In April 2009, I attended the funeral of my mother-in-law and was very surprised to see a mountain of garbage in the distance while at the burial site in Le Repentir. On enquiring why garbage would be dumped so close to the cemetery I was told it was a temporary site and would be removed to another location shortly. This made absolutely no sense to me; why put it there in the first place to remove it later?
Fast forward to April 2010, one year later. On Sunday, April 10, I visited my mother-in-law’s tomb to have it cleaned and painted. First, I was appalled that the garbage is not only still there but had increased significantly and was now less than two short blocks from where she is buried. Perhaps more importantly, it is also a very short distance from an area currently used for burials.
Secondly, the trench in front of the tomb is filled with plastic bottles, obviously flowing from the dumpsite with nowhere to go but into the trench now blocking the flow of water. What a sight, not mention the smell.
Thirdly the area is in a totally deplorable state. There is no access to the grave/tomb. Last April there was a makeshift bridge of two planks to the tomb. This year the makeshift bridge is gone. We finally gained access to the tomb via a circuitous route. By then I was so disgusted that I entertained thoughts of abandoning the exercise. Indeed, had it not been for the persistence of my good friend and host Mrs Wills, who navigated her way in and around the weeds and over a gutter using a very narrow piece of wood linking two fields, I would have left disgusted and frustrated.
Thanks to her perseverance and encouragement, the kindness of Mikey who painted the tomb and the unbelievable trustworthiness of Kenrick, a young man we met in the cemetery who ended up doing masonry work around the tomb and building a headstone (without asking for an advance), the project was completed much to my satisfaction and my husband’s appreciation.
Finally, I hope those politicians who authorized the use of this site as well as those responsible for maintenance of the cemetery would visit the area to see for themselves the deplorable condition of the burial ground. No, I don’t expect North American standards, but certainly Guyana can do better.
This experience has helped me to understand a recent discussion I had with the daughter of a good friend who passed away recently in Washington. Since my friend was from a prominent Guyanese family, on hearing of her death I asked her daughter if they were going to take the body home for burial. The young woman replied, “Aunty June, we have a large family plot at home where Daddy is buried, but it is inaccessible, so we’ll bury her in the US.” This made no sense to me at the time but I can see clearly now and fully understand how this could be so. What a shame!
Yours faithfully,
June Veecock
