Dear Editor,
To watch the process of restoration of anything that is broken seemingly beyond repair is a beautiful thing.
When that broken thing is a country, to have a front row seat as it is slowly and painstakingly rebuilt – one negotiation, one more child who survives beyond the age of five, one less chunk of external debt, one more partial percentage point of GDP, at a time – it evokes a feeling of quiet and cautious jubilation, a stirring of belief that the impossible may indeed be possible.
Many years ago, a very young man became President of a broken country. I paid no attention, cynically thinking that nothing much would change and that he was too young anyhow.
Then I happened upon a photograph of that young man gazing up at the nation’s flag with hand on heart and an expression of profound devotion and dedication on his face.
I started paying attention.
I listened as he set out his vision and proceeded to transform it into reality. As he faced down the power brokers of the world and demanded debt relief for his country. I hate to use clichés but, as he ‘spoke truth to power’ and made the developed world aware that his weak little country mattered, that they had sat on its neck for way too long.
I watched daily as the numbers that were indicators of its economic health start to climb. And climb…
Today, I would like to say to that young man,
“Thank you. Thank you for giving all the best years of your life to my country. Thank you for enduring all the abuse that servants of the public attract and for never letting them distract you from doing your duty. You alone know all the personal sacrifices you had to make to fulfil the promises I know you made as you gazed up at that flag.”
May God bless you, Bharrat Jagdeo, Vice President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.
Happy Birthday.
Faye Elizabeth Alleyne