By Francis Quamina Farrier

Over the decades, especially since the 1970s, there has been a need for assistance from those who left Guyana, by those who stayed. Many who stayed, did so by choice. Others by the inability to up-root themselves from the circumstance of their situations in the country of their birth. Victims of a situation well beyond their control.

It is well-known that the bulk of Guyana’s problems is man-made. Guyana is one of the most blessed countries in the world – certainly weather-wise. There are no snowstorms here in Guyana. No sand storms. No blizzards. No earthquakes. No brush fires. No tornadoes. No tsunamis. No droughts. Guyana is blessed with gold, diamonds, manganese, lumber, cattle, fish of all sorts. One of the widest arrays of wildlife

So there are the Guyanese “At Home”, and there are the Guyanese “In the Diaspora”. On the occasion of Guyana’s Independence Jubilee Celebrations in 2016, I penned – rather, typed – two feature articles; one was advice to the Guyanese at home, the other, advice to Guyanese in the Diaspora, returning to the motherland to celebrate that grand event.

An example of the advice given to the Guyanese at home was, “Do not greet your returning relative with the question, “Is woh yoh bring fo’ meh?” An example of the advice I gave to the returning Guyanese was, “Don’t go about wearing the latest bling and speaking loudly with a foreign accent since you would be setting yourself up to be a victim of professional robbers.”

Four years later in 2020, the country celebrated its Republic Jubilee. Again many from the Diaspora came to visit and celebrate. Many had a blast and an extremely enjoyable time. A few who came down with a super attitude returned to their adopted homes with a sour taste in their mouths. As a youngster, I read the following; “Two men looked out from prison bars, one saw mud, the other saw stars.” It was all a matter of how they held their heads. While one looked down, the other looked up. Just a simple tilt of the head – up and down – they were in the very same place, but each had a different experience.

One of my all-time favourite songs is, “What a wonderful world” by the late great American jazz musician and singer, Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, who grew up in New Orleans, USA. Many older Guyanese would recall his visit to Guyana and a memorable concert at the Queen’s College auditorium. Some of the lyrics of “What a Wonderful World” are as follows:
“I see skies of blue and clouds of white, Bright sunny days, dark sacred nights.
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.”

As I walk the streets of my Mother Guyana, I am so often approached by various citizens and asked about this, that and the other; and it’s almost always about the woes of the country, which are many. Not that I mind, it’s just that I’d much prefer to dwell on the positives and discuss the solutions to the problems which abound. It is also good to chat about the developments, which for many, are coming much too slowly. Just imagine, Guyana was the very first country on the continent of South America to have built a railway while being the very last to install an escalator!

Within the Diaspora, are many Guyanese who so love their country, that they visit annually and give quite a lot of support – money, goods, as well as their time. They visit and carry out FREE medical and educational projects. They do not curse the darkness. They light it up with their candles of love. Almost all of the recipients here in Guyana show gratitude. Some, like the nine cured lepers, forget to say “Thanks”. On the other hand, there are some in the Diaspora who have nothing good to say about their Mother Guyana; one told me that he spat on the tarmac at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport as he was about to place his feet on the steps to board the outbound aeroplane. Different people react differently to their bad experiences. But to spit on your motherland because of a hurt or hurts which you have experienced!

Should I advise anyone who hangs on to hurt for years and decades, let me say; all of us have experienced unfair and unjustified ill-treatment, but that should never be the reason to curse your Mother Guyana. Your navel string is buried here, as they say and that is of great significance. It is so sad when one decides to laud it over their motherland and say things like. “I will never goh back deh.” To be arrogant enough to say, “That’s why the wise ones left”. Thus implying that those in Guyana are idiots. Yes, there are idiots in Guyana. So, too, idiots almost everywhere.

It is a fact that there are many issues to be settled here in the Motherland, but acting with an attitude will never solve them. The world is at present in turmoil with protests all due to the murder of a civilian by a policeman in the United States. Many who curse Guyana, live in the United States where they are regularly treated extremely bad by hostile police. Many complain about being followed around by security personnel when they go shopping in stores.

I’ve previously written about a policeman at Port Kaituma in Region One many years ago. He tracked down a wanted man and discovered him hiding in some bushes. Many other policemen would have ended that fugitive’s life there and then. However, that policeman called the man out and took him to the police station. Now, juxtapose that with policing in the United States of America for people of colour! Mothers pray daily for the safe return home of their sons. Sadly, all’s not safe for many in the diaspora.

Many years ago while on a visit to Aishalton in the deep south Rupununi, as the sun had just sunk below the horizon, I left the police station where I was chatting with the officers for some time. Walking along the trail heading back to the Government Rest House where I was a guest, I heard the happiest laughter coming from a little house with a thatched roof and which was lit by a ‘speak-easy’ lantern, one of the happiest bouts of laughter I’ve ever heard, and which I’ve always remembered.
Out of the darkness, joy.