A POPULAR saying from Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz goes, ‘There’s no place like home’. For Muriel Jean Smith, the 102-year-old Guyanese woman who left her homeland years ago, there is indeed no place like Guyana.

Muriel was born on May, 17, 1915 and grew up in Station Street, Kitty, with her seven siblings. She attended the Queenstown Moravian School in her younger years, where she developed her love for reading. Later, she married ‘Captain’ Percy Smith.
The couple had been married for 70 years, and had five children (two sons and three daughters) and it can be said that they ‘completed’ each other. While Jean was the talkative storyteller, she was never good at remembering important dates and figures, but Percy was just the opposite.

They lived in Guyana for some time, but later migrated to Toronto, Canada in the 1970s, where they lived together until Percy passed away in 2015.
Returning to Guyana
After migrating, she explained that she travelled extensively throughout her life alongside Percy. Nevertheless, she affirmed that Guyana will always be the best place to be. “We always came to Guyana. We enjoyed coming to Guyana,” she noted and continued, “Canada is good, but Guyana is the best.”

Here, she loves the fresh fruits and fish that she would get. In fact, despite being allergic to most seafoods, her favourite food is fish — the sweet kind that you see only in Guyana, according to her.
It was her love for these things and the memory of just how much her late husband enjoyed them as well, that prompted Jean to get on a plane, despite her age, and come back home. For this trip, the centenarian was accompanied by her daughter Joy Okuefuna, the youngest of her five children. Joy had not visited Guyana for 28 years and Jean for five years, and thus they both opted to return to their motherland.

Visiting Guyana ‘one last time’

Before travelling to Guyana this time, Jean’s relatives said that the woman expressed that she would like to come back to Guyana one last time. During our interview, however, which soon revealed that the woman was lively and talkative and quick to make wisecracks, Jean joked that she has to return once more so that she too can get some of the oil that promises riches for Guyana.

Since leaving Guyana, Jean and Percy kept abreast with the affairs of the country. Even now, Jean is still very much informed about Guyana’s affairs and was able to comment on the discovery of oil off of our coast.
Despite her age, the centenarian shows a great deal of independence — both in her stories and in her normal life.
In Toronto, she lives alone and manages to take care of herself for the most part. She explained that another one of her daughters, who is a Drill Sergeant, lives close by and would ensure that all is well.

So far on this trip, Jean has been relaxing at home. During a quick drive around town though, she related that the cleanliness of the city is heartwarming.
On July 18, she will be returning to Canada. Before that, one main thing that she wants to do is to visit a few senior citizens’ homes and orphanages. Jean joked that she’d like to see how many of her friends are still here. She’d also like to visit a few churches and ask the pastors to pray for Guyana and the President.

The centenarian related her desire to visit the hinterland and Kaieteur Falls, but the unpleasant weather coupled with her inability to traverse that terrain on foot would not permit. Smith expressed a desire to meet with President Granger, but only “if he has time,” since she is cognizant that he is a very busy man.
“God is very good to me,” the centenarian underscored. She was full of praises to God and urged all to give thanks to Him in good times and bad.
She recounted that her grandmother would always tell her “Jesus is coming! Jesus is coming!” and that hope perhaps has given her strength all these years. Smith, however, joked that she is 102 years old and she doesn’t know how much longer she has to wait before he comes.

Smith also posited that patriotism should be practised by all Guyanese. During the daunting time in Guyana’s history of Jim Jones, Jean remembered that many, even Guyanese themselves, detested the country. “Guyanese got to be Guyanese or else we gon lose it,” she stressed, while iterating that Guyanese have got to love who they are and their country.
As was exclusively reported by the Guyana Chronicle on June 18, Smith was the first Centenarian to ever board a Fly Jamaica flight. Upon boarding the aircraft to come back home, Jean told the Pepperpot Magazine that the airline was very excited and honoured her during her flight.