Dear Editor,
Guyanese are making enormous contributions to the many places where they are settled. I have met Guyanese in virtually every country I visited. They are hard-working and productive. And as is the tradition in Guyana, they are gracious hosts retaining the traits of kindness and warm feelings they inherited in Guyana and exhibiting them in distant places.
The limitations of Guyana to transform itself into a prosperous nation have forced many to migrate in search of better fortunes. Hence, their presence in so many other countries in the farthest corners of the globe. Guyana could do with their skills to help achieve her development goals and as such an effort should be made to seek their assistance in those objectives.
The presence of Guyanese overseas has both its positive and negative attributes. The migration of skilled Guyanese is bad in that the country is being robbed of talent and expertise that can help to transform it into a developed society. But their presence elsewhere is good in that their talent is not being wasted given the limitation of Guyanese society. They earn money which is repatriated back to Guyana to help their brethren.
Also, their talent is being celebrated in other nations; their skills are being used productively to build these nations.
I have travelled extensively throughout the globe and I can’t think of a country where I did not meet Guyanese. I met Guyanese in their homes, at social functions, and in the streets as a tourist or as an interviewer of my survey research.
I recognize Guyanese in other countries from their accent. At times, I learn of the presence of Guyanese from local people who introduce me to them when it is learned I am from Guyana. In my many encounters with Guyanese, they are always excited to meet a fellow Guyanese especially in those locations where you would least expect him or her, such as in the countryside of the Caribbean islands or in Australia or in Singapore or Fiji or Mauritius.
I enjoy writing about the experience of fellow Guyanese. I love my people and it has become a favourite hobby of mine to write on or about Guyanese whether it is ethnographic research or other fieldwork, like surveys. For example, I met a woman, Norma, from Skeldon in Fiji through my friends in the Fiji parliament.
Her family graciously hosted me after meeting them for the first time. She is involved in a lot of charitable activities for poor Fijians and for abused women. Through a guest lecturer at the University of the Pacific, I learned of another Guyanese who was studying at the university.
I also met the grandson of a Guyanese indentured servant. He told me his grandfather had been indentured in British Guiana and when he returned to India he re-indentured to Fiji.
I was informed there was a community in Fiji where Indian indentured labourers from British Guiana had been re-indentured in Fiji. The community is called ‘Little Demerara.’ More recently in Grenada, I met a Guyanese who said she had lived in Fiji for several years, during which time she assisted her husband in business.
A Guyanese woman is settled in Mauritius where she was a nurse trained in England. Her Mauritian family comprises doctors and lawyers whom I spoke with on the phone through the contact of the Mauritian family that hosted me while I was doing survey studies on the island.
In the heart of Sydney, Australia, a woman from East Coast Demerara has settled. I also learned of another Guyanese, trained in England, working as a medical doctor. In Auckland, New Zealand, while a guest of a Fijian, I learned of the presence of visiting Guyanese from England. In Nepal, a Guyanese helped built the country’s hydro-dam.
In Dubai, a Guyanese is providing advice on security matters for the sheikhdom. Imagine, a Guyanese can help other countries with security, but Guyana has not tapped into his talent.
Guyanese are also in Singapore and Malaysia working for private companies. A Guyanese economist is working with the government of Sri Lanka through the UN. A cousin of mine works for the government of Germany in the city of Wiesbaden.
While a guest at a Hall of Fame reception in central Trinidad recently, I met a charming Guyanese from Subryanville. She is not settled in Trinidad but loves the island as much as I do and like me she is worried about the future of her country with all the migration. At a wedding reception in north Trinidad, I met a Guyanese Professor from UWI.
He is concerned about the threat to lives posed by the gang involved in the recent mass killings. And in south Trinidad, a Guyanese engineer supervises road construction. Guyanese are all over the US, Canada, England, and the Caribbean where many are employed as professionals creating wealth in their host societies.
Something needs to be done to keep our skilled people at home so they can put their creative abilities and vast energies to work in transforming our country into developed status.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram