Port Mourant -- microcosm of Guyana

Was shocked to discover this weekend about the near collapse of  the 'neighbourhood'.
The well-know family chatting to me until 8pm were a bit fearful when two young men in bicycles passed in the darkened street. I then noticed how I was unable to see the parallel street and that I hadn't noticed lack of street-lightening before-- probably because other families would be up with their lights on... now as with the rest of Guyana.. many have left and with the extension of new housing areas, new people have moved into the area, without any community coordination.
The traditional urban lack of involvement seems to have extended to the rural areas and people are developing a 'living under siege' mentality.

Groups of youths are waylaying those unfortunate to have to return home from late work shifts.. even the men are fearful.  An inequality among the working class seems to have arisen... those struggling to make ends meet and the rest preying on those who do. The woman next door, met up back with the man who she bred her second set of children with - now a drug dealer, who is supplying her with drugs to sell on to the local dealers while her teen daughters are allegedly well on their way to going the way of the elder daughter (with the drug supplier) flirting with prostitution, having been pulled out of school at varying times  to do babysitting duties as required by the said feckless 'mother'.

Article 3 of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that 'Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.' Not happening by any stretch of imagination-- this can only lead to an increase in mental health problems ... the fact that half of mental health problems start by adolescence means more troubles ahead in a country that NEEDS the input from its youths.  Berbice already has a ridiculously high suicide rate .. figures sadly not readily available... I mean these should be published yearly and made public by Region -- one always gets an impression of a cover-up or that the folks in Georgetown responsible for statistics are dimly aware of what's happening in the Regions-- but in country of less that 1 million people, I feel that would have to be deliberate ignorance!
Sadly any change of Government would not result in any improvement as I gloomily forsee just a changing of pigs at the trough.

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

An elegant read which joins the two others about penniless American writers in Paris, this one set in the 1950s.  http://gtobserver.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-big-sea.html
http://gtobserver.blogspot.com/2011/12/moveable-feast-by-ernest-hemingway.html

I thought the writer captured tastefully well the ambivalence of the protagonist about his emerging homosexuality.  I always find American books rather strange in that they are deeply self-involved, one never gets to see Americans in the context of their families and friends-- it's always the 'lone-wolf' against the World.  The immediate exception that comes to mind is 'To Kill A Mockingbird' - where the story situates the children, father and  town in the wider society.
So in this one, we never really get an idea of how the protagonist developed after the death of his mother at 5yrs-- I rather got the impression he raised himself and then after having a sexual experience with his 'bestie' he shuns him and even bullies him... maybe accounting for the 'low-down' Caribbean men who are aggressively macho but then there is an apparently thriving trade in male prostitution.
 The real puzzle for me was Giovanni who came from, it seems, a solid working-class background and was married but abandoned everything when his child was stillborn, to arrive and seek his fortune in Paris... although considerable younger than the American I couldn't figure out how Giovanni was immediately comfortable in his homosexuality-- he sounded like the 'male' character in the coupling with the American and hence his humiliation when circumstances forced him to turn to prostitution and presumably act the 'female' of the older homosexuals who preyed on him. It was not so much about the sex as about power.

I was fascinated by the instant attraction of the two men, Giovanni comfortable and the American not.. though in the anonymity of Paris I would have imagined he should have been-- but he seemed to be in denial of himself. By the time the American acknowledged that he loved the Italian, tragic events had unfolded and I felt a bit of contempt for his cowardice. For me the book was about inequality and lost opportunities.  There are some sage observations about the lot of women but at least to give Hella credit.. she cut her losses and ran.

A Morning in the Office by Edgar Mittenholzer

Read this book for the first time about 30yrs ago (frightening how time flies by!) and was so taken with it-- I kept renewing it for over a year...and seriously fought with my conscience about returning it (after not finding it in the bookstores)! So was quite thrilled to see a republished version in the only bookshop in Guyana.
Not quite as I remembered it though. The writer uses the events of one morning to illustrate the different dispositions, interactions and aspirations of the different classes, sexes and races of the people working in a 1950s Trinidadian office. What a sentence!
Call me elitist but sadly the most repressed, reprehensible and least-likely-for-leadership characters seem to be dead-ringers for some leaders, past and present, in the Caribbean: Benson, who's on the 'take', Jagabir who's uncertain of his position and resorts to underhand snooping and scheming and Xavier the working-class pure Negro who develops a chip on his shoulder. Very insightful writer..shame the politicians didn't read this before they dragged us all down into the mess they created. Writer is Guyanese in the time when Guyana led the Caribbean in literacy and promise.

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

An unusual choice for the Bookclub, reflecting perhaps new members’ tastes which makes the Bookclub so interesting! This book won the Hugo and Nebula sci-fi awards.

Conceptualised in 1977, like all good science fiction, there are some eerily true predictors of the future—the complete lack of privacy and manipulation by shadowy figures who are able to surmise one’s thoughts and action—foretelling  the massive ‘spying’ online. In the introduction the writer states that his book is different in that most literature contain shades of previous books, implying that his was unique. The immediate thought about Ender in Battle School was that of Lord of the Flies – groups of boys vying for power—except here Ender is the hero and inflicts pain while suffering mentally.

I was a slightly appalled at the obvious relishment of violence, and thought this is definitely a Boy’s Own book.. my nine year old nephew might like the idea of a 6yr old battling it out against all odds but I quailed at the making of a perfect fighting machine—destroying all close human contact and suffering psychological damage.. the idea of the school’s principal to teach the child that in a battle with the ‘other’ there is no one to rescue him (and the rest of the World who depends his victories).

Concurrently in the story, his older siblings also as talented…one obsessed with power and the other too ‘soft’ and full of empathy are using the World’s connected information system to instigate trouble between the peace-pact holding Nations in order for their country to assume superiority. Weirdly, I keep getting emails from somewhere about World politics and have no idea when/if I signed for it!

Then it got a bit Star War-sy and I started skimming through bored not having the patience to revel in the nitty-gritty and a bit guilty my assignment was put on hold. Mercifully the end was near.


Not sure about copyright but here are some poignant pictures from this link: http://www.newslinq.com/beauty-and-horror-of-human-life/#.VMOO8LjaRDk.facebook

"The Israel-Palestine conflict has been an ongoing dispute for a couple of decades. Two groups of people share the same land, but have different beliefs. This is what a typical childhood looks like for most Palestinian kids. They are forced to grow up fast in an impoverished and violent environment."

Add caption

"It’s been over 3 years since Syria engulfed in a bloody civil war. Rebel forces are still fighting to overthrow president Bashar al-Assad. These rebels use children as means to transport guns and supplies. Most were robbed of their childhood by this conflict. They have to join the rebels and do what ever is asked of them."

No lessons learnt

So everyone and his wife seem to think it would be easy to run a country based on the way the country is being/has been run-- nepotism and elitism since post-Colonial days apart from the Jagans who are guilty about not stamping out incompetence which escalated to their Party turning Animal Farm-like into their Opposition - to which I say... ya have to work with what ya got...

One would think that the Country having had independence relatively late, would sit back, study and decide on a strategy and move ahead (Jagan attempted the National Development Strategy in 1996)..regardless who was in Power...but no. So based on the Winging It By The Seat Of Your Pants mentality we lurch from one whim to another-- I felt I was again in the Twilight Zone when I saw this very revealing picture from SN about the Ministry of Health's (yet again) shot in the dark scheme for exercise in school [note to the wise-- when building those concrete blocks, incorporate a nearby space for a playing field and stick in a Games Session thrice a week or more!]. From my quick skim-- it appears some selected schools as going to incorporate a skipping program (why not all?) - and they have a Corporate sponsor-- naturally promoting its products as in the picture-- totally undoing whatever good limited exercise would do-- sort of like a Tobacco company sponsoring a heart-check up!

Picture taken from toady's edition of Stabroek News

Yup skipping program proudly sponsored by High Fructose Syrup-- ya'll learning dem good!

PS... stand corrected-- this brainwave an initiative of the Ministry of Education -- thanks to an article pointing out my rant a week after this post--- mmm perhaps someone IS reading it?

Only in Guyana!

As the half-century mark fast approaches, an unusual phenomenon has occurred whereby everyone appears less intelligent (I diagnose-- big fish in small pond syndrome). Clearly this is not so as they are all driving by in bigger, newer vehicles; splurging money like no tomorrow on the important things in life like over-priced niteclubs (as opposed to the correctly spelt nightclub) and imported overpriced and overhyped consumer goods while complaining that a U$5 doctor's fee is unaffordable; hair and nails 'done'...or maybe just the movers and shakers who everyone wants to emulate?
So with the rise of 'new money' come the responsibilities Guyanese seem unprepared for... I didn't know whether to laugh or cry on reading in today's newspapers that the 40-something yr old second-wife who was investigated for a hired 'hit' on her 60-something yr old husband but not charged last year was fearful for her life and making plans to emigrate. She apparently asked her daughter who now resides in the US to come back to keep her company. A few days ago she was shot in cold blood in front of the said daughter- today I read that the children are flying the dead body to the US for burial because they are fearful for their safety. It is mind-boggling because usually it is the other way around- someone goes for treatment overseas and is flown back to be buried and give closure to friends and family.

Thank you Germany

Attended a public meeting about the new Protected area in North Rupununi  consisting of 2.8% of Guyana's Landed areas - the Kanaku Mountain Protected Area. This is the third such project - Shell Beach and Kaieteur Falls being the other two-- Iworkama being an entirely separate project. 

So apparently Germany has been quietly financing for years and from what was reported-- supporting (financially) guidelines about community participation-- even this meeting was as mandated in the plan of Action... of course-- it was mainly the converted who turned up... and me! I was a bit  amused that there was only one stakeholder-- a representative from Yukupari -- one of the 21 villages around the protected area-- though one can argue that us Coastlanders are also stakeholders.  Of course, the ministry's representative pipped up that there was a 1 billion (Gy) dollar trust fund sent up from mining revenues that hopefully would generate some financial support-- at an interest rate of 3-4% it seems unlikely to be enough as this year's capital costs exceeded 3 million and next year's was slated to be in excess of 26 million -- not counting recurring costs: like my little business-- the major expense was going towards salaries. Maybe they should apply for Norwegian funds- at least the Norwegians might be happier to know the Germans are overseeing where their money is going?
PS.. the wonder of technology and transparency here's the proposal:
  http://www.nre.gov.gy/PDF/KMPA_Management_Plan
/Complete%20KMPA%20Management_Plan%20FinalDraft%20Dec23.pdf

Now here's a beautiful picture of Eagle Mountain on the left-- going up the Potaro towards Kaieteur

The teenaged Amerindian guide ( a few years back) told us that a Canadian mining company had applied to dynamite it!
So regarding Chinese Forestry deals-- I would like the process to be as transparent so 'we' can all know what exactly the country gets from these deals and decide whether we want it or not-- not be rewarded with some Minister or the other have a house being built for them!