EDUCATOR Quado Vancooten is a selfless man among men.

Humble, unassuming and selfless are just some of the words that may best describe my one time hip-hop-loving buddy.

We go way back to 1993, when the Guyana Star Search was a hit show. It was around that time that I won the rap category, and Quado Vancooten and I became friends because we both were lyricists with hip-hop dreams.
Fate, however, led us down different paths to where we are today. He is now 40 years young and is the Headmaster of the Mashabo Primary School; a post he has held with distinction from 2004 to present.

He grew up in La Grange, West Bank Demerara, where it was always a struggle to get to school, whether on the Tata buses or the ferry from Vreed-en-Hoop to Georgetown.
After completing high school, he went on to the CPCE, where he completed the primary teachers training from 1997 to 1999. It was after completing college that he made the decision to switch regions and head to Region 2.

His years of struggling with transportation to get to school left him with bitter memories, and he was desperate for a change. Being familiar with the Mainstay Lake from attending church camps and day excursions, he fell in love with the black water and white sandy beaches and quickly realised that that was the place where he wanted to work and live.

His first month on the job was like a dream. The Lake Mainstay resort was about to begin operations, and electricity was also making its way into the community, with the school included. He was well settled in, and had all the basic necessities at his disposal.

In 2004, however, the headmaster with whom he worked applied for promotion, and he told Quado about a school in Mashabo which had, for quite some time, been without a head. My buddy took up the challenge, and his application was accepted. He was appointed in September 2004.

Mashabo is found on the Ituribisi Lake, the largest lake in Guyana. It was a totally different environment, and the only way in was a 30-45-minute ride by boat over the large lake. Quado was unfazed; like a chameleon he adapted to the change and realised that here, too, was a natural paradise with an abundance of wildlife, from parrots and macaws flying overhead, to otters swimming freely in the lake, to different species of monkeys swinging on the branches just behind the school.

In Quado’s own words: “I fell in love with Mashabo. I, however, found out that there were no high school graduates in the community because most of the high school children would go up to Form 3 and then drop out. It was during this period that a teacher brought to my attention a student who had reached Form 4 but was on the brink of dropping out because of financial constraints. The teacher and I quickly visited the parents of the child, and we were able to convince them about the importance of education and the long-term benefits that can be accomplished from the sacrifices made if they invest in (education). They took the advice, and the young lady went on to write 6 subjects, passing 5 with grade twos and threes.

“This was a landmark achievement, and six other students have since gone on to write CSEC, with one of them gaining distinctions in Agriculture Science and Food and Nutrition,” Quado revealed.

As an educator, Quado believes that each child should be seen as a blank slate on which a good teacher can impart the necessary knowledge.

While he has had challenges galore, this young Guyanese has no regret leaving the comforts of the city to share the knowledge he has with those he comes in contact with.
He says: “I gain full job satisfaction when I can get a child who couldn’t write to do so, or a child who couldn’t read to improve to a satisfactory level. It is worth the sacrifice, and at the end of the day I can smile when I see a batch of students leaving for high school, knowing that a younger batch is just about coming in.”

It is a known fact that teenage pregnancies and substance abuse, namely alcohol and marijuana, are major problems in many hinterland communities. To help keep the youths on track, a relationship was established with the Youth Division of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, where workshops are held and training is done on a regular basis. This has been working, since it is evident that there is a major reduction in the instances of teenage pregnancy. Youths in the community are living more productive lives, participating in sports such as cricket and volleyball.

‘Sir’ Quado was, nine years ago, able to establish a permanent school feeding programme with the help of the Toronto Foundation through Food for the Poor. Today that programme is fully sponsored by the benefactors of Mashabo, the Stoner Family, which has given the school a computer lab, a school boat, and sufficient funds for the smooth running of the feeding programme. The attendance has improved over the years, and the pupils continue to show improvement in their academic performances!

And while Quado is the relatively young man who sacrificed his city life and Hip-Hop dreams to make life better for a little known community, he is quite a humble and secluded soul. He is a single parent dad of two great kids, a girl aged nine, and a boy aged seven.

By Alex Wayne