By Francis Quamina Farrier
Former World War Two Military Officer, Educator, Author and Diplomat, E.R. Braithwaite, has been a Mentor and friend of mine for over fifty years. We met when he was on his very first visit to Guyana, after gaining international acclaim with his first published book, “To Sir, With Love.”
Our meeting came about when, as a rising star at the Theatre Guild of Guyana, I produced a Cultural Show, at which he was the Special Honoured Guest. He enjoyed the show very much and invited me to meet with him later. From thereon, we became very good friends, and he mentored me as a young upcoming Cultural person. One of the things he insisted that I do, is always to make my writing universally understandable. Never to produce sub-standard material.
Sometime after our initial meeting, he surprised me with an offer. “Would you like to go to Canada and pursue a Study Course in Theatre and Journalism?” he asked me. That was an offer I just could not refuse. So off I went to the Banff School of Fine Arts, the University of Alberta, Canada. It was an intensive Summer course, in 1969, and all paid for by E.R. Braithwaite, air fare and all. I have to say that what I learnt during that course, has stood me in very good stead, ever since.
Over the decades, and especially when he served as Guyana’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, we kept in touch by letter. We also saw each other whenever I visited New York, or when he visited Guyana. On one occasion, he visited me at my Robb Street, Georgetown home. The prtincipal purpose was to have the opportunity to taste my wife, Patricia’s, cooking. He loved it, because it was genuine Guyanese cuisine. We also were in each other’s company while I was studying at the Middlesex University in London, England. And on every occasion, he would give me sound advice about my hopes and dreams. I know, as a matter of fact, that my view of people must never be about what power or money they have, and I can clearly recall his calm response to a Guyanese who wanted to know how rich he was. “That doesn’t matter” he respectfully responded. “It’s what I can do to make the lives of others better. That is what it’s all about.”
When “Ted”, (that’s what close friends called him), migrated from England to the USA, we remained in touch. I visited him at his Manhattan, New York City apartment on a few occasions. On one occasion, he graciously hosted a Guyanese friend of mine, Teacher, Poet and Songwriter, Basil Rodrigues, who hailed from the Moruca, and who was visiting New York for the very first time. As fellow educators, they had much to chat about. Ted wanted to know more about the Education System in the Rupununi where “Teacher Basil” was functioning for many years.
In more recent years. Braithwaite relocated to Washington, DC, where he was a Professor at Howard University. During those more recent years we continued to keep in touch. I need not say that we were always happy to be in each other’s company. So when his 100th Birthday was approaching, I asked his permission to approach the Guyana Government to have him as their Guest, in the Land of his birth. Not only was E.R. Braithwaite a guest of the Guyana Government, but he was the Patron of the Inter-Guiana Games that year, 2012.
During what turned out to be his last visit to Guyana, he was presented with the National Award of the Cacique Crown Of Honour (CCH).
The presentation was made by President Donald Ramotar, at the Presidential Secretariat in Georgetown. “Sir” was also the Special Guest of Honour at a staging of “To Sir, With Love – A Guyanese Version” by Mosa Telford at the National Cultural Centre. Before the play began, a video message by Academy Award Winning Hollywood actor, Sidney Poitier, who played the role of Braithwaite, in the Film version of “To Sir, With Love”, was played on a large screen inside the National Cultural Centre.
My most recent meeting with my Mentor and Friend, Dr. Eustace Ricardo Braithwaite, CCH, was on Thursday July 21, 2016. It was at his Washington, DC apartment. We left the apartment together and were driven to the National Mall. I was going to the nearby Museum of the American Indian. As I got out of the car, I waved him “good-bye”. That turned out to be by final good-bye to my Mentor and Friend, E.R. Braithwaite.
