Dear Editor,
From July, 1996 to June, 2001 I was involved in the chainsaw logging business, operating from Ituni, in the upper Demerara-Berbice area. That period happens to also be the last five years I spent in Guyana, and when I left it was with the understanding that I would be able to garner financing and return to establish a furniture manufacturing factory in the area.
My experiences in the logging business made an impact on the full gamut of my emotions – joy, pain, satisfaction, disappointment and despair. The journey stretched me way beyond what I thought I was capable of, but greatly shaped the way I perceived life and business thereafter. I entered the area, basically unscratched but left a badly wounded man.
When I got there I was very much a novice and fell into pilfering to get by, but during my stint I was able to acquire a State Forest Permission, only to lose it, for a very good reason, to the Ituni Loggers’ Association, when the forestry department decided to give the village a large plot of land to log legally.
In the circumstances I am pleased to say that The Ituni Experience: Trials of a Chainsaw Logger by Forbes Skinner is now a published book that documents that journey. It deals with every aspect of the chainsaw business, be it the mad rush after purpleheart trees, my interaction with chainsaw operators and other workers, the shrewdness of the lumberyard dealers, keeping ahead of the Guyana Forestry Commission confines and restrictions, the horrors of getting financing from banks/lending institutions, the difficulties getting a business partner and of course, living in the rough and rugged village of Ituni.
One significant aspect of that journey was that I was also able to acquire a duty free concession to import certain logging equipment. But it must be noted that even though I took President Jagdeo at his word and followed up on his assertion that investors in the Region 10 area would get duty free concessions, it was still no easy street.
This book took close to two years to write and could now be purchased at lulu.com. No worry for you, Editor. I have already ordered a special copy for Stabroek News that would be delivered within two to three weeks, given that it has to come to me then on to Guyana.
In the end I think I can safely say that Guyanese and West Indians of all walks of life will find this book to be a very interesting read.
Yours faithfully,
F Skinner.