By Francis Quamina Farrier
“YOUTH is Power” was the title of a Film Documentary which I produced in the early 1970s when, as a youth myself, I was attached to the Films Division of the Ministry of Information, located on Brickdam in Georgetown. The documentary was filmed on location at the Youth Corps which was located at Tumatumari on the Potaro River, in what is now Region Seven. Desmond Roberts who hoisted the Golden Arrowhead at the National Park in Georgetown on Independence in 1966, was the Officer in Charge.
The government-sponsored organisation attracted adventurous teenagers who were trained in a number of life skills. Art and Culture were two extracurricular activities which were part of the programme. To create rounded citizens was the primary objective of the planners. A long-term objective was to have the youths marry a colleague and live in newly established communities along Guyana’s western border- neighbouring Venezuela in particular. No need to say that the project, as planned, did not materialise.
One of the principal reasons why the objective was not achieved, according to persons with whom I had discussed this project over the years, was because on graduating, the females, like their male counterparts, were in their late teens or early 20s. However, while the females were ready for marriage, the males had no such plan at that age and so they all went their separate ways after graduating. A few of the females did get married sometime after graduating, but their choices were not fellow graduates. Some of them even got married to officers of the Youth Corps with whom they had developed a romantic relationship.
At this time, many of those youth of the Guyana Youth Corps of the 1970s are in their 60s, some even in their 70s, and one wonders in what way that Youth Power, which they had back in the 1970s when I produced that Film Documentary, “YOUTH is POWER”, was used for the benefit of Guyana. I know for a fact that quite a number of those graduates migrated to all parts of the world, where they have given, and continue to give their service and skills to other countries. It’s the “Theatre of Life”, with those youths of the 1970s, now regarded as “old people” who some individuals feel, should be shunted aside. I’ve met a few of those former youths, who are now approaching their senior years, in various foreign countries.
A few days ago, scores of youths turned up at the Umana Yana in Georgetown to hear about the oil and gas future of our beloved Guyana, and in what way those youths can contribute and benefit from the announced “Oil Bonanza”. So, back to the Theatre of Life with the questions being: What would be written of the youths of 2019, 50 years from now, when they are in their60s and 70s? What percentage of them will be still in Guyana as they gracefully approach their golden years? What would Guyana be like at that time? Will the massive extraction of oil and gas benefit those Guyanese youths of today, or the youths in countries which are already developed?
In the Theatre of Life, I can recall the youth section at the Theatre Guild of Guyana in Kingston, Georgetown, and the frolicking upbeat plays which were staged there with the youths; the forever young “Peter Pan” starring Robert Narain in the title role, among others. Other plays with uplifting themes and plots were also staged at the Theatre Guild and drew large audiences, sometimes necessitating “held-over” performances. I can recall the very patriotic plays staged at the Drama Festivals of the 1960s and 1970s, and the pride and joy by the disciplined audiences back then.
At the British Guiana Drama Festival of 1965, for example, a group of youths from Buxton won the “Best Play” Prize in the Youth Category, with their production of “The Promised Land” by Sydney King (Eusi Kwayana). Please take note of the positive title of the play. The youths who performed in that play at the festival would now be in their 60s, and can attest to the plays with high moral standards back in the period when youths in theatre reached for the skies with their family-friendly productions, which did not wallow in the gutter with raw violence and vulgarity. Plays which attracted full audiences.
In a recent interview with veteran Guyanese singer and songwriter, Hilton Hemerding A.A., who was a former Culture Officer in charge of the Young Brigade and National Cadet Corps (YB&NCC) which functioned in schools half a century ago, he stated that: “Back in those days of the 1960s and 1970s, Guyana was in the forefront of Social and Cultural Development in the Caribbean.” Hemerding told me with pride, “Guyana set the way for CARIFESTA in 1972, and later there was GUYFESTA in Guyana, which was staged in communities all around the country and brought together the various cultures of Guyana into a happy melting pot.”
He continued: “That helped to promote a very united Guyana, in which citizens were exposed to each other’s culture.” In his very popular patriotic song, “BEAUTIFUL GUYANA” which he composed in 1966, Hemerding included lyrics which relate about Guyanese who “Live in peace and harmony”. Hemerding also spoke of other Guyanese composers and singers such as Eddie Hooper, David Campbell, Rita Forrester, Terry Gajraj, Dave Martins, Czerina Ali, Johnny Braff, Lennox Greaves and Eze Rockliffe, among many others.
Last year, there was a production at the Theatre Guild, in which there were many young performers, which focused on “oil and gas” but most of the current plays written by the up-and-coming playwrights, focus on raw violence and vulgarity.
The youths in theatre and culture in general, produce what they experience around them, so what are the youths of yesteryear – of the 1960s and 1970s who are now mature adults- gathering and doing about the present oil and gas generation who flocked the Umana Yana a week ago, to hear what is their future with an oil and gas economy. According to a youth of yesteryear, “We have to give guidance. It’s our responsibility. We received guidance from the elders when we were young, and now that we are elders, it’s our obligation and sacred duty to do the same for the youths of today.”
