by Francis Quamina Farrier

SO it’s been raining in Guyana on and off since New Year’s Day 2017. Fact is, it has been raining more than not raining; and there seems to be no pattern as to when, how and where the rain will fall. The most certain thing about rainfall over the past three decades, is that there is no pattern; the rain falls at all odd times, and also in all odd places and in many cases, resulting in flooding.

My question to you is; “Should it rain tomorrow morning, will you be singing that popular song by The Carpenters, “Rainy Days and Mondays always gets me down”?
Guyanese used to joke about it raining whenever Test cricket comes to town, but it seems now that whenever a group of boys or girls go out anywhere to play bat-and-ball, the rain comes. Just take note of the heavy flooding in many sections of Georgetown as well as in the Regions over the past two decades.
Only recently, Region Eight suffered from heavy rainfall, causing many rivers in that highland region of the country to overflow their banks, resulting in devastating floods and lots of human suffering in the populated areas.

So let me say it; Climate Change is for real. If you are 45 years or younger, I suggest that you take some time out and sit and have an in-depth discourse with an older person about what the weather pattern was like back then in British Guiana. They will most likely tell you about the two rainy seasons and the two dry seasons, which came around like the sun comes around every day on schedule, never missing a beat, even when obscured by clouds, it is still there. In those long-gone days, one could have arranged an out-door activity without needing to have a Plan B, just in case it rains.

The two rainy seasons were in May and June, referred to as “The May/June Rains”; that was the big one. The smaller rainy season was during the latter weeks of the year. The older folks will tell the youngsters that rain never fell in August when they were children. During the August school holidays, youngsters went on visits to different areas from where they lived. Scouts took field trips and hikes into the hinterland. No one packed a cloak or umbrella. It was the Dry Season, and so no rain whatsoever.

But in more recent decades, things have changed; there is climate change, the governing party changed, party members changed their party allegiance; some went to this party and others to that party; there were many who also changed their religion; many changed their partners; many changed their citizenship. A few even changed their gender; so why not the weather? (Really, I shouldn’t have made that last statement). Change is inevitable and so we need to face whatever challenge change brings; Climate Change included.
We see what happens in Georgetown and in most coastal areas of the country when there is heavy rainfall; areas which are below sea level at high tide, become inundated. Those of us 15 years and older can recall that terrible experience in 2005, when most of the East Coast of Demerara and West Coast Berbice were under over eight feet of flood water due to heavy and continuous rainfall.

The ground floors of low lying buildings became water-logged. There was lots of human and animal suffering. Items in homes were destroyed. Some animals died in the flood water. Others died of starvation because there was no grass to eat, since most of the grass was submerged. It was terrible.
During the past three weeks, many areas in Region Number Eight were inundated after heavy rainfall. What is very worrying about that situation is that Region Eight is one of the highest areas of Guyana, with many hills and mountains which are hundreds and thousands of feet above sea level. Yet they were floods in many areas and people suffered terribly. The rivers just could not take off the water from the incessant rain and so that resulted in the floods.

The weather pattern has certainly changed over the years, and those responsible for getting assistance to those who suffer from floods, are greatly challenged. The Civil Defense Commission which is tasked with getting needed assistance to those affected by floods and other disasters, did an excellent job in this recent case in Region Number Eight, according to reports coming out of that highland region. People suffered initially, but help was there to ease the suffering, and from reports, the water is receding and things are slowly returning to normal.

Guyana though small and relatively insignificant on the world stage, still plays a vital role in the international drama of maintaining a healthy production of Climate. This country is regarded as one of the bastions of keeping the lungs of the earth clean and healthy with our pristine forests. We have, for the better part, kept our forests intact. Guyana has also given to the world, the Iwokarama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation, for scientific study of flora and fauna, and climate. That came about when President Desmond Hoyte, while attending a meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government, in Malaysia in 1989, proposed the idea of setting aside a section of a virgin rainforest as a living laboratory.

Guyanese need to be proud of that Iwokarama Project, and continue to make our own individual contributions as dedicated players in this unfolding Climate Change drama, even as we recognize just how lucky we are from the wrath of Mother Nature. There is on-going education here in Guyana about a Green Environment, and how individuals and groups can make their contributions.

Many of us complain when it is too hot or too rainy, never pausing to recognise just how much Guyana is blessed. We never experience the wrath of snow storms and blizzards which take the lives of many humans and animals. There are no hail storms in which ice cubicles come pelting down from the sky, doing much damage, especially to vehicles. Guyana does not experience deadly hurricanes as some of our Caricom sister countries. No earthquakes in which the earth opens up swallowing up humans, animals, and buildings. No tornadoes that come twisting, swallowing up all in their path.

There are no fires which consume dozens of acres of forests and grass lands. We never had a tsunami in which dozens of people and hundreds of animals are washed out to sea to their deaths, including the devastating damage to property. There are no avalanches or land slides to really talk about. There are those countries which suffer from heavy fog, while others have to deal with exploding volcanoes which spew fiery lava, which in some instances, pour down into populated areas and take lives and property.

Flying in an helicopter over the city of Plymouth, Montserrat, two years after that devastating eruption of the previously dormant Soufriere Hills Volcano on July 18, 1995, and seeing just the tip of the tallest buildings peeping above the ash, tears came to my eyes knowing that I had previously walked in the streets below and just could not fathom that such horrific damage could have been the result of a volcano errupting. Can you imagine Georgetown covered in ash with only the top of the St. George’s cathedral, the Stabroek Market and a few other tall buildings visible? Could you imagine the General Post, the National Cultural Centre and other buildings, totally covered in ash. We Guyanese need to recognize that our Beautiful Guyana is very blessed weather-wise.

However, blessed though Guyana is weather-wise, that does not mean that Guyanese ought to accept what could be prevented. Some of the floods which impact Georgetown in particular, are for the better part, preventable; if only we would take better care of our environment – our drains and canals in particular. During the post-General Elections of 2015, the massive clean-up campaign of the city of Georgetown, was well-received by citizens as they saw the transformation of the “garbage city” to a much cleaner capital. But as we celebrate our 51st Independence Anniversary, are we as pleased about the current state of Georgetown? Not everyone is, because there are obvious signs of careless and illegal garbage disposal.

So when next it rains, you may just ‘throw back’ and relax with some soothing music; such as Brook Benton’s “Rainy Night in Georgia”, and recall when Brook arrived from America and took Georgetown by storm when he performed at the Strand De luxe cinema at Wellington and Charlotte Streets. On the other hand, if you are busy around and about town or country, and it’s raining cats and dogs, you could sing to yourself that popular Burt Bacharach song “Raindrops keep falling on my Head”, from the movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” with Robert Redford and Paul Newman.

So whatever you do, know that Climate Change is for real. And if we are to “give jack he jacket”, we will salute former Vice President of the United States, Al Gore, and take a first or other viewing of his 2006 Academy Award Winning Video documentary “An Inconvenient Truth”, which shows in a most dramatic way, the facts of Climate Change. So just get real with whatever you do, and be a part of the solution, however small it may be.