The journey back home
Mr. Steve Connolly holding the two books; Children of Watooka and Journey Back to Watooka
Mr. Steve Connolly holding the two books; Children of Watooka and Journey Back to Watooka

Reflections of Pre-Independence Linden

“I HAD to come back to Paradise,” were the words of British Guiana-born Steve Connolly who returned to Guyana after 63 years to fill that void that he was longing for more than half of his life. The now 75-year-old Connolly has documented the first 10 years of his life he spent in British Guiana in a book he authored, ‘Children of Watooka’.

This book was released in 2016 when Connolly returned to home sweet home to celebrate Guyana’s 50th anniversary. Since then, he has returned four times and has written a second book, which is filled with the rich history of Linden and details on the early days of bauxite mining. His story is one of memories that will forever be etched in his mind. So profound are they, that he had to share it with the world; hence why he wrote the book.

EARLIEST MEMORIES
Connolly was born in 1943 in Mackenzie Linden, to Canadian parents who were amongst the first to commence established bauxite mining in Linden. His father came and his mother subsequently joined after. He grew up in the community of Watooka. During that pre-Independence era, Linden was known as a company town and the expatriates established all the rules. One of the strictest was that the locals were not allowed to cross the Mackenzie/Wismar Bridge, thus accessing communities such as Watooka and Richmond Hill which was an All-White terrain.

Mr. Steve Connolly and some children in Watooka playing in the 1940s

“The first three years I don’t remember,” Connolly joked, but what I remembered was a paradise; we didn’t know what was outside. There were about 12 children and my brother and I learned to swim in the Watooka swimming pool (which still stands today). We swam every day in that pool, the girls, the boys-everybody. We went into the rainforest and we were taken there by experts and our gardener Gobin, he was an Indo-Guyanese; a wonderful man. There were orange trees, it didn’t matter. We had to paint them silver, we had to make our own decorations for Christmas. The days were so warm or raining it didn’t matter, we played every day…I remember well,” the septuagenarian recalled.

MAKING THE MOST OF PARADISE
Despite being locked away as it were from the rest of Linden and Guyana, the 12 Caucasian children at that time who resided in Watooka, made use of all that nature provided. They attended the Watooka Day School. The man-made hills, the bushy treks, the Demerara River flowing behind and the trees that danced to the midday winds were all part of Connolly’s little paradise. He recalled travelling in the RH Carr and the outlying communities of Region 10 such as Ituni and the Watooka Club House which is now the Watooka Guest House.

Despite disparity during that era, Connolly said that he could not have become a racial person or an advocate of inequality because of the example his parents set in this regard. “My Canadian parents never had to teach me about the value and wonders of diversity. I watched them, they demonstrated it. I saw what they did, my mother would come out and be with the Girl Guides of Cocatara.

My father would work with the coloured people, to teach them how to become welders and tradespeople in the plant. People got to love my mother and father and when they [were leaving, it was a very tearful farewell and my mother and father never forgot that- neither did I. I love diversity; people of every kind and every colour,” he said.

RICH HISTORY
He wanted to share this rich history with others but was unable to do so after his parents died because no one understood what was inside of him; what needed to be expressed in the most colourful and narrative way. So persons can understand how wonderful life was in Linden. “For all those 63 years, my memory remained here, who could I talk to? Canadians don’t understand Guyana, they don’t even know where it is, so I said I will talk to myself. I said my children would want to know where I was, where I came from, where I was born, so I started to write,” he said.

HIS BOOKS
His first book, ‘Children of Watooka’ was released in 2016 and encapsulates Connolly’s life as the child of an expatriate, locked away in Watooka, growing up around bauxite dust and everything else Linden had to offer at that time. Upon his first trip back to Guyana in 63 years, Connolly collected more material for his second book, ‘Journey Back to Watooka’, which was released three weeks ago.

The response to the books he described as amazing, even though more are sold out of Guyana than in. “The feedback is incredible in Europe, the Caribbean, United States and Canada, the feedback is that how is this man who is white, lives in Canada and knows so much and be so fond of the country he was born, the answers are in those books.

The books have enchanting and adventurous real-life stories of life back then. One of these he related in the second book, is the contribution of the bauxite plant to the World War II. Most of the aluminium used to manufacture ships that were used in the war was sourced from Linden.

His father and other engineers worked overtime to meet the demand on the world market for aluminium. They worked 13 days straight and were lucky to get the 14th day off. The ships fetching the bauxite were sunk by submarines and many lost their lives. The very ship his mother had journeyed to British Guiana with was sunk on its next voyage. “One out of every three would have sunk in 1942, there were submarines out there like sharks, then the United States went after them in 1943, about a year later and things greatly improved,” Connolly related.

Another story that was related is that of a young baby that was found in the bushes of Wismar by some young boys who were playing. She was one day old and was found on an ant hill with a rope around her neck. They brought her across the river and Dr. Rose saved her and adopted her. The family along with the baby girl travelled to England in 1972 and she grew up to be a BBC television star.

CHANGES
Upon his return to Guyana, Connolly said that he was not surprised about the way things have deteriorated but is more troubled about the continuous disparity and political segregation amongst Guyanese, though the Whites are no longer here to set rules of class. He shunned political disparity and is urging all Guyanese to embrace their diversity and to live in unity.

“I tell my black friends today because we can joke about this- I tell them, ‘You think you weren’t allowed in my village, I was trapped inside!’ Now I know more friends that were raised, born and brought up on the other side of the bridge than… friends of my own race; that is fantastic.”

The books can be bought from the National Library, Linden Branch and at Austin’s Book Store for $5,000. Connolly expressed his gratitude to Fly Jamaica for flying the books to Guyana free of cost so that they can be sold at a reduced price.

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