level students. When Fitz Ogle established the Guyana Natural Farmers Association he in 2013, I was invited to be PR representative; it was a defining moment for Evergreen, charting new directions based on a 5H PROGRAMME expressed in these statement excerpts:

“Every clear thinking Guyanese dreaming of our country someday taking its place in the forefront of the world’s developing nations, will agree that Guyana needs to apply some urgent and well thought out interventions first; to rescue the endangered minds of its youth.

We in the Evergreen Nature Study Club recognize this “danger” as a crisis of identity fuelled by ignorance of the Guyana’s awesome potential, embodied in the beauty of its natural environment and the value of its resources… We understand that once Guyanese youth (the most valuable of all our resources) keep demonizing their country because of the hard times they are currently experiencing: the disillusionment about the availability of “work” after leaving school and consequently the inability to pay bills…Guyana’s future is imperiled…

…Our youth need to be re-educated…taught to think afresh…introduced and led through fresh new *sirihis.

…Over the years, in keeping with our motto: Ever researching, Ever Serving, Evergreen Nature Study Club has been conducting tours to our Yarrowkabra Research Base…

…Recognizing the need for interventions, in 2013 and beyond, we plan to intensify tours to all ten regions of the country in which we have established branches, as well as to neighbouring countries including Brazil and Suriname…

…We plan to broaden the minds of our youth through knowledge sharing and exposure to the breadth of possibilities for sustainable life in their own Guyana environment; edible leaves and medicinal plants are a couple of examples…

…We are encouraging people of like mind to join us, help our ideas to flourish through cross-fertilization with yours. THE 5H PROGRAMME thus envisages a family- oriented group applying the principle of joined HEADS, HEARTS and HANDS in HARMONIOUS approaches to HEALTHY communities. We are encouraging participation of parents and their children, uncles…aunts…cousins as well as the extended family…”

Yukuriba Creative Farming Community and Evergreen Nature Study Club will be collaborating in the future of Yukuriba Heights, to realize our dream of decades.