In Parliament…
THE work and life of late Minister within the Ministry of Education and Member of Parliament (MP), Dr. Desrey Fox was lauded in the National Assembly last week Thursday.
Her colleagues in the House paid tribute to the committed and distinguished service she rendered to the nation, after a motion of sympathy was moved by Minister of Education, Mr. Shaik Baksh.
Fox died on December 11, 2009 in the High Dependency Unit (HDU) of  Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) after suffering injuries in a three-vehicle accident just outside Camp Ayanganna, Thomas Lands, also in the city.
Present for the sitting of the House were family members of the dead Minister, as well as some of her former students and fellow teachers.
“Guyana has lost an eminent daughter whose imprints will forever be felt in the countless lives she would have touched. She will be missed dearly. May her soul rest in peace,” Baksh said.
Noting that Fox was an accomplished academic, he said her extensive research has, measurably, enriched public knowledge of the lives of the local indigenous peoples and the focus of her researching was cross-cultural and on a wide range of Amerindian issues and situations in Guyana.
Baksh reminded that, just before her passing, she had translated extracts from the Low Carbon Development Strategy into the Akawaio language, to make it more comprehensible to some older folks of that tribe.
Fox was appointed Minister in September 2006 and Baksh said, from then, they developed a close working relationship “since they both recognised the enormity of the task in reforming the education system, in order to improve the standard for the benefit of the children of Guyana.”
“We shared the same vision of the Ministry of Education, to be the main and most effective contributor to the development of a citizenry able to modernise Guyana, to support the citizens in becoming more productive and tolerant and to live in mutual respect,” he stated.
Baksh said, during the early months of her tenure as Minister, she recognised that support and advice from him was important and did not hesitate to consult with him on a regular basis, while expressing her views about change necessary for the development of education in this country.
He said she agreed to be in charge of technical and vocational education, health and family life education, school welfare services, school sports and physical education and, most importantly, the promotion of aesthetic education through cultural activities, such as music, dance and drama.

Responsibility
Baksh said Fox ardently took on oversight responsibility of the Unit of Allied Arts and worked closely with the staff, especially on national occasions, like Independence and Mashramani anniversaries.
He said Fox’s passion for this area of education led her to take steps to reactivate the National Schools Choir and Steel Orchestra and he pledged that her work will not be in vain as he would ensure it is completed as a tribute to her contribution to the education sector.
“Like me, Minister Fox believed that education is not only about pursuing academic learning, but also moulding the minds of the children of Guyana by instilling values of nationalism, tolerance, integrity, respect and self-fulfillment,” Baksh asserted.
He said she had a special interest in health and family life education and  headed a team to review the content and methodology of this programme, to ensure its effectiveness and that moral education was adequately infused in the curriculum.
Baksh said Fox’s keen interest in and dedication to inclusive education led to her attending several international conferences and being active in hinterland communities, ensuring follow-up actions on promises made.
He emphasised that her interest in special needs education ensured that related programmes catered for persons with disabilities.
“The qualities of the late Minister which will be remembered most are her concerns for the plight of others; her caring and considerate ways of dealing with ordinary folks and their children and representation of their cases for resolution,” Baksh said.
He mentioned examples such as placement of children in school so as not to cause undue financial hardships and the reintegration of pregnant students into the system.
Minister of Labour, Mr. Manzoor Nadir, supporting the motion, expressed appreciation for the contributions Minister Fox not only to the Government but also to the nation.
He remembered her speaking of how a rounded citizen can contribute to the development of the country and said she used her own example of the benefits of exercise, engaging in sporting, recreational and other non-academic activities to show how it enriched her life.

Prominent
Nadir also referred to her work to make sure that music is, again, a prominent part of the curriculum in the school system.
He recalled that, just before her death, she and Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony resuscitated the National Music Festival and announced that, in the next few months, a National School of Music will be opened.
“This rounded citizen that this country needs and has a responsibility to produce is, for me, one of the legacies which we need to ensure in the lives of all our people,” Nadir said.
“She has demonstrated how a nurse can become a PhD holder, be recognised around the world for her skills and join in the Cabinet of the country to produce policies and to, positively, shape lives forever, that is a lesson for the workers of this country,” he added.
People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) MP, Dr. George Norton, speaking on behalf of the Opposition, extended sympathy on the Fox’s death and placed on record their “shock and profound grief at the great loss to the Government and the Parliament of Guyana.”
“When one considers the great odds that were against the late Minister growing up in that village of Waramadong up to the age of 15 and for her to have achieved such heights, it can only be described as being remarkable or extraordinary,” he remarked.
On her determination to succeed, Norton said she did not only become qualified as a nurse but was ambitious and determined to further her studies and made the best of it.
He said her appointment as Minister within the Ministry of Education was history created and a very proud moment for the indigenous peoples of the nation.
Norton insisted that her zeal to move forward was still very much there and there was still a bright road ahead for her.
He is certain that, had she still been alive, she, certainly, would have conquered greater heights in her life, not only at the national but also at the international level.

Icon
Norton said Fox has become an icon and inspiration for the young indigenous students, especially the females, to emulate and look to as an example to follow.
He said she was proud of her indigenousness and articulated her language with total competence, readily sharing her folklore and aspects of her culture with anyone who was interested.
Touching on another side of her character, which was the sporting aspect of her personality, Norton said the late Minister was a champion power lifter and has been so for many long years.
Alliance for Change (AFC) MP, Ms. Sheila Holder joined in tendering heartfelt sympathy to Fox’s children, relatives, friends and colleagues and conceded that she was an exemplary personality.
“However, Mr. Speaker, on occasions like these, when we meet to pay tribute to a distinguished colleague, the purpose, I believe, is intended not only to provide solace to grieving relatives and friends and colleagues but also, in some ways, for our own conso
lation,” she stated.
Holder agreed the suddenness and circumstances of Fox’s passing ought to serve as a wake up call to those left behind, particularly in the National Assembly.
“That wake up call should see us, the elected representatives of the people, more willing to deal with the people’s business truthfully, honourably and faithfully, in the execution of the office of MP as we all subscribed to in taking the oath of office,” she stated.
Born on January 2, 1956, to Gibson and Anita Caesar, at Waramadong, in Upper Mazaruni, Desrey Clementine Caesar-Fox was the eldest of seven children.
She attended Waramadong Primary School and Campbellville Government School and then, briefly, Georgetown Seventh-Day Adventist Academy.
She was awarded a nursing scholarship in 1973 and was trained as  a midwife at the GPH School of Nursing.
In 1977, she joined the University of Guyana (UG) as a junior researcher attached to a special programme referred to as the Amerindian Languages Project.
She continued serving within until it evolved into the present Amerindian Research Unit.
Minister Fox secured a Master of Arts degree in Environmental Anthropology from the University of Kent, Canterbury, in the United Kingdom in 1997; then a PhD in Linguistics from Rice University, Houston, Texas, in the United States in 2003 and a Master of Arts in Linguistics at the same university that very year.
She also secured a Bachelor of Science degree from UG and was an Associate Researcher at the University of Oregon, in the U.S., too; Coordinator of Amerindian Research Unit, UG; Curator of the Walther Roth Museum of Anthropology; lectured in Linguistics and Amerindian Studies at UG and taught special courses at the Universities of Oregon and Rice.
Fox was the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships and has written several scholarly essays in fields of anthropology, sociology and linguistics with a bias towards Indigenous Cultures in Guyana and the wider Caribbean.