GLOBALLY, technology is seen as the vehicle to usher in change and transformation. While Guyana may have taken some time to hop on this vehicle for change, the country’s young people are ensuring that lost time is made up for.

One might have heard the song: “Youth are important to Guyana”, growing up. As the country develops, more and more young Guyanese rise up and illustrate how vital they are in this transformative process.

Perhaps the most illustrative of the lot would be the field of robotics. There has been a buzz in Guyana for some time now, that brought no fleeting excitement, but rather a never-ending surge of curiosity, excitement and undiscovered adventure.The proponents go by the names: Karen Abrams (an overseas-based Guyanese) and Sandra Granger (the First Lady of Guyana).

There was news of robotics workshops being launched in 2016 and youth were able to test out their skills on some LEGO Robotic kits brought by Abrams through support from the diaspora. That was only the honey dripping out of the hive because there was much, much more in store.

Abrams, through indelible support from the First Lady, began initiating robotics ‘camps’ in several schools and communities across Guyana seeking to cultivate a passion for this field or expose what was already there.

Eventually, this wave spread far and wide (oh, but not nearly far enough) and in a few months, participants from these camps would have been selected to represent Guyana internationally. In July 2017, a group of talented Guyanese youth aged 15- 18, made history at the First Global Robotics competition hosted in Washington D.C. There, they competed against some 809 youth from 157 countries.

Team Guyana was led by Captain Ryan Benschop and included Anthony Frank, Arianna Mahase, Christopher Nelson, Sahief Poese and Vevekean and Ramnarace, alongside Team Manager Farnaz Baksh.

During this two-day ‘battle of the bots’ competition, Guyana had the highest total at the end of Day One and then placed 10th overall at the competition’s culmination. Their performance was truly laudable, however, after examining several features, any admiration for this team must be increased ten-fold.

Let’s consider their training in robotics. These teenagers had only been exposed to the field of robotics for just about a year at the time of the competition. Compared to other youth who had been delving into this field for years, the team indeed fared well.

Take a look at the sole robot they worked tirelessly to build, train and then finally compete with. It is called ‘Megathurium’. This robot was designed to participate in the game for the competition called H2O FLow, where it had to collect balls (representing stored water) and deposit it into a laboratory on the playing field. Its design, however, happens to be quite symbolic, since it integrated the mechanisms of a koker door and rice combine. Clearly, this shows that youth have an ingrained sense of innovation.

What I’m trying to explain here is that with just a little prodding, Guyanese youth were able to advance themselves as world-class tech players. But the strides made in robotics are not exhaustive of the degree youth have contributed to tech development in Guyana.
Take 22-year-old, Farnaz Baksh, for example. Not only was she the adult mentor for Team Guyana during the Robotics competition, but she has also been engaging in outreach activities vis a vis robotics and ICT, seeking to initiate that spark in other young people, as was set alight in her.

Then there’s Team Innosys (Innovative Systems), a gang of young tech whizzes, who developed the best online e-agriculture platform that connects buyers and sellers for fresh produce and agro-processed items, and the best rates and tax management and reporting tool for local Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) and residents through the Ministry of Public Telecommunications (MoPT)’s CODESPRINT and Hackathon competitions.

Both of these applications are now with the Ministry, at the National Data Management Authority (NDMA) for refining and will be implemented sooner or later as tools for the Guyanese populace.

Guyanese youth have been able to pave the way for resounding impact- with just a little investment. But think just for a second where would all these ideas and talent be if they weren’t facilitated by these events. Before 2016, robotics in Guyana was a mere afterthought; a wisp of someone’s imagination. And before the creation of the MoPT forums for youth, how many of them would be able to create tools of their own design for national development? The chances are pretty low.

The wealth of a country is dependent upon how its people can harness and manage its resources. Human resources are therefore the most important resources; no amount of oil, gold or sugar can change that. Investing in Guyana’s tech-savvy youth is a guaranteed way to facilitate development.