Dear Editor,
I do not know about other African Guyanese but I am totally embarrassed. This has been my disposition ever since I read about ACDA accepting 10 million dollars from the Guyana government. Also, I do not subscribe to the notion and familiar excuse that the money belongs to all taxpayers. That does not cut it. Of course, this is not to say that approaching government is tabooed. As citizens we have the right to interact with our leaders. In this case, it would have been palatable if ACDA had raised $10 million and approached government to match the amount.
Ten million dollars is an equivalent of fifty thousand US dollars. Is there not a single African Guyanese in the diaspora who could write that check and think nothing about it? If I coulda I woulda. But seriously, what’s the answer to the question? We are not motivated about creating wealth, preferring to merely go after education. Well, as I have been clamouring in quite a few of my letters education does not necessarily lead to immense capital. And there lies the root of this embarrassment.
For its part ACDA has failed me again. On many counts I have to disagree with their thrust. Did they actively engage African Guyanese in the diaspora to get us to finance their activities? What is the focus of the school? While there is a need to assist persons who are too poor to get basic education our societal problem is not maths and science. What is lacking is our knowledge of commerce and entrepreneurism.
Africans hit the timber and mining industries first, yet we were unable to capitalize on those opportunities. Also, have the founders of ACDA closed the door to funding and association with the US African Muslim organization that helped to initiate this organization in Guyana?
ACDA may have a comeback to all these questions. A lot of us talk the good talk but if and when we are asked to put our money – even a paltry twenty – where our mouths are we begin to fabricate a multitude of excuses about who cannot be trusted and who are thieves. It has got to stop. How about one hundred US per person per year to help ACDA and the Critchlow Labour College fund their activities. So let’s get moving.
Yours faithfully,
F Skinner