Righting and Re-writing History
(Extract of an interview with Ms. Beryl Adams-Haynes, author of Plaisance: From Emancipation to Independence and Beyond, Georgetown, Guyana, July 2010)
PP:  OUR HISTORY was first recorded by the European colonisers who did take a certain amount of licence with the facts; so the history was so written to show the Europeans in a good light. But it is a matter of pride that more and more scholarship on our history, and written by our own, is turning up rewriting that initial and sometimes flawed history. One such scholarship is ‘Plaisance: From Emancipation to Independence and Beyond’, written by Beryl Adams-Haynes. Our history is important; recording and righting that flawed history is imperative. What were the factors leading up to the research, writing and distribution of this book?
BAH: The idea came to me some years after I remigrated and discovered by chance that Plaisance was bought by freed slaves. This discovery came late in my life. I started talking to older folks in the village, and found out that no one has ever approached them for such information.  Then again, not many of them, the older folks, knew much about our ancestral history. The inspiration came from the situation of them not knowing, me not knowing, and the question of how will the younger ones know. And that’s what set me on the path of research, documenting, and finally the book.
PP: Researching material on Guyana is not easy; I am a researcher on Guyanese literature and a sort of quasi-historian, so I know the difficulties in getting information, cross-referencing etc. Tell us about your research stages.
BAH: The research stages, as you said before, were not easy; it was an uphill task. I started here at the archives and the library, finding very little information on Plaisance. You may come across an article running into many pages with just a mere reference – one line, a few words on Plaisance, thanks to my children, who are still in London and who were feeding me with some amount of information as to websites that would be useful. The bulk of the material for happenings in the village from the 1920s onward came from the older folks. I contacted many villagers, who provided information up to recent times. Some prominent Plaisancians were listed in the earlier manuscript. The idea of the ‘Annexes’ came from my editor, Dr. Laurence Clarke, a prominent Plaisancian. To get information as to what some of our villagers (as you must be aware, most of our people are residing outside of Guyana) were doing, assistance was sought from villagers abroad who were enthusiastic and excited about this long-awaited publication.
PP: Much of our history, in various forms, is stored in foreign archives…
BAH: Yes, I know that now. Researching, cross referencing, documenting and finally the end product took some six years, not continuously, before it finally came to fruition. When I set out to write the history of Plaisance, I didn’t set out to do this [showing the book]; I set out to write a few pages, a 25-page document perhaps for my own satisfaction, but it took on new dimensions, and has taken off in a way beyond my expectations.
Let me explain: When I came back home, Plaisance never celebrated Emancipation at village level. I got together with other villagers and one thing led to another and the birth of our Emancipation celebrations began 12 years ago. This led to an awakening of our villagers and their quest for knowledge of our history.

PP: It would be a good time to talk about the history of Plaisance and the village system.

BAH: In the beginning, it was not easy. There was friction as persons jockeyed for the better plots to build. Remember, some 65 persons bought the plantation, and all of them couldn’t live or build in the same area. Assistance was sought from the government (Plantocracy) to help put their affairs in order. There were also problems of flooding, sanitation, drainage, difficulties collecting rates and taxes and other woes, but those problems were overcome to an extent, leading to better lifestyle.

PP: That’s the past; let’s look at the present Plaisance, to those who have endured and have made and are making significant contribution.

BAH:    The Plaisance of today is different from the Plaisance I grew up in, and even more different from the Plaisance of our ancestors who worked so hard to develop it and call it their home. Plaisance has produced, and will continue to produce, many outstanding  citizens, both of local and international stature. Right on our doorstep is the first female Judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice, a trailblazer, Madame Justice Desiree Bernard; Senior Counsel, Bernard De Santos; Director of the World Bank (Sudan, Africa), Dr. Laurence Clarke; Prof. Denis Benn who heads the Michael Manley Institute, Mona Campus; Dr. Imran Ali; Eddy Grant, international recording songwriter and artiste; Wayne ‘Big Truck’ Braithwaite, former world boxing champion; Nizam Ali, Chartered Accountant, and many others.

PP: Many of these achievements came about because of three main factors mentioned in your book: Deep roots in the church, education, and political and cultural awareness.
Now we have a book into which you have put a lot of hard work to bring the history of Plaisance to the fore; very commendable, but here’s my pet peeve: Are our young people reading?

BAH:    That is one of our problems: Reading; lack of reading could defeat the purpose of the book. We, various committees, have planned to go into the schools, to read extracts and do other related activities …

PP: Making that connection with the youths is crucial, and I hope you succeed, for it would benefit your community of Plaisance, and eventually the country. Congratulations again on gifting us this important scholarship, which is already going into a first reprint.

What’s Happening
•    One-day creative writing workshop for school children. This workshop is free but places are limited. Please contact me for more information.
•    The first eleven titles of the Guyana Classics Library are now available to the public. Please contact me for more information.
•    The Guyana Annual 2010 issue is now available at Guyenterprise Ltd. on Lance Gibbs and Irving Streets, Queenstown

(To respond to this author, either call him on (592) 226-0065 or send him an email @: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com)