Pepperpot 26 01 14

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Chronicle Pepperpot January 26, 2014

Whispers of a Ghost

By Maureen Rampertab IT was a moonlit night, and the land and the rivers were bathed in the golden brilliance of a full moon, creating serenity like a soft blanket over the sleeping village. From the shelter of the woods, a lone figure stepped out and stood silently watching.

A young woman -- not native - with long reddish brown hair, a stranger in the dead of night, seemingly not an earthly being, but a vision, unreal. The sad, confused look in her eyes though, told a story of a lost soul, wandering, not knowing where she was, not sure what had happened to her. “If only someone could see me, talk to me,” she had wondered as she searched for answers, but no one could see her or hear her, not until yesterday.

“A lone figure stepped out and stood silently watching”

She had been sitting by the stream, lost in her distressed thoughts

when she had seen the small party of hunters coming her way. She had stood up and waited, hoping for some form of recognition, but no-one recognized her; the men passed her like she was thin air, except one of the young men, in whose eyes she thought she had seen something as he walked by. But he had said nothing, and she felt her hopes washing away like the dry leaves down the stream, when he turned and looked back at her as though not believing what he was seeing. That was the little clue she wanted, and she had followed the party, keeping in the shadows, until they reached the village, waiting in the woods until all was quiet. Now she made her way to his hut, where he was sleeping peacefully, one arm crossed over his chest, his dark hair tussled in sleep.

She looked at his sleeping face for a long moment, his features not native or European, but something of both, then she touched him gingerly, but he did not stir. She pulled his hair, but it was like clutching thin air. He was in deep, sleep, unaware of her presence, until she whispered in his ear.

He stirred and opened his eyes, and sat up when he saw her, not afraid, as though he was expecting her.“So, you’re real; I wasn’t imaging things.”“You can see me and hear me?”“Yes, only I’m not sure how or why.”“Oh, gosh, this is such a relief,” she sighed, and sat on the lone chair in his room.“Why are you here?” he asked.“I don’t know where I am, how I got here and why no-one can see me or hear me. It’s like I’m in another world.”

He looked at her for a long moment, and then smiled a little, understanding her dilemma. “You’re a lost soul, and you have to find your way to the light.”“What are you saying?” she looked at him perplexed.He did not answer, but the look in his eyes told her what he was thinking, and she shook her head in denial, “No, no, I’m not dead, I’m here somewhere, but I don’t know.”“Okay, okay,” he said calmly, not wanting her to become distraught. “Can you remember who you are?”“No,” she shook her head helplessly.

“Anything at all?” he urged her.She closed her eyes for a while, and then she jumped up as something flashed in her memory. “The plane, the screams, the crash…” her voice trailed off and her vision started to fade.“No, no,” he said hurriedly, “Don’t go, I’ll help you.”

But she was gone and he was left standing, puzzled. He lay awake wondering about this young woman whose ghost only he could see, who would not believe she was dead, and who looked so distressed and confused... His eyes closed in sleep.

After a very long time, a whisper once more awoke him. She was standing by his bedside, looking even more distressed. He sat up immediately,“Where did you go?”She shook her head and sat down in the chair, burying her head in her hands for a long while. He said nothing, just waited patiently until she had composed herself, and she finally said, “I know where I am, where my body is, and I don’t have much time.”“I don’t understand,” he said.She sighed deeply, still not fully composed, “I must have fallen out when the plane crashed, and my body washed down the stream and it’s now stuck near the bank on some bushes.”

“How do you know that? No! No! Wait,” he stopped her before she could answer, somehow understanding this strange tale. “You were talking to me, then suddenly you disappeared, that’s because you regained consciousness. Now you’re here again because you’ve slipped back into a coma.” She nodded, relieved that he understood, but the deep distressed look was still in her eyes. “I don’t think I’ll make it.”

He stood up and stretched out his hand for hers, a confident look on his face, “Don’t say that, I will find a way to you and find a way to get you out.”She took hold of his hand, and surprisingly she felt his touch, and not thin air.

The journey through the jungle was not easy for anyone, but his amazing strength and knowledge helped him make good time through the treacherous, dangerous, forbidding areas she had passed as her spirit moved to and from her body. On the afternoon of the next day, as he sat to rest, the hours drawing close to twilight, he looked at her closely. A young woman with so much to live for, her dreams hanging on a thread as her life teetered on a threshold. His heart warmed to her, thankful that she had found him. Throughout the journey, she had spoken of her life, her work, her ambition as an environmentalist, and it was that work that had brought her to the rainforests of South America when the plane crashed almost three days ago. He felt sadness in his heart for her, knowing her body was lying somewhere and he may find it too late. Even as the thought crossed his mind, her vision started to fade, meaning she was coming back out of the coma and the pleading look in her eyes before she disappeared made him forget the rest his body so needed. He chopped his way through thick, stubborn shrubs and emerged on the scene of a horrific plane crash. The mangled craft, broken and scattered, lay on the jungle floor with no survivors. He looked around almost in desperation, but she was nowhere; and following the sound of a rushing stream she had spoken about, he found her body, half in, half out of the water. He lifted her gently out of the water and laid her on a bed of fallen leaves.She was breathing slowly, there wasn’t much time.

He looked around, thinking hard, knowing walking back through the jungle with her would be too difficult and too much time would be lost. The only way out he saw was the stream, and he wasted no time, working deftly to build a raft and placing her on it. He navigated it skillfully down the meandering stream, hoping and praying to reach a mining camp. Prayers do bring miracles. That he believed when he saw, after the fourth bend, a mining camp. There was no doctor, but her injuries were treated as an emergency call was sent out on the radio. He was tired to the bone, but he stayed up all night, watching her, talking to her, making sure she was warm and alive until the medic plane arrived in the morning. He watched the plane leave, a deep feeling of satisfaction in his heart, for he had found her just in time to save her life. How he could have seen her and spoken to her in her visionary form was still a mystery to him, but hadn’t it been for that special gift, she would have laid there and died.

The couple of days he spent with her, he discovered as he watched the plane leave, was something special. Not a day or night passed without him wondering if he would see her again.

Two months later, one late afternoon as he entered his hut, he saw her sitting, waiting, this time not as a ghost, but in flesh and blood. She had travelled all day by land just to see him, to thank him in person. “Your belief and your strength saved my life. I can never forget you.”

He smiled, a somewhat charming smile, and she noticed, now that her mind was relaxed, his rugged handsomeness and lean body.

“Can you stay a while?” he asked, “So I can show you the beauty of this place that’s my home.”

She spent two days at the guest house, two days enjoying the scenic beauty of the interior and his company, before leaving, to return again one day soon.

Children’s Costume Parade set for Feb. 15

By Rebecca Ganesh_Ally

THE Ministry of Education became responsible for the Children’s Mashramani activities in February 1992, when the Unit of Allied Arts became tasked with implementing programmes to showcase the talents of the children in Guyana. They are the center for coordination and integration of the ex-

Children’s Costume Parade

Children at the National Cultural Centre See page XI

Chronicle Pepperpot January 26, 2014

III

By Petamber Persaud

Seymour Birth Centenary activities Part 4 Seymour read ‘For my father’: ‘I was a boy’ and ‘I heard the rooster Call’; while De Weever, who was a regular feature at the Seymour home, read ‘To the Family House Awaiting Repair’, ‘Elma in August’ and ‘Quiet’….

Here are excerpts from the performances: For my Father Often the urge comes that I speak with you...How to open to new ideas was your cathedral//And wander thro’ the broad streets of your spirit…. My need is/That I touch your spirit below the words you knew/From Darwin and from Thomas Henry Hixley/ Your memories of long poems from Scott/And from Longfellow.

Elma in August Everything speaks of you, the chair, the table…The cat’s caressing tail…your fancied breathing…the phone rings…quiet peace…Everything spells out how the world is wide/And yet I know that you are very near.

‘SEE More Poetry’ was staged under the auspices of the National Library of Guyana at the Theatre Guild on Sunday, January 12, 2014, to mark the birth centenary of A.J. Seymour, who was born on January 12, 1914 in Georgetown, Guyana.

This is not the first occasion that the library has undertaken the responsibility of celebrating the literature of Guyana by honouring literary luminaries who have contributed, or are still contributing, to the shaping and development of Guyanese Literature.

‘See More Poetry’ was an ambitious project guided to fruition by many authoritative and able hands in events coordination, theatrical arts and the literary arts. The list is long, but a few names are worthy of mention, including that of Francis Quamina Farrier, the main coordinator, and those who made seminal contributions, like Dr Ian McDonald, Vanda Radzik and Ron Robinson, among others working alongside the resolute staff of the library.

‘See More Poetry’ was exciting evocation of Seymour’s poetry in song, dance and recitation. As a fitting prelude to the evening’s event, a slide show was shown, paying tribute to a fallen chief -- Chief Librarian Gillian Thompson, who died on Christmas Eve 2013; and to A. J. Seymour, who died on Christmas Day twenty-five years ago.

The programme proper opened with a brief sketch of Seymour and the reading of the poem ‘Turn these pages’ by Ian McDonald.

This first act, though solemn, set the stage for the explosion of art to follow.

Turn these pages gently, dear, For in them you see the wistful marriage Of heart’s best blood to brain’s keen accuracy …for in them lie precious things The pages that were turned portrayed the sustained interest in and appreciation of the life and work of Seymour twenty-five years after his passing.

Each poem was important to the show, but those performed by family members Joan Seymour and Jacqueline de Weever were re-energised with an emotive portrayal that connected with the audience.

Quiet The skins of the dead are drums/The bones of the dead are flutes/The hair of the dead/String violins/In the quiet orchestra of death/Playing/The dirge of sacrifice.

And the audience, a full house at Theatre Guild, did not want to let go of the moment, staying back long afterwards to interact and exchange thoughts on the experience. And what a splendid experience it was, especially the closing act, where ‘Tomorrow Belongs to the People’, performed by the daughter of the poet, Joan Seymour, repeated a profound and far-reaching message that’s worth reiteration here.

Tomorrow They will make a hammer to smash the slums

And build the schools.

Like a river, the people hold history in their hands And tomorrow belongs to them.

‘See More Poetry’ was the first in a series of activities planned by the National Library to mark the occasion. The following day, a plaque was unveiled at Lot 23 North Rd., Bourda – the house where Seymour lived.

On Wednesday, January 15, 2014, Seymour was inducted into the National Library Hall of Fame for the Literary Arts. The Hall of Fame event lent occasion to launch the National Library Distinguished Lecture Series with a talk on Kyk-Over-Al delivered by Dr Jacqueline de Weever, at which time a presentation of reprinted editions of Kyk, produced by The Caribbean Press, was made to de Weever.

(Earlier in the week a package of the reprints was handed over to Joan Seymour by the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr Frank Anthony.)

Responses to this author telephone (592) 226-0065 or email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com

WHAT’S HAPPENING * ‘An Introduction to Guyanese Literature’ is now available from the author at the above contacts, Austin’s Book Service (telephone # 226-7350) and at the National Library (telephone #226-2690).

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Chronicle Pepperpot January 26, 2014

The Guyana Classics Series (Part 1)

INTRODUCTION to Denis Williams, GIGLIOLI IN GUYANA 1922-1972 (Caribbean Press Guyana Classics Library)

Denis Williams

Clem Seecharran

George Giglioli

By Professor Clem Seecharan GEORGE Giglioli was an Italian, born in Naples. His father was Director of the Faculty of Agriculture and Professor of Agricultural Chemistry at the Royal University of Pisa; that was where Giglioli graduated from in 1921 as a Doctor of Medicine. In 1922 he obtained a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from London, and in 1925 a Diploma in Dermatology and Venereology from Paris. In 1932 he got a Diploma of the Superior School of Malariology; while, in 1933, he was admitted to membership of the Royal College of Physicians, London, as well as becoming honorary lecturer in Tropical Pathology at his alma mater the Royal University of Pisa. However, it is his phenomenal achievement in British Guiana, which will endure in the annals of tropical medicine.

In May 1966, on the occasion of Guyana’s independence, the Guyana Graphic attributed the eradication of the dreaded malarial disease almost exclusively to Dr. George Giglioli. They observed: The era of Guyana’s growing pains is pock-marked with incidents, none the least significant of which has been the battle against the scourge of malaria. And in this battle, one man’s name stands out boldly — Dr. George Giglioli, famed malariologist, whose dedicated service in the cause of ridding Guyana of this dreaded scourge is a story of single-minded purpose and unflagging determination. In the course of this battle, he has helped Guyana’s transformation from one of the world’s foremost fever-ravaged countries to the place where the death-dealing disease was first checked, then beaten back until, today, victory over malaria has become one of the glorious achievements in the history of Guyana’s progress against disease and death. Today Guyana can boast of freedom from malaria, a freedom won largely through the unrelenting campaign of Dr. Giglioli.’

The Graphic’s designation of the malarial experience as a ‘scourge’ was no exaggeration. In 1943-44, the percentage of schoolchildren with enlarged spleens was astounding. Malaria had had such a devastating effect on population growth that between the 1931 and 1946 censuses, while the drier, malaria-free Corentyne Coast recorded a population increase of 384 per 1,000 and the partially malaria-free West Coast Berbice 249 per thousand,

it was a paltry 87 per thousand on East Coast Demerara, and 113 on the East and West Bank Demerara. On the Essequibo Coast the population actually declined by 142 per 1,000. This translates to a meagre natural increment of 36 per 1,000 between 1921 and 1931, and 186 per 1,000 between 1932 and 1946. With the virtual eradication of malaria, by 1950, the natural increment overnight was a comparatively prolific 192 per 1,000.

On the sugar plantations, in a population of about 75,000, hospital admissions during the malaria epidemic of 1938 was over 13,000, with 240 deaths directly attributable to the disease.

In 1944, over 10,000 cases were admitted to estate hospitals; 200 died. With the eradication campaign launched after 1945, less than 800 were admitted in 1948, with under 30 deaths; by 1950 under 200 cases were admitted to estate hospitals, with less than 10 deaths.

Yet, as late as 1939, the Director of Medical Services of British Guiana argued that malaria was so endemic to the colony that it was futile to contemplate its eradication. It was axiomatic that the ‘scourge which stifled the imagination, nullified effort, and killed was a ‘Sisyphean’ task: ‘elimination is an utter impossibility’.

Since the late 1920s, Dr. Giglioli’s passion for researching the causes of malaria in British Guiana had led him to isolate the Anopheles dartingi as the sole vector. Moreover, he was well on his way to identifying the sources of its vulnerability, its potential for self-destruction. In June 1939, a Malaria Research Unit, headed by Dr. Giglioli was established with support from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Sugar Producers’ Association and the government. This extraordinary man was on the verge of possibly the most significant achievement in the social history of Guyana.

For 10 years, 1922 to 1932, Giglioli was Chief Medical Officer at Mackenzie, Upper Demerara River. His major contribution, in malariology was still to be established.

In 1933 Giglioli joined Plantation Blairmont as medical advisor. This estate, at the mouth of the Berbice River, had a fairly high rate of malarial infection; but under its progressive head, Sir Edward Dayson, and its imaginative manager, Guy Eccles, Blairmont had become a reforming estate, already living to sweeten the bitter legacy of sugar.

It was Blairmont’s susceptibility to malaria which had led to the inspired appointment of Giglioli as their medical adviser. He had already done useful research on the Upper Demerara River in the 1920s; this was published as a book in 1930, Malarial Nephritis, which won the Dayson Centenary Gold Medal in 1932, the year before he joined Dayson at Blairmont.

Giglioli’s excellent research at Blairmont, between 1933 and 1937, was pursued with equal vigour at Booker, which he joined as Estate Medical Officer in the latter year. In 1939, he was seconded to the Government as Director of the Malaria Research Unit. By then he had published several groundbreaking essays on Anopheles darlingi, and had identified its cardinal behavioural patterns, its feeding and resting routines. By the late 1930s, the colonial inertia on malaria was lifting. Workers’ militancy after 1934-35 and the low productivity of workers with chronic malaria were eroding the complacency, along with other factors.

In 1942 Giglioli was named Honorary Government Malariologist and in 1945 he became Medical Adviser to the S.P.A., a post he held until his death. Indeed, Giglioli’s research into A. darlingi, establishing that it was the sole vector of malarial infection in British Guiana, the assessment of its breeding habits and the astounding eradication of the dreaded disease in the colony between 1946 and 1948, constitute an epic in tropical medicine. It was an achievement with revolutionary potential economically, socially and politically, at the end of the 1940s.

Between 1922 and 1932, when he was the Chief Medical Officer of the Demerara Bauxite Co. at Mackenzie, Upper Demerara River, he established that A.darlingi could not survive in the excessively acidic brown water of the Demerara River and the surrounding forest creeks and swamps. When, however, this water was contaminated by the bauxite washing process, leading to precipitation of the brown organic matter the water carried in suspension, thus reducing its acidity, A.darlingi was able to breed. This was the start of his journey on the tortuous road to its demise. Between 1933 and 1937, on the Dayson’s Estates on the Berbice estuary — Blairmont (West Bank) , Bath (West Coast) and Providence (East Bank) — Giglioli advanced his work, limiting the breeding and distribution of the anopheles to the pivotal question of water reaction. This was the environment which enabled him to isolate A.dalingi as the sole vector of the disease, rampant on most of the coastland of British Guiana.

In 1938-39 those findings were published locally in four articles. He arrived at four principal conclusions: (i) that A.darlingi was the only carrier of malaria of importance in British Guiana; (ii) that it ‘breeds selectively in large bodies of water which are clear and slightly acid or neutral in reaction; it does not breed in waters with a marked acid reaction’; (iii) A.darlingi does not breed in water of high salinity or brackish water, very common on the Corentyne Coast, in Berbice; (iv) originally a forest mosquito, it likes a humid climate; it does not survive on the Turn to page X

Chronicle Pepperpot January 26, 2014

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Dr Heather Morris-Wilson a people person

o tors wh eed doc lain to n ) k ic s e xp the “They ( nd them and ation. So ic sta d r e e m d n ir u people e the ca n w to us love for sick uated o h m e d th ped this d I gra I develo love grew an t a and th I am now” -Wilson e and her Heather Morris -Dr

Dr.Heather Morris-Wilson

By Telesha Ramnarine

H

EATHER Morris-Wilson, well-known as Dr Morris, is a beautiful young doctor who has a genuine interest in sick people, and who believes in not only prescribing medication, but in taking the time to explain what they are about, and how to use them.

And how we value and need doctors like her! In fact, it was when she started to interact with the ‘human element’ at medical

Heather with her husband Batukhan

school in Cuba that she realised how many people are sick and need access to “knowledgeable” doctors.

“They (the sick) need doctors who can understand them and explain to them how to use their medication. So I developed this love for sick people, and that love grew, and I graduated, and here I am now,” she said in an interview with the Guyana Chronicle this week.

Miss Wilson, 32, is a general medical practitioner, but holds the office of Director of the Ministry of Health’s Leprosy Programme, based in the Palms Geriatric Home compound, the location from which we conducted this interview.

She grew up at Melanie Damishana on the East Coast Demerara, and has done pretty well academically throughout her life so far. Though being a general medical practitioner, her interest leans more towards dermatology. In fact, the field that she is especially fond of is cosmetic/surgical dermatology.

Heather attended the May 26th Nursery School, then the Paradise Primary. She then gained entrance to St. Stanislaus College in 1991, where she wrote the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) Exams and came off as the best graduating student.

She pursued her ‘A’ Levels at Queens College in 1997, after which she entered the world of work, beginning at Demerara Bank Limited. She completed a two-year stint at the bank before moving on to study in Cuba, where she obtained a medical degree.

Growing up, Heather did not settle on what it was that she really wanted to become. She had in mind becoming a pianist, then a dancer, then a marine dermatologist, then a pianist, then a lawyer. But she eventually ended up going to study medicine in Cuba only because the opportunity presented itself.

“The opportunity presented itself to go to Cuba, and I told myself I can do it because I love humanity and I would like to help people. But it wasn’t something that I always wanted to get involved with. I just fell in, and when I reached to medical school, I realised that it was nice and I was enjoying it,” she explained.

Heather left for Cuba in 2001 and returned to Guyana in 2008.

Her internship here in 2009 saw her working in various health centres across the country. She was on a contract with the Ministry of Health, and hence went to work wherever she was sent.

She then started to volunteer at the Leprosy Clinic in 2011, but was officially confirmed in her position the following year. Dr Alexander was someone she met at the Leprosy Clinic; someone who was very instrumental in aiding her along. She retired in 2012 and asked Heather if she wanted to continue there.

Heather felt like it was a dream come true and accepted. “I realised this is the main branch-the Leprosy Clinic. All the drugs are here at this central point, and I became more exposed to

With Josiah. leprosy patients. So I gained some experience. I am not a trained dermatologist but I love to work with the skin. I’m learning every day and my love is deepening,” she expressed.

At the Leprosy Clinic, Heather praised the nurses with whom she works. She said they are very committed and have been on board for many years, and hence would even teach her things from time to time.

A People Person “The main thing about me is I am approachable and I am an understanding person. I always want to have a smile on my face because I have realised that a happy countenance is also a good thing for your health,” Heather remarked while describing her personality.

Because she knows her patients are already weighed down with problems when they go to see her, Heather believes being a positive and happy spirit on her part can help them to open up more. If you are a cold, stern doctor, then how would the patient feel comfortable opening up? And how would the proper diagnosis be made? “So I wish to help others to the best of my ability. You can say I am a people’s person.

“I like helping persons, and I always stress to my patients that tablets are not miracle drugs. You have to be positive. You have to change your lifestyle. You have to get rid of your bad habits.

You must exercise. You have to have a stress-free personality as much as possible.

“When I am like this, my patients open up more to me, and I get more successes from my treatment,” said Heather.

Furthermore, the spiritual values imparted to her at a young age by her parents made her realise that she needs to show love and empathy to her fellowman.

Asked what advice she would give to anyone contemplating entering her field, she responded: “You have to understand that persons are not objects. You have to be disciplined, and always realise that being a doctor means that you have to give these persons a good service. You are in the public’s eye, and the public needs you to help them, so you have to be approachable and understanding.”

Heather is married to fellow medical doctor Batukhan Wilson, and together they have a young son, Josiah.

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Chronicle Pepperpot January 26, 2014

(A look at some of the stories that made the news ‘back-in-the-day’ with CLIFFORD STANLEY)

SHRINKING HOSTS

The Daily Chronicle April 2,1938)

By Pugagee Pungcuss

“When Ah ‘Memba Ol’ Time Story Watah come in me yeye.”

In the bad old days when folks could proceed no further along the East Coast by train than Mahaica, passengers bound for Mahaicony and beyond found it convenient to drop in at Springhall for a “si” down and a mouthful of food with Mr. J.B.W.Clementson, the proprietor of the estate, there being a mahogany avenue leading from the house and joining the public road at a point immediately opposite the railway terminus.

When lean years came, and “Old Man” as Mr. Clementson was called, could no longer afford to figure so extensively in the role of host, a barricade was erected at the road-end of the avenue.

It was a drastic expedient, and I recall the distress which the decayed sugar-planter manifested, but that it was necessary I knew only too well.

By many travelers that barricade was an ugly thing to contemplate and a gross violation of a once vaunted hospitality.

I knew another East Coast gentleman who portrayed far greater strategy in thinning down the number of unwanted visitors.

The Transport Department in more recent times ran excursion trains on stated afternoons, and our friend, the strategist, was provided with ample opportunity to figure as a generous dispenser of hospitality to scores of excursionists from Georgetown, who must have proved a nuisance, especially as some of them contrived to get left behind and had perforce to be entertained till the departure of the next train.

Behold the tactician mixing energetically with the newly-arrived excursionists on the railway platform, solemnly uplifting his voice to proclaim the fiction that the train would be off again in exactly two-fifths of a minute without fail.

ESTATE MANAGER TELLS OF MIDNIGHT MURDER DISCOVERY

(The Daily Chronicle April 3, 1939) MR. C.H. Palmer (Manager of Plantation La Bonne Intention) who found his house watchman , Soormaly Bacchus ,(63) , dying from terrible wounds and took him to the hospital shortly after twelve o’clock on Friday night, told a “Daily Chronicle” Special Representative yesterday of his terrible experience.

Mr. Palmer, it is stated, was awakened by the sound of a loud noise in the lower flat of the building.

Getting out of bed he went downstairs.

As he was proceeding towards the gallery of the dining-room, he saw Bacchus bleeding profusely from a number of wounds.

Although Mrs. Palmer was alone in the upper storey, Mr. Palmer threw on his mackintosh and assisted Bacchus to the hospital, handing him over to Mr. H. Katchay, the Dispenser.

Mr. Katchay rendered first aid and immediately got in touch with the District G.M.O., Dr. J.E.Ramdeholl.

On Dr. Ramdeholl’s arrival, he examined Bacchus and found him suffering from a number of

FURNITURE SALE

The Daily Chronicle April 2, 1939)

PERCY C. WRIGHT will put up at Public Auction by order of Mrs. Robert Dummett on Monday 3rd April 1939, at 1 o’clock, P.M at her residence Lot 36 Bentinck Street, South Cummingsburg.

All her well-kept household furniture and effects in dining , drawing and bedrooms etc!

TERMS: Cash plus 2% Church and Poor.

SGD: Percy C. Wright Lic’cd Auctioneer, B.G. Mutual Building, Hincks Street

RAILWAY SERVICES: EASTER HOLIDAY ARRANGEMENTS

(The Daily Chronicle April 3, 1939)

THE following changes to the published schedule will take place in the operation of the East Coast railway services during the Easter Holidays.

GOOD FRIDAY 7th April: The 5.15 a.m Omnibus Train from Mahaica to Georgetown; the 12 noon from Georgetown to Mahaica; the 2.10 p.m from Mahaica to Georgetown ; the 6.45 p.m from Georgetown to Mahaica and the Belladrum-Rosignol Omnibus train will not run.

EASTER MONDAY 10th APRIL: An extra train will leave Georgetown at 7. 30 a.m for Buxton and return leaving Buxton at 10.15 a.m for Georgetown.

The 2.10 p.m Omnibus Train from Mahaica will not leave until 4.30p.m.

The 6.45 p.m Omnibus Train from Georgetown will not leave until 7.15 p.m.

GOODS TRAINS: There will be no Goods Trains on any of the holidays.

The Berbice Goods Train will leave Georgetown on Wednesday 5th April instead of Thursday 6th.

Another Berbice Goods Train will leave Georgetown on Tuesday night April 11th.

SGD: A. Mc DOUGALL, General Manager, Transport and Harbours Department 23rd March 1939.

(Clifford Stanley can be reached to discuss any of the foregoing articles at cliffantony@gmail.com or cell phone # 657 2043)

wounds.

One was on the right side of his head, one behind the right ear, another on the left side of his face extending from the edge of his upper lip to the left ear and extending into the cavity of the mouth, one across his chin, one at the back of his left hand, and the first joints of the left second third and fourth fingers, were severed.

Bacchus was admitted shortly before one o’clock on Saturday morning, and about five hours afterwards, he died.

MOTIVE A MYSTERY: Meanwhile, the Police continue their investigations.

A second man:”Budhia” was detained yesterday.

Labourers at L.B.I. seemed unable to suggest a motive for the crime.

They refused to believe it was a robbery because Bacchus was considered to be a good man.

The mystery therefore seems inexplicable.

His wife, who lives on the Estate, said that she never heard him complain recently of threats from anyone.

Some believe, however, that the murderer may have intended to rob the house and had been discovered by the watchman.

A PAN-BOILER: Soormally Bacchus was born at Chateau Margot, and attended the School of St. Mary Ye Virgin. at Beterverwagting, East Coast Demerara.

On leaving school, he became a pan-boiler’s apprentice at Pln. Chateau Margot.

In 1903, he went to Jamaica and found employment in a sugar factory.

He also worked as pan-boiler at L.B.I. At one time, Bacchus was manager of Little Canaan, now Land of Canaan, then owned by Hon. R.E.Brassington.

In 1919, he was appointed he was appointed a Field Driver at L.B.I.,and later accepted a similar position at Vryheid’s Lust.

He underwent an operation in 1936, and in the same year was employed as night watch for Mr. W.H.Wheeler, then at Vryheid’s Lust.

On the departure of Mr. Palmer on leave, Mr. Wheeler was appointed acting Manager of L.B.I, and carried Bacchus with him.

On Mr. Palmer’s return, Bacchus retained his post as night watch for the Manager’s house.

Bacchus is survived by a widow, two daughters, eight sisters , 19 grandchildren and eight great grandchildren

Chronicle Pepperpot January 26, 2014

Plaintiff Llewellyn Singh loses Will case & property in 1992 Judgment went to counter-claim defendant

By George Barclay

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N a 1992 legal battle over a Will relating to the ownership of a huge property at Cummings & Regent Streets, Georgetown, Justice Lennox Perry dismissed the claim after the court had found that the plaintiff, Llewellyn Singh, was supporting a Will that never existed.

Judstice Perry ordered that the Action dealing with the Will, dated 9th November, 1984 and purportedly made

by Lawrence Emanuel Becuni Singh (Deceased) in favour of the plaintiff, be dismissed.

Justice Perry added, “I am satisfied that the Plaintiff has failed to satisfy this court that there ever existed a Will dated the 9th November, 1984.

Accordingly, the Plaintiff’s action is hereby dismissed, and judgment is hereby given in favour of the defendant, Lloyd Samuel Bridgewater, on his counter-claim.

It is ordered that the Will dated 9th of June, 1984, introduced by the defendant as being made by Lawrence Singh (deceased) and in favour of the defendant, be admitted Probate in solemn form as the last Will and testament of the deceased Lawrence Singh.

The plaintiff’s story was that Lawrence Singh made the Will in his favour on November 9, 1984 and died the following month, December 10, 1984.

In his judgment, Justice Perry had said that the Plaintiff sought the following relief from the court: (i) That this Honourable Court decree and pronounce

Probate in Solemn Form of and in favour of the Last Will and Testament of LAWRENCE EMANUEL BECUNI SINGH, deceased, dated 9th November, 1984, the said testator having died on 10 December, 1984, having a fixed place of abode residence and domicile in Guyana. (ii) An injunction against the defendant, restraining him and/or his servants and agents and otherwise from in any manner interfering with or remaining on the assets of the deceased estate of LAWRENCE EMANUEL BECUNI SINGH, deceased. (iii) An appointment of the Plaintiff as receiver of the property and assets of the said deceased estate. (iv) An order for the Defendant as Executor de son tort, having intermeddled in the said estate , to account for all the assets and properties of the said deceased estate. (v) Damages in excess of $1,500 against the defendant. (vi) An injunction restraining the defendant, his servants and agents and otherwise from disposing of, dealing with, or in any manner denuding the estate of its assets. (vii) An order for the Defendant to replace and return to the estate all assets, things and properties disposed of by

him. (viii) An order that the Defendant do vacate and remove from the property of the deceased estate.

Continuing, the judge said that, in his statement of claim, the plaintiff said that the deceased left no other Will than the one of 9th November, 1984.

The defendant, on the other hand, sought to propound a Will purported to have been executed by the said deceased and dated the 9th day of June, 1984.

According to the judge, with respect to the Will dated the 9th day of June, 1984, the plaintiff contended that:(a) The said Will was never signed and/or executed by the deceased. (b) That the Will does not, and never approved the Will of the deceased, and that it goes counter and against all the expressed intention of the deceased, the deceased having died on the 10th day of December, 1984 at his home.

The defendant, the plaintiff said has seized the possessions of the deceased and has them in his possession.

The Defendant, on the other hand, has denied all the allegations contained in the plaintiff’s statement of claim.

It was disclosed by the defendant that, on the 21st day of December, 1979, he purchased the disputed property at Lot 101 Regent and Cummings streets from the deceased. The relevant documents relating to the said sale and purchase by him were duly filed at the Deeds Registry and fees paid on the 6th August, 1980.

Justice Perry said that despite the alleged sale of the property to the defendant, the deceased went on to execute

the alleged Will, dated 9th day of June, 1984, naming the defendant as the sole beneficiary under the said Will.

The deceased also made other dispositions of his personal property to the defendant.

The judge noted that the Will by the plaintiff, dated the 9th November,1984, which the plaintiff said was executed by the deceased on that date in his favour, was never produced in court And the certificate from the Deeds Registry that was tendered showed that no will was registered by the deceased or anyone on his behalf during that period.

According to the judge, when shown the Will dated the 9th June, 1984, that is, the Will alleged to have been executed by the deceased in favour of the defendant, Bridgewater, the plaintiff said that the signature indicated as that of the deceased was not in fact that of the deceased.

After hearing the witnesses for the plaintiff, the judge said

that he formed the distinct impression that they were witnesses of convenience, who had come to support the plaintiff’s case based on what he had told them. He added, “I am satisfied that they never witnessed any Will executed by the deceased, as they started in their evidence. I did not believe them.”

Turning to the case for the defendant, the judge said that the evidence of Attorney-at-Law Jainarayan Singh was very forceful and compelling. He is an attorney of some 40 years’ experience. He said that he knew the deceased Lawrence E.B. Singh. The deceased, he said, consulted him about the making of a Will. At that consultation Mr. Singh said, he made notes of what the testator wanted done, and from those notes he prepared the Will.

At the conclusion of the preparation of the said Will, he gave Singh to read, and he himself read it. He examined the copy to see that the intentions of the testator were clear and carried out. He asked Singh if the Will was correct. He answered in the affirmative.

Singh then signed the said Will in his presence and in the presence of his secretary, who was the other subscribing witness.

Attorney-at-Law Jainarayan Singh also signed as a witness to the said Will, the judge declared.

The judge said he was satisfied that the Will dated the 9th of June, 1984 was properly and duly executed in accor-

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By George Barclay dance with the provisions of the Wills Act. Mr. Singh, the lawyer, acted in a professional manner and there was no reason to disbelieve his evidence.

In his testimony, the defendant said he was living with the deceased at the disputed property.

He only knew the plaintiff by seeing him in court.

Justice Perry said he was satisfied that the plaintiff had failed to satisfy the court that there ever existed a Will dated the 9th November, 1984.

“Accordingly, the plaintiff ’s action is hereby dismissed and judgment is hereby given in favour of the defendant, Lloyd Samuel Bridgewater, on his counter-claim. And it is ordered that the Will Dated the 9th of June, 1984 be admitted probate in solemn form as the last will and testament of the deceased Lawrence Singh.

The judge also ordered that costs be taxed in favour of the defendant both on the claim and counter-claim.

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Chronicle Pepperpot January 26, 2014

INTRODUCTION to Denis Williams...

From page IV

windswept, drier coastal front-lands of the Corentyne On the basis of these crucial findings he was able to recommend to the sugar producers in 1937, when he joined Booker, that the depredations of A.darlingi could be tempered if ‘sheltered yards, situated within the cane cultivation, were condemned to be gradually eliminated’. He advised that all new residential areas be located on the ‘open front-lands, where salt soils, wind-borne sea spray and constant winds offer a naturally unfavourable water and atmospheric environment for both the breeding and survival of A.darlingi.’Giglioli attributed its virulence to the empoldered, manmade environment of the British Guiana coastland. Ironically, it was the reclamation, the humanising of this environment, which had made it vulnerable to A.darlingi. He argued that malaria was virtually nonexistent on the Corentyne Coast, apart from the occasional epidemic in years of excessive rainfall, because much of its front-lands were still in a primitive state, unreclaimed, with constant incursions by sea water and the consequent high salinity of the land. This gave rise to a sort of scrubland, hard grasses, not trees, thus exposing the coast to high winds; this was antagonistic to the propagation of A.darlingi.

Giglioli contended that the highly acidic, organic soils of the ‘pegasse’ area immediately inland from the coastland clay, as well as the forested sand reefs interspersed on its margins, were not

conducive to this dreaded malarial vector. So both the sea in front and the ‘pegasse’ lands and sand reefs behind were inimical to the propagation of A.darlingi. They tended to predominate in the less acidic interior regions of red barns and lateritic soils.

The cultivated coastland, the plantation zone with its myriad drains and ditches, irrigation canals, flood-fallowed cane fields, rice fields, ponds and borrow pits, provided an ideal habitat for A.darlingi. These ubiquitous reservoirs of non-acidic water were a haven for this species — a point dramatised by the malaria-free Corentyne Coast’s sudden susceptibility to malaria, in years of heavy rainfall, when the water on the saline front-lands became diluted, as was the encroaching acidic water from the ‘pegasse back lands.’ 7 Giglioli calculated that on every square mile of cane cultivation (10 acre fields) there were 16 miles of irrigation canals, 4.5 miles of drainage sideline canals and 45 miles of four-feet drains. This complex hydrological environment, in conjunction with the extension of the area under wet-rice culture since the First World War, made coastal British Guiana especially vulnerable to A.darlingi.

By the start of the Second World War, Giglioli had unearthed most of the key characteristics of this species, including its peculiar feeding patterns.

At the end of his series of articles on malaria, in 1938-39, Giglioli had concluded that ‘certain weaknesses’ in the biology of

A.darlingi ‘may be exploited to its detriment’. Though confident that malaria could be ‘successfully controlled’, he was circumspect about its eradication. His achievements a decade later, by 1948, had exceeded his most optimistic prognostication.

As Giglioli observed, it was Dayson’s imaginative approach to industrial relations, even before the 1930s, which had made his research possible. The higher incidence of the disease at Blairmont gave urgency to the task. Giglioli remarked that it was here that ‘great advances’ were made in ‘unravelling’ the old problem of the transmission of malaria. But he also conducted surveys and treatment campaigns on hookworm on the Dayson estates. In April 1934 the infection rate was 73.4 per cent; by December 1935 it had been reduced to a mere 6.2 per cent. Giglioli tackled another common problem, megalocytic anaemia of pregnancy. He observed: a very common and disabling disease in East Indians causing a high maternal, foetal and neo-natal mortality, was identified, and its complex causes were elucidated; very effective therapeutic and preventive measures were successfully introduced.’

The health of the predominantly Indian resident workers at Blairmont was dire. In 1934, 1,075 of its resident population of 1,926 had to be admitted to hospital at least once that year — 55 per cent. That constituted 1,392 admissions, entailing a loss to the estate of 13,388 hospital man-days in 1934 alone. In short, this amounted to 36.5 inpatients per day, with each patient spending 9.5 days in hospital.

Besides, 1,185 cases were treated as outpatients and 40,656 minor treatments were administered at the estate’s dispensary.1° On the sugar estates of British Guiana in 1944, just before the start of the anti-malaria campaign, infant mortality per 1,000 live births was 176. This declined progressively to 109; 106; 91, and 82 between 1945 and 1948. It is irrefutable that malaria was at the crux of the stagnant population on the estates. Indeed, it was the foundation of the static Indian population in the colony before the end of the 1940s. For them in particular, more susceptible to the ravages of malaria than African people, the results were dismal. As the Immigration Agent General observed in 1922, of the 238,969 Indians taken to the colony as indentured labourers between 1838 and 1917, 69,803 had returned to India, leaving a balance of 169,166. However, the census of 1921 recorded 44,228 fewer Indians in British Guiana.

With the eradication of malaria, a revolution took place in demographic patterns among Indians after 1948. The implications of this demographic revolution for the social, economic and political evolution of the colony were astounding. Even when taken in conjunction with broader international and imperial developments after the Second World War, the eradication of malaria-Giglioli’s monumental achievement - still represents the most important achievement in the country in the twentieth century.* Clem Seecharan London Metropolitan University

Notes: 1 ‘Time When Malaria Wrecked Great Havoc in Guyana’, Guyana Graphic (Independence Souvenir), May 1966.

2lbid; George Giglioli, ‘Immediate and Long-Term Economic Effects Accruing from the Control of Mosquito-Transmitted Diseases in British Guiana’, Timehri, No. 28, (fourth series), (1948), 6.

3 George Giglioli, ‘Eradication of Anopheles Darlingi from the Inhabited Areas of British Guiana by DDT Residual Spraying’, Journal of the National Malaria Society, 10, no. 2, (June 1951), 140.

George Giglioli, ‘The Influence of Geological Formation and Soil Characteristics on the Distribution of Malaria and its Mosquito Carrier in British Guiana’, Timehri, (fourth series), no. 30, (November 1951), 49.

5 Ibid., 50.

6 Ibid.

7 George Giglioli, ‘Malaria in British Guiana, Part III: Breeding Habits of A. Darlingi. Natural Factors which Limit the Distribution of this Species and of Malaria’, The Agricultural Journal of British Guiana IX, no. 4, (December 1938), 201.

See also ‘Malaria and Agriculture in British Guiana’, Timehri, (fourth series), no. 27, (July 1946).

8 George Giglioli, ‘Malaria and British Guiana, Part IV: The Distribution of Malaria on the Coastlands. Genesis of Malarial Epidemics’, The Agricultural Journal of British Guiana X, no. 1, (March 1939), 12.

‘George Giglioli, ‘Medical Services on the Sugar Estates of British Guiana’, Timehri, no. 35, (fifth series), (1956), 5. “ Ibid., 6-7. “ See my ‘Tiger in the Stars’: The Anatomy of Indian Achievement in British Guiana, 1919-29 (London: Macmillan, 1997), pp. 75-6.

Chronicle Pepperpot January 26, 2014

Children’s Costume Parade...

From page II

pressive arts in sequenced modules in the school system of Guyana.

In an interview with this publication, Ms Desiree Wyles- Ogle said that the Unit and Ministry of Education are finalizing plans for a special Children’s Mash Band for this year’s children’s Float Parade. This is to facilitate the children whose schools are not participating in the event.

The Education Ministry is catering for 30 children between the ages of five and 10 years old at a minimal cost which has not as yet been decided upon. For more information on this Special Band, interested persons can contact the Unit of Allied Arts on telephone number 2255330, or email at minedua@yahoo.com.

Ms Ogle-Wyles also mentioned that the 2013 Children’s Costume Parade was sponsored by the Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Company (GT&T), which has again shown interest in sponsoring the 2014 parade, but the Unit is awaiting official confirmation.

The children’s Costume Parade was introduced only in 1996, and it sees approximately four thousand children participating from schools and youth groups throughout Guyana. This spectacularly colourful activity showcases the talents and creativity that exist among our young people.

The Allied Arts Unit has a series of objectives for the Mashramani programme to keep the country’s culture alive. These aims are set to encourage schools, parents and the communities to work together in a creatively artistic manner and, most importantly, to give students the opportunity to display their skills and talents.

According to schedule, activities have already started in Region 2, with activities in Regions 1, 3, 4, 7 and 10 to commence before month end.

The Children’s Costume Parade, scheduled for February 15, will assemble at Parade Ground on Middle Street and proceed north along Camp Street, then east into Lamaha Street, and north into Albert Street, and finally make its way into the National Park for judging.

The Unit of Allied Arts and the Ministry of Education are imploring drivers and spectators to take note of the route and be extra careful on this date, as our children will be on the roadways.

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For Dr. Raveendranath, being a doctor is something beyond ‘aspiring’

By Shivanie Sugrim

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VERYONE aspires to be ‘somebody’ in life, but for this individual, being a doctor is something beyond ‘aspiring.’ Dr. Raveendranath is an OBGYN (Obstetrics and gynecology: medical specialist in babies and women). His goal presently is to serve his patients wholeheartedly.

Dr. Raveendranath works with the Cancer Institute of Guyana, which mainly facilitates the services needed to diagnose and treat cancer patients via the Global Imaging Service Inc, and also providing cancer awareness information, screening and consultations. On January 8, 2014, Dr. Raveendranath was appointed as the General Manager of Global Imaging Service, and he is generally a cervical cancer doctor.

Dr Raveendranath is from India, which he describes as “a big country with rich traditions.” He was awarded a scholarship to the United States in which he ventured out to reach his goal of being an OBGYN. He mentions that it took a ‘considerable time’ to obtain his profession, and his only struggle was his stipend, which was just sufficient to meet his ‘basic requirements.’ Furthermore, his biggest failure in chasing his goal was the limitation of a doctor to deliver healthcare to the patients due to lack of resources and manpower.

He deems his profession as ‘easy’, but when it relates to his patients, he states: “Sometimes being a doctor is tough because we can’t give life to our patients or take their pain and sufferings. It is tough for a doctor to see his patients suffering.” Dr.Raveendranath has been into this profession for over a decade, and has been treating cancer patients-primarily cervical cancer patients throughout his life.

His perception of cervical cancer is fundamentally based on the sexual exposure Dr. Raveendranath of women as it relates to HIV/AIDS. He believes that every woman should protect herself, given that human papilloma virus (HPV) infection is the main ingredient for HIV infection. He is proud to declare that there has been an update in the treatment for cervical cancer patients the HPV vaccine. This cervical cancer vaccine is recommended for girls and boys aged 11 to 12, although it may be given as early as age 9. It’s important for boys and girls to receive the vaccine before they have sexual contact and are exposed to HPV. Once infected with HPV, the vaccine may not be as effective.

Dr.Raveendranath holds an amazing personality professional wise. He is planning to get the Australian Cancer Society to initiate a cancer screening project in the remote areas of Guyana.

In the upcoming years, he visions that “no woman should get cervical cancer. Let all of us work together for this noble cause. Cervical cancer is 100% preventable and curable disease. Get regular Pap tests—they can detect cervical changes before they become cancerous.”

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By Rebecca Ganesh-Ally

10 WAYS TO CLEAN WITH LEMONS

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ORGET pricey toxic household cleaners, you have all you need to clean your home sitting in your fruit bowl – LEMONS. Full of natural acid, this zingy fruit is a powerful antibacterial sanitiser and antiseptic, and can be used as a cleaning agent all around your home.

1) Deodorise your microwave Microwaves are little boxes of bacteria with lingering smells from food that has been cooked or reheated. The best way to rid the microwave of smells and give it an antibacterial clean out is to slice a lemon thinly and place the pieces in water in a microwave-safe bowl. Cook on high for one minute, and let the lemon’s antibacterial properties kill the bacteria lurking in your microwave. The heat also acts as a humidifier to loosen any icky, caked-on food. Afterwards, wipe the oven down with a damp cloth, and you’re done!

2) Nix soap scum in the shower Instead of spraying chemical treatments on your shower tiles screen and fixtures, try this homemade natural remedy: Juice six lemons and pour the contents into a spray bottle and squirt over shower surfaces. The citric acid will break down hard water deposits and dissolve filmy soap scum. Plus, the antibacterial and antiseptic properties will also sanitise your bathroom.

3) Wash your dishes When you run out of washing up liquid, slice a lemon in half, sprinkle baking soda on top, and use the lemon half like a dish cloth to wash your dishes. The citric acid will cut through, loosen and then dissolve grease, giving your pots and pans a shiny glow. Oh, and your hands will smell lemony fresh too!

To deodorise your dishwasher, place a cup of lemon juice in the bottom of an emptied-out dishwasher, and then run the rinse cycle. The lemon will deodorise and disinfect the dishwasher.

and other surfaces.

4) Clean glass To give your glass a natural clean, simply mix four tablespoons of lemon juice with eight cups of water. The powerful citric acid will dissolve dirt, grime and water stains, leaving your windows and glassware glistening and streak-free.

5) Sanitise a cutting board Ewww! Chopping boards are health hazards! Sanitise your kitchen cutting board by squeezing half a lemon over the top and letting the juice be absorbed for 10 minutes. It will soak into the wood, but will also work on plastic cutting boards. Watch as stains loosen, then kill any remaining bacteria by scrubbing the other half of the lemon all over the board.

6) Freshen your laundry Combat the odours of work, school sport and everyday living and give your clothes a sweet scent by adding a teaspoon of lemon juice to your washing load, along with detergent.

7) Get rid of mould Rid your home of mould by using a paste made from equal parts lemon juice and salt, and scrub away mildew and mould from tiles

8) Make metal all shiny and new Want to polish your copper, brass and chrome the natural way? Put some elbow grease behind half a lemon and allow the acidic power to cut through grease and loosen mineral deposits, making them easier to wipe away.

9) Clean your drains Clean your drains with lemon juice, especially if you have a septic system. Pour 1/2 cup baking soda down the drain, followed by a cup or more of hot lemon juice. After a few minutes, rinse with hot water. Also, if you have a garbage disposal unit, toss lemon peels into it and grind these to help get rid of odours and keep it smelling fresh.

10) Clean with a natural cleanser A combination of lemon juice and borax mixed to the consistency of peanut butter makes a powerful cleaner, which is perfect for cleaning your bathroom as well as hard-to-reach-places. Use the fresh-smelling cleanser with a toothbrush to scrub tiles, around drains and in little nooks and crannies. NOTE, don’t use borax in the kitchen (unless you thoroughly rinse it off) and keep it away from your little ones, because it is toxic if swallowed.

Create an impressive melted crayon artwork

SIMPLE crayons can make beautiful art, and not just by drawing with them! Line up some wax crayons rainbow-style, blast them with a hairdryer, and they’ll melt into a colourful artwork that you can hang on the wall.

What you need: • Wax crayons - enough to line the length of your canvas • Artist’s canvas - best to try small first before going too big • Hot glue gun • Hairdryer • Drop sheet or old newspaper to catch any mess Activity: 1. Pick out the colours you want to use, and line them up across the top of the canvas.

2. A rainbow colour pattern is made here. Of course, you can try this with different colour patterns instead of a rainbow.

3. Using a glue gun, squeeze a line of glue across the crayons.

4. Quickly place the crayons on the canvas in a line, as shown below, with tips facing down.

5. Line the floor with a piece of newspaper, place the canvas against a wall, and get your blow drying on.

6. You can start out on high and warm settings and alternate with low at certain points. You may have to experiment a little to see how your hair dryer works with melting the wax. It sometimes splatters a little, so be sure to cover the floor and surrounding wall with newspaper, and turn to a lower setting if needed. Once the wax starts melting, move the dryer around as needed to prevent splattering and so the wax drips straight down.

Voila! Now you have a fun piece of art to hang on your wall.

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Our lungs inhale over two million litres of air every day, without even thinking. The surface area of the lungs is approximately the same size as a tennis court.

It takes the interaction of 72 different muscles to produce human speech.

During a 24-hour period, the average human will breathe 23,040 times.

The turkey was domesticated in Mexico and brought to Europe in the 16th century.

Turkeys can see in colour but have poor night vision.

Wild turkeys can run at speeds of up to 25 miles per hour.

Benjamin Franklin wanted the national bird to be a turkey.

A spooked turkey can run at speeds up to 20 miles per hour. They can also burst into flight approaching speeds between 50-55 mph in a matter of seconds. (Source. Fun Shun.com)

Nearly all boys grow at least as tall as their mothers. ………………………………………………………………

By the age of 75, the average American has created about 110,000 pounds of garbage.

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Hamburg’s car-less ambitions

Chronicle Pepperpot January 26, 2014

By Autos Editors

Hamburg is working towards car-less future. The German city has stated its intention to ban vehicular traffic in its centre by 2034 as part of a broad initiative to make the city more bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly. Under the plan, called the Green Network, 40% of the city will be given over to greenways and park land. The plan is modelled partially on one in progress in Copenhagen, Denmark, where lengthy bicycle paths are being built to connect surrounding communities with the city. Major cities from Colombia to Thailand have experimented in recent years with clearing vehicles from their streets on designated days, but none has stated outright the intention to entirely ban vehicles.

World’s oldest-known living cancer ‘11,000 years old’

By Helen Briggs BBC News THE world’s oldest-known living cancer dates back 11,000 years, according to UK scientists.

It arose in a single dog and has survived in canines ever since, with the cancer cells passing between animals when they mate.

A team led by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute near T r a n s m i s s i b l e d o g c a n c e r Cambridge decod- s p r e a d s w i t h i n t h e d o g ed the DNA of the population by the transfer of living cancer cells cancer.

It revealed the “genetic identikit” of an ancient husky-like dog, which first developed the disease.

The animal was of a medium size with a short, straight coat that was coloured grey-brown or black.

“We do not know why this particular individual gave rise to a transmissible cancer,” said lead researcher Dr Elizabeth Murchison.

“But it is fascinating to look back in time and reconstruct the identity of this ancient dog, whose genome is still alive today in the cells of the cancer that it spawned.”

Carried around world The cancer studied is extremely rare - one of only two known types of the disease, both in animals, that is sexually transmissible.

Known as dog-transmissible cancer, it causes genital tumours.

By decoding the genome of the cancer, and looking at a type of mutation that acts like a “molecular clock”, researchers were able to pinpoint its origin to 11,000 years ago.

Remarkably, the cancer has survived, despite accumulating millions of genetic changes.

Rather than dying out with its first host, the cancer spread by “jumping into other dogs”, Dr Murchison added.

“It is the oldest and most common cancer lineage that we know of.”

The research, published in the journal Science, shows the cancer existed in an isolated population of dogs for much of its history.

Then it spread around the world in the last 500 years, perhaps carried by dogs accompanying explorers on sea voyages.

Apart from this one, the only other known transmissible cancer is facial cancer in Tasmanian devils, spread by biting.

“The genome of the transmissible dog cancer will help us to understand the processes that allow cancers to become transmissible,” said Prof Sir Mike Stratton, Director of the Sanger Institute.

Most cancers arise when a single cell in the body gains mutations that cause it to divide out of control.

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Chronicle Pepperpot January 26, 2014

Chronicle Pepperpot January 26, 2014

Great harmony and solitude abound as Novar Village prospers

selling cash crops on both large and small scales to muster their savings which eventually managed to build HIS week, we ended our ‘focus’ on East Coast their now very comfortable home.

Demerara villages, but not before we had turned “We bin ah live in wan flat our proverbial microscope on the quaint and enhouse low pon de ground uncle, dearing little village of Novar, located some sixand was plenty ah we pack up ty-seven miles from Guyana’s capital city of Georgetown. inside. But we struggle a lot, and What stood out impressively about this village and because ah we sacrifice we able fuh amazed our party was its peaceful existence and quiet live comfortable today. solitude, as residents, accustomed to the glorious tropical “Many times we eat salt and sunshine, enjoyed ripened fruits, great camaraderie, or the rerice wid ile (oil) and eschallot, and freshing ‘country breeze’ in the comfort of their own homes.

The nicely populated village of Novar is located in Academic stalwart Professor drink wata before we guh down ah the Mahaica-Berbice area of Region Five in Guyana. The Nazeer Ahmad began his we farm and wuk in de hat sun… estimate terrain elevation above sea level is one metre, with education in Novar Village. drink wata coconut and eat de jelly, or sometimes ripe papaw frum dem Latitude readings of 6°33’14.44”, and Longitude recordings trees until we come home late afof 57°45’47.96” As the crow flies, the distance between Mahaicony Village and tanoon fuh cook dinna. But we save all we money because we did want a good life….”

Novar is approximately 5 km (3 mls) Mrs Singh explained that, since they had an extensive farm, they Novar is a predominantly East Indian-populated village nestling nicely between the villages of Good Faith and Dundee, and is an- would sell their produce on a large scale at the Bourda and Stabroek markets in Georgetown, and even to private buyers; and they would other agricultural highpoint along the Low Coastal Plain of Guyana.

Normally, the morning sun rises in Novar at approximately 06:08 save all they could in a commercial bank she refused to name. hrs, while the sun sets at about 17:56 hrs.

By Alex Wayne

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OUR ARRIVAL Our arrival in Novar Village was met with curious stares from the few residents actually in the streets and others relaxing under their ‘bottom houses’, the more popular term used in the countryside. Walking along a main road almost void of activity, we were lucky to bump into villager Pulmattie Singh who, after a little coaxing, related that Novar has always been a very quiet village, with residents being contented to remain in the confines of their homes or be engaged in tending to their gardens or farmlands in the ‘back land regions’. She, however, related that occasionally the village comes alive with a few weddings and birthday celebrations, which are greatly attended by villagers for the enjoyment.

According to Mrs. Singh, in the late 1960s and even in the Students of the Novar Primary School continue to excel academically. early 1970s, Novar Village was a She said that, as a treat on the occasional weekend, very under-developed location, with just a few houses. Every household then had a large farm or kitchen garden, and families thrived by she would catch two ‘yard fowls, kill, pluck and cook them in a large pot of bunjal curry chicken to encourage family members existed on the dividends acquired from the sale of their cash crops in the likes of eschallot, celery, peppers, and various vegetables. Those to continue their sacrifices and hard work on the farm.

Residents seemed a bit hesitant to speak to the media, but several households with very large farms thrived on the proceeds of their who spoke with us painted a picture of Novar Village being a place sales of cultivated ground provisions.

Mrs. Singh lives today with her extended family in quite a lavish where people are reaping the rewards of the sacrifices they had made many years ago. building, but she told us the very stirring tale of how they struggled,

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Tending to the cash crops that bring in a fast dollar.

THINGS HAVE CHANGED Novar is indisputably one of the more developed and attractive little settlements on the East Coast of Demerara, especially comparing its present status with what had obtained in years gone by.

Those who would have visited Novar in the early 70s would remember the presence of just a few posh houses sitting uncomfortably amidst a proliferation of tiny building occupied in many cases by extended families. Today, Novar has taken on quite an impressively glitzy appearance, with respectable houses all over its surface, but many of the kitchen gardens of the former struggling years are no longer seen. Impressive vehicles are now parked in several yards, and though there seems to be only one hangout bar that offers limited entertainment opportunities, villagers seem just content with the lives they live.

Now sporting street lights and well paved roads, Novar villagers are keeping abreast of trends in their rapidly changing circumstances.

A LITTLE DISCOMFORT There always seems to be a negative factor flagging some otherwise happy circumstance in every place we have focused upon, and this was certainly highlighted as we spoke to Novar residents.

One young man who insisted on being called just ‘Nazim’ said that one problem plaguing the otherwise pleasant village is the issue of persons dumping stones and sand for building on the access streets, making it almost impossible for persons with vehicles to pass those areas.

Added to that, he noted, the neighbouring village of Dundee experiences the same problem, and residents are greatly inconvenienced by the same practice.

Nazim noted that in the vicinity of the Novar Primary School, shacks erected as shops make vehicular movement an almost impossible feat. These small buildings are erected on Government reserves, according to Nazim.

STRANGE HAPPENINGS Gushing with apparent excitement, housewife Seeta Ramlall was ready to talk about the strange happenings that occurred last year at the Novar Secondary School. She insisted that evil forces were present and at work in the village.

She was, of course, referring to incidents wherein student at the Mahaicony and Novar schools appeared at varying intervals to be seized by demonic powers, and were convulsing, vomiting and reportedly talking in strange voices.

“You does wuk wid de media, suh me sure yuh hear de story.

But leh me tell yuh something mista: Is evil powah tek ovah dem children, and is de wicked deeds of people who living right around de area falling pon dem children. When people meddle wid evil, dem things does just get outah control and does badda innocent people,” she avowed.

Late last year, pandemonium with a capital ‘P’ broke out among children and teachers of two schools and a dormitory in the East Coast Demerara community of Mahaicony, as they reported being attacked by a supernatural force.

Reports had indicated that, at about midday, pupils of Novar Primary School began behaving strangely, resulting in widespread panic amongst the teaching population as well.

See Centre

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Great harmony and solitude ...

Chronicle Pepperpot January 26, 2014

Chronicle Pepperpot January 26, 2014

classes, his teacher told him that a chemist could analyse the soil In 1961, Ahmad

Enjoying the refreshing ambience of the countryside

From page XXI The children from that school were then taken to Mahaicony Secondary, about a mile away, where there was a normal, scheduled prayer session. Reportedly, after the Novar Primary visitors had entered the premises of the Mahaicony Secondary, the secondary students began acting in a manner similar to that of their visitors.

Not long after, the occupants of an Amerindian dormitory situated on Mahaicony Branch Road also began behaving strangely.

Sources had indicated that the entire ordeal degenerated into a veritable fiasco after the residents of the dormitory showed the same manifestation -- speaking different languages in abnormal tongues, and convulsing and being contorted.

One child who was making strange and loud sounds was interrupted by prayers from several senior members of a nearby church, who were overheard ordering in prayers “a pretensive demon” to leave the bodies of the children. As the prayers were being said in the premises of the secondary school, two female students started running uncontrollably around the compound, but administrators closed the gates to prevent the affected from making their way out of the compound.

STALWART ACADEMIC PERFORMANCES Overtime, Novar has rapidly gained a reputation for the stalwart academic performances of the youths that reside there. Students of the Novar Primary School have, over the years, excelled greatly at National Grade Six Assessment examinations, and abundant praise has been showered on the class teachers and headmistress Shamina Charran for their success.

Although Charran was tasked with additional duties as the headmistress, her students still emerged successful. She said the school has tried, and that while she expected better results, she was pleased that her school had topped Region Five just one year ago.

Six of the students achieved over 500 marks, with another five gaining over 490 marks. While she was proud of their achievement, she had expected them to perform better.

Two students, Ariel Williams and Javon Reece, have tied for the top position with 520 marks, and were followed closely

by Jasmine Muberuka with 519 marks. They have all gained places at the Bishops’ High School, but their desire was to attend Queen’s College.

Amernauth Narine has gained 515 marks and secured a place at St. Stanislaus College; and Suresh Persaud scored 513 marks and would be attending St. Roses High School. William Mendonca and Christina Satram, who have gained 505 and 500 marks respectively, have been awarded places at Bygeval Secondary, a List ‘A’ School in Region Five. They have both opted to attend President’s College.

They said they all studied a lot, and plan to continue their hard work when they enter secondary school, so they can continue to shine.

The other students who performed well are Sheetal Persaud, Kim Pancham, Chandradamala Singh and Mujaahid Zaman.

around Halifax, he graduated with an M.D., C.M degree (Doctor of Medicine and Master of Surgery).

He was offered fellowship R i c e f a r m i n g i s s t i l l opportunities to study specialist prevalent in the backlands medicine, but he decided to of Novar Village return home. In the nine years that he studied to become a PROMINENT FIGURES IN NOVAR doctor in Canada, there was hardly any communication with his family back in Guyana. There was the occasional letter, but Novar has spawned many prominent individuals, amongst whom returning home for visits was out of the question. It was just are medical practitioner 83-year-old Dr Cecil Harricharan, who is too expensive. more than a life saver to residents of Novar and surrounding villages.

Soon after his return to Guyana, he started practising when he was assigned by the Ministry of Health as a General Medical OffiDR CECIL HARRICHARRAN cer at the New Amsterdam Hospital. However, he was soon asked to travel to the North West District. It was an area that many docA man who has served his country unswervingly, who dared tors had refused to accept, choosing to resign instead of following to go where other doctors have refused to consider going, Dr through with the Government’s request.

Cecil Harricharan was born Cecil Edgar on March 6, 1929 at The North West was mainly covered by foreign doctors, but Little Abary, Mahaicony. He was born in the home his mother, Dr Harricharan decided that he would go. He had no problems Joaquin Liliah, used to live before she married his father, the working “in the bush.” elder Harricharan.

The assignment would take him along the rivers of the North His parents were living at Novar, Mahaicony, where the HarrichWest District, travelling to Mabaruma, Moruca, Matthew’s Ridge, arans reared cattle and planted rice; but as was the custom, his mother Morawhanna, Port Kaituma and Hosororo. returned to her parents’ home to give birth.

The assignment gave him the “privilege” to work with world Cecil was born the first of six children, and grew up on the thrivrenowned Italian Malariaologist Dr George Giglioli, who is credited ing farmlands at Novar. He quite enjoyed the farms, milking cows with loosening Malaria’s grip on the inhabitants of the North West and then dropping off container upon container at the train station in District and Guyana’s coastland.

Mahaicony. The milk would then be taken to Georgetown for sale.

What was supposed to be a two-week assignment turned out to He also worked the rice fields at a time when bulls were used to be six months. The Government eventually secured the services of plough the lands. a Polish doctor to work the District.

As a young lad, he attended the Catherine Ville and Novar PresHis next placement was at the Georgetown Public Hospital, byterian Primary schools. working along with various physicians and surgeons. He spent After securing impressive scores at the School Leavers Examinathree years there and then he was reassigned to the Essequibo tions, his father’s brother, Cecil Bishoodyal, insisted that he move to Islands.

Georgetown to further his education.

Dr Harricharan became the first resident local doctor on the Becoming a doctor was certainly not what his parents had enviisland of Leguan. The residents perhaps thought it too good to be sioned for him. They had more in mind him working the sprawling true, and so they decided to test him out. farmlands that he loved, but an uncle thought he could make more Dr Harricharan was also assigned to the other islands and to the of his life…and he did!

Essequibo Coast, and this took him to Wakenaam, Hog Island, Fort He would peddle his bicycle from his uncle’s place in Kitty to Island, and even to Bartica. the Modern Educational Institute, run by the Lutheran Church, at the By the time his next assignment would come around, Dr Harjunction of Alexander Street and North Road, where today stands a richaran had caught sight of the beautiful Chandra (sister of well Lutheran Church. known businessman Toolsie Persaud) at a family function. The two Cecil passed the Junior and Senior Cambridge Exams with flying of them were married in August 1961. colours, but had to decide quickly on what he really wanted in life.

Dr Harricharan has always enjoyed the faithful support of his Ideally, he had a place waiting for him on the farmlands at Mahaicowife of five decades. Their union produced four daughters, of whom ny, but his uncle had other plans in mind. The uncle suggested that one (Kamla) is now deceased. Their other daughters are married he should study medicine abroad. It was not an easy decision for his and live in Canada. They are justly proud of the accomplishments parents to make, but they agreed. of their daughters. Tanuja is a family doctor, Kalpana is an optician, At age 19, the young Harricharan set out for Halifax, Nova Scotia and Priya is a French language teacher. in Canada, to pursue studies in medicine at the prestigious Dalhousie In 1962, after six months on the island of Leguan, newly University. married Dr Harricharan was asked to take up an assignment as the Of course, moving to the North had its challenges, but he dedicatDistrict Medical Officer for West Demerara. ed himself to his studies and, in 1953, graduated with a Bachelor of He was based at Leonora, and was really starting to enjoy the Science degree. While studying, he thought about where he wanted assignment, particularly because he was able to make some money to study medicine proper, and sent out applications for scholarships on the side when he was off duty from the hospital. that were being offered.

But that excitement would be short lived. The Chief Medical The Government of India offered him a scholarship to pursue his Officer sent instructions for him to be transferred to the New doctorate at one of their universities, but his parents were hesitant Amsterdam Hospital to serve as the resident surgeon there. about sending him all the way to India, even though they would not He protested the transfer, but was told that he could either take have to pay for his studies. up the post or resign. He was pacified when he heard that he could His parents decided that he should stay at Dalhousie. And this he return to Leonora as soon as the surgeon, who was expected from did. In five years, including a one-year internship at hospitals in and India, arrived to serve at the New Amsterdam Hospital.

Upon arrival of the surgeon, Dr Harricharan was told that he was not being sent back to Leonora, but would in fact be sent to serve the Mahaicony District, where he was born. The very thought paralysed him and he protested.

He decided to go anyhow, with the promise that if he didn’t like it, there was a post at Springlands on the Corentyne Coast, awaiting him.

It just took a few weeks at Mahaicony for him to start to enjoy working there.

His posting at the Cottage Hospital in Central Mahaicony meant he had to live in the hospital’s compound. But when British troops were called in to quell the disturbances in Mahaicony, Dr Harricharan was asked to give up his home for use by the British soldiers. He went to live three miles away, at the Harricharan family house.

Dr Harricharan stuck it out during that time, and continued to serve at the Mahaicony Hospital for 17 years. Thereafter, he retired, having served the Government for 25 years.

He then entered private practice, and today still operates a clinic on Middle Street, Georgetown and from the home in Novar Village He runs his clinic on weekdays in downtown Georgetown, but can be seen on weekends commanding the attention of wild cattle aback of Mahaicony with a signature call that makes him the envy of neighbours.

You’d be excused if you couldn’t differentiate which is Dr Harricharan’s greater love – the medical profession or being on the rice fields and cattle farms. He finds it hard to set himself apart.

To date, Dr Harricharan has chalked up more than 50 years in the medical field, and the count has not yet stopped. When one considers the fact that he had easy access to “greener pastures,” being licensed to practice in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Caribbean, it’s easy to see how he fits unquestionably into the category of those who have dedicated their lives to the service of their country, and doing so largely unnoticed.

and inform what “fertilizer” to apply to increase crop yields. From that very moment he wanted to learn more, since he felt that the hard labour of his father and family justified better rewards.

Ahmad’s education started at the Novar Canadian Mission School, where he was greatly influenced by his headmaster, Mr. James Hamilton Gopaul. He sandwiched his schooling with participation in all the farming activities of his family.

On weekends and during the holiday periods, he was fully occupied in farm work. In spite of this, he excelled at school; and in 1946, he was awarded a scholarship to attend Berbice High School in New Amsterdam.

This was a first traumatic experience for him, since he had to leave home. While at high school, his farming activities were confined mainly to school holidays, when he returned home.

After only three years at high school, he wrote the Cambridge School Certificate and gained a Grade One pass. This performance, in addition to his demonstrated knowledge of agriculture at an interview for British Guiana Agricultural Scholarship, convinced the Selection Committee to nominate him for the award of the scholarship in 1949.

The scholarship was tenable at the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture (ICTA) in Trinidad, to which he had applied. Up to this time, he never thought of agriculture as a professional career, as an occupation. He wanted to become a surgeon, but lack of funds prevented him from pursuing that goal. He thus left his home and family at Dundee Village on a more permanent basis to undertake his course at the ICTA (Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture).

He knew the practical aspects of growing crops and raising livestock, and was soon to gain exposure to the field at a scientific level.

Ahmad found ICTA an ideal institution for learning, since the classes were small, the students received individual attention, and the teachers were very knowledgeable.

He worked his way to the top of his class, and was awarded the Diploma (DICTA) in 1951. By invitation, he undertook the postgraduate course (AICTA), which he completed in 1952, having conducted research on the chemistry of rice soils.

On the recommendation of his supervisor, Professor Frederick Hardy, who also inspired him, his scholarship was extended to enable him to attend McGill University in Canada for his master’s degree in soil science.

In 1954, the National Research Council of Canada gave him a research grant to undertake a project at the University of British Columbia, where he completed his master’s degree in 1955.

He was then offered an open postgraduate scholarship to attend the University of Nottingham in the UK to complete his doctoral degree in 1957.

On completing his studies, Ahmad was first employed at the Division of Agricultural Chemistry in the Ministry of Agriculture of Guyana. At that time, expatriates mostly held senior positions, but because of his superior qualifications and academic record, he could not have been overlooked, and he was appointed Head of the Division.

He quickly and effectively took steps to improve the capability and effectiveness of this Division. His efforts were facilitated by a United Nations Special Funds project to conduct soil and land use surveys, and to undertake relevant research to improve the agricultural productivity of these soils.

While in Guyana, in addition to developing the plan of operations for the survey investigations and to get this major project started, he conducted basic research on several aspects of soil behaviour which he published and which attracted international attention.

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accepted a position as Lecturer in Soil Science at his alma mater, now the Faculty of Science and Agriculture, University of the West Indies in Trinidad.

He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1965, and he became Professor of Soil Science and Head of the Department of Soil Science in 1969.

As he moved through the University ranks, he worked tirelessly to improve research and teaching facilities and develop postgraduate research in this specialized discipline.

He was very successful in obtaining research D r . C e c i l H a r r i c h a r r a n grants from many sources continues to bring medical to support his work and relief to residents of the that of his students and countryside colleagues.

He participated in numerous international scientific conferences worldwide as a specially invited scientist, and organized at least four such conferences at UWI, St. Augustine.

He left the University in 1995 and was named Emeritus Professor of Soil Science at UWI, one year later.

He assumed the duties of Director, National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) in Guyana, and retired from this post in 2000.

Ahmad provided sterling service to international institutions and bodies, such as the International Society of Soil Science and the International Board for Soil Research and Management. He also served on the Rubber Research and Development Board of Malaysia.

As an indication of his international recognition, he was invited to serve as Fulbright Professor of Tropical Soil Science at the University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois in 1982-1983. He published over 200 scientific articles, including several chapters in books and authored or co-authored three books on Soil Science.

While his achievements in research have earned him international recognition, Professor Ahmad is also proud of his accomplishments as a teacher, and his ability to inspire many hundreds of students over the years. In his opinion, this is an equal or even more important contribution.

Although now retired, he is still active as a consultant in soil science in the Caribbean region, and finds more time for his hobbies, which include woodworking, auto mechanics and gardening.

Conclusion For the peaceful at heart and for those who adore the softer side of life -- quiet and deep serenity in a setting of growing prosperity – I urge you to take time out to visit this appealing little village. Soak up its impressive infrastructure and the rich harmony amongst hits people.

Make Novar Village the next ‘visitation checkpoint’ on your travelling calendar, and maybe many others, myself included, would join you there. You never know….

Professor Nazeer Ahmad Another prominent individual who was educated in Novar is Professor Nazeer Ahmad, who enjoyed wide international recognition for his work in Tropical Soil Science, and travelled to over eighty-five (85) countries of the world as a consultant and advisor in soil and land use problems.

He was awarded the Gold Medal of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA) for his contribution to research in Soil Science in the Caribbean and Latin American Region.

Emeritus Professor of Soil Science of the University of the West Indies, he is credited with having improved research and teaching facilities and developing a postgraduate school of research in Soil Science. He built a sophisticated Soil Science Department that equalled those in developed countries, and was the sole or joint supervisor of approximately one hundred (100) research students, who are now working in many countries of the world.

Nazeer Ahmad was born into a subsistence farming family on 27th January 1932 in the village of Dundee, in Mahaicony, Demerara, Guyana. He was the third child of eleven, and from as long as he can remember, he helped in the various micro-enterprises of his family’s small farm which, for livestock, included cattle, horses, donkeys, sheep, chicken and ducks; and for crops, ground provisions, a kitchen garden, coconuts and rice.

As a child, he was intimately involved with all these enterprises, and often his day started at about 4 a.m. assisting on the farm.

In his early childhood, he was exposed to all aspects of agriculture.

It was the growth of crop plants and how this can be influenced by soil management which stirred his imagination.

When he was not yet 10 years old, during his school garden

Hanging out by the roadside

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Chronicle Pepperpot January 26, 2014

y t h g i m e h t Secrets of d e k c o l n u r e v i R o b i u Esseq

By Clifford Stanley

THE source of a river is the place from which the water in the river originates.It could be a pond or lake.

The Essequibo River flows 1,010 km (628 miles) to empty into the Atlantic, but the position of the source of the Essequibo and its source valley have never before been recorded.

A recent discovery of the mythical source is historic, and has enriched local knowledge of the southern parts of Guyana.

A team consisting of Guyanese and German nationals spent

six weeks in the remote Acarai Mountains before they found the source of the Essequibo at the base of the Mountains in a steep valley hidden by an almost impenetrable bamboo forest.

The Guyanese-German expedition team, it was recently disclosed, was the first modern equipped team to follow the Essequibo River right to its source.

The entire expedition was filmed by Blue Paw Artists, a company which works as freelance on commission of German Public TV and its European and international partners, like BBC, National Geographic and Discovery Channel.

Blue Paws will produce a full-length documentary on

A rare blue frog, Dendrobates azureus, at the source of the Essequibo River

the expedition to find the source of the Essequibo for German Public TV, which will be broadcasted in spring 2014 in Germany and France.

Guyanese team members were Mr Duane Defreitas, Mr Duane Defreitas (junior) Mr Orvin Felix, Mr Richard Wilson, Ms Belinda Francis all of Dadanawa Ranch; and Mr James Sozo, Mr Eleazea Mawasha, Mr Simeon Mawasha, Mr Elisha Marawanaru, Mr Nereus Chekema from the Wai Wai village of Masakenari.

Mr Yung Sandy of Surama went as cameraman for Blue Paw Artists.

The German Team members were Professor Martin Oczipka, Institute of Technology Dresden; and for Blue Paw Artists, Ms Marion PĂśllmann and Mr Rainer Bergomaz.

Starting with five boats in the deep South Rupununi village of Parabara, they set out for Essequibo, and followed the river into the tough and unexplored paradise.

After four days, they arrived at Masakenari, home of the Wai Wais, literally at the bottom of Guyana, where the Wai Wai team joined the expedition.

The expedition continued to the confluence of the Chodikar and Sipu rivers, the Sipu being the longest tributary of the Essequibo.

The first half of Sipu River, the team said, was easy travelling; and after a few days, only about 20 to 30 miles remained.

However, then the river split up, and bamboo forests blocked the way, which made progress almost impossible. In the end, the team, undaunted, left their boats and walked.

They followed the southern-most creek until it finally disappeared, thereby reaching the mythical source of the Essequibo River; not only the largest river in Guyana, but also the largest river between the Orinoco and Amazon.

There, the youngest team member, Mr Nereus Chekema, planted the Guyana’s Flag.

The expedition was supported by maps from The Guyana Land & Survey Dept. and satellite imaginary supplied by the German Space Agency.

Detailed Global Positioning System (GPS) documentation was made during the expedition, and the data was presented to See page XXXI

At the River Bank

Chronicle Pepperpot January 26, 2014

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Chronicle Pepperpot January 26, 2014

Chronicle Pepperpot January 26, 2014

The rise of the part-time vegans

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By Vanessa Barford BBC News Magazine

ONCE veganism was widely associated with animal rights activists, the health conscious and the religious. But now more and more people are dabbling with a vegan diet, albeit temporarily. Why? To a committed carnivore, adopting a vegan diet - no meat, no fish, no dairy, no eggs - sounds like a dramatic step.

But a growing trend for giving up all animal products doesn’t involve going vegan forever. Nor does it even require being morally opposed to eating meat.

In fact, it might only last a matter of weeks.

More people are pledging to go vegan for seven or 30 days, according to the Vegan Society. There were 40% more people signing up to this temporary menu in the first two months of 2013 compared with the same period in 2012, it says.

Most famously singer Beyonce and her rapper husband Jay-Z went vegan for 22 days as part of a “spiritual and physical cleanse”.

And this year a new campaign - Veganuary - has already seen 3,200 people commit to go vegan for the first month of 2014, organisers say.

Many of these part-time vegans aren’t against eating animal products in principle. But they might have taken inspiration from well-known figures who have adopted the vegan lifestyle full-time, such as Oscar-winning film director James Cameron, former US president Bill Clinton and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

There are also 150,000 full-time vegans in the UK - so about one in 400 - according to the British Vegan Society. The ratio goes up to roughly one in 150 in the US, according to the Vegetarian Resource Group, which puts the total figure at two million. Like vegetarians, they don’t eat meat, poultry, fish or by-products of slaughter vegans don’t eat eggs and dairy products either.

I’ve got more energy but I also feel very hungry ”Rachel Hollos said.

But it’s those who dabble in the diet rather than follow it fulltime who are coming to prominence like never before.

Each temporary vegan might have very different motivations.

Some might seek to shed the signs of Christmas indulgence, others might see it as a good way to detox.

According to Juliet Gellatley, director of the vegan and vegetarian group Viva, it mostly comes down to two main reasons - health concerns, and greater awareness about how animals are treated.

“People might be prone to heart disease or want to get their cholesterol down,” she says. “Or it might be because they’ve seen something on factory farming. But once people turn to veganism, they usually open their minds to the other issue too.

“The third factor, which is more unusual, is environmental reasons such as global warning or deforestation,” she says.

It’s a tale that rings true with young professional Rachel Hollos, a global marketing director from London. She says her main motivation for going vegan for a month was the health benefits.

“I have read a lot of articles about how we don’t really need dairy products and how cow’s milk contains lots of hormones, which puts our own hormones out of sync,” she says.

Publicity surrounding a PETA investigation into angora farms also got her thinking.

Rachel says the vegan diet “differs substantially” from her normal diet, which typically includes lots of fish, eggs, goat’s milk and yogurt. The switch has been easy during the week - when she’s able to cook meals at home and prepare packed lunches - but difficult when eating out at weekends.

“I am also missing cakes and chocolate, as most cakes contain butter and eggs, and most dark chocolate contains milk,” she says.

“I definitely feel like I’ve got more energy and feel less bloated, but I also feel very hungry most of the time.”

Advocates for the diet insist this latter sensation is not what veganism is about. Gellatley says hunger is easy to avoid if new vegans plan their meals carefully. Porridge, pulses, lentils and beans all help keep the stomach feeling full, she says.

Someone whose belly hasn’t been rumbling is 32-year-old Luke Graham from Cardiff, despite burning lots of energy in his job as a personal trainer. He says his motivation to sign up to Veganuary was “half ethics and health, and half experiment”.

A vegan diet is all about planning, he says. “I used to put a slab of meat and veg under the grill most nights. Now my cupboard is full of pulses, which has taken some adjustment,” he says.

So far, Luke is finding his energy levels are fine, unlike when he tried going vegan about 10 years ago, which he says “made him “look like a 12-year-old boy”.

“I need to be strong and in good shape for my job and I was worried going vegan was contrary to this. Last time I tried it, I didn’t really understand much about nutrition. Now writing nutrition plans are part of my job,” he says.

Viva’s Gellatley says there’s been a shift in attitude when it comes to men going vegan. “Before many would say there’s no See page XXX

Most famously singer Beyonce and her rapper husband Jay-Z went vegan for 22 days

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Chronicle Pepperpot January 26, 2014

Baby heart-disease risk ‘shaped early in pregnancy’

By Helen Briggs BBC News A baby’s development in the womb in the first weeks of life is critical for future heart health, research suggests.

A link between poor growth in the first trimester and early risk factors for heart disease has been identified for the first time.

The study, in the British Medical Journal, adds to evidence that heart risk is set long before adulthood.

Pregnant women should think about their baby’s heart health as well as their own, the British Heart Foundation said.

The evidence comes from a study tracking the health, from early pregnancy onwards, of nearly 2,000 children born in the Dutch city of Rotterdam.

If you smoke, speak to your GP or midwife about quitting, and keep a check on your blood pressure” Amy Thompson Oof the British Heart Foundation.

A team at the Erasmus University Medical School examined links between the child’s size at the first scan (10 to 13 weeks) and markers of future cardiovascular health at the age of six (central body fat, high blood pressure, high insulin levels and high cholesterol).

“Impaired first trimester foetal growth is associated with an adverse cardiovascular risk profile in school age children,” they reported in the British Medical Journal.

“Early foetal life may be a critical period for cardiovascular health in later life.”

Low birth weight is known to be linked to an increased risk of heart disease in later life. But the new research suggests that

Heart risk could be set in the womb, research suggests not only birth weight, but poor growth in the earliest phase of pregnancy may influence cardiovascular disease risk.

“These results suggest that the first trimester of pregnancy may be a critical period for development of offspring cardiovascular risk factors in later life,” study author Prof Vincent Jaddoe told BBC News.

“Therefore, adverse maternal lifestyle habits influencing early foetal growth may have persistent consequences for their offspring, many decades later.“ This was the first study showing this link and replication in other studies was needed, he added.

Critical stage Amy Thompson, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said the first few months of pregnancy were a critical stage in a baby’s development.

“This study suggests that foetal growth within this time may influence their heart health later in life,” she said.

“However, as the researchers acknowledge themselves, further studies are needed to understand why this pattern exists ,and what it might mean for preventing heart disease.

“If you are pregnant, or planning a family, you should be thinking about your baby’s heart health as well as your own,” she added. “If you smoke, speak to your GP or midwife about quitting, and keep a check on your blood pressure.

“Your midwife will also advise you on other ways you can make healthier choices during pregnancy.”

Chronicle Pepperpot January 26, 2014

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When common sense is needed in wearing common scents Difference between different concentrations of fragrance

By Michelle Gonsalves

H

AVE you ever been tempted to follow someone who passed you smelling really good and ask that person what is the name of their fragrance? Or, on the other hand, have you ever been in a waiting room or public transportation and have someone ask you what you were wearing?

Well, I recently learned that this delightful scent trail has a name - sillage. The whiff of White Diamonds you get when your stylish co-worker passes you in the corridor is its sillage. Sillage is the French word for the ripples left in the water by passing ships. In my opinion a great perfume is one that leaves just the right amount of sillage – you must leave a pleasant cloud in your wake but don’t nauseate anyone.

But from where did this strange habit of applying sweet smelling substances to our skin, hair, clothing and personal possessions come?

And what do the category names on t h e bottles mean? What is cologne, and what is a perfume? And why do some fragrances linger around all day when some are gone within the hour?

Firstly, perfume is one of the oldest inventions ever. The word perfume is derived from the Latin term “per fumus”, meaning through smoke.

The art of making perfumes began in ancient Egypt, and was developed and further refined by the Romans, the Persians and the Arabs.

The world’s first recorded chemist is a person named Tapputi, a perfume maker who was mentioned in a Cuneiform tablet from the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamia.

The Bible describes a sacred perfume (Exodus 30:22-33) consisting of liquid myrrh, fragrant cinnamon, fragrant cane, and cassia. Its use was forbidden, except by the priests.

The oldest perfumery (4000 years old) was discovered on the island of Cyprus in 2004-2005 in excavations by an Italian archaeological team.

Perfume and perfumery also existed in India, but much of its fragrances were incense-based. The earliest distillation of Attar was mentioned in the Hindu Ayurvedic text Charaka Samhita. The Harshacharita, written in 7th century A.D. in Northern India. It mentions use of fragrant agarwood oil.

Islamic cultures contributed significantly to the development of Western perfumery in both perfecting the extraction of fragrances through steam distillation and introducing new, raw ingredients.

The female perfumers of Ancient Greece improved the Egyptian techniques. The Greek used an extraordinary amount of perfume, and there was a different fragrance for each part of the body.

Under the influence of the Middle East and Greece, the Romans very soon also became attached to perfume. The Romans were also very ingenious in creating new fragrances. They indulged, even sprinkled, perfumes on floors and walls. They rubbed horses and dogs with it, and during parties with highly placed persons, they spouted fountains of perfumed water.

But it was the Hungarians who ultimately introduced the first modern perfume. The first modern perfume, made of scented oils blended in an alcohol solution, was made in 1370 at the command of Queen Elizabeth of Hungary. Legend tells that the queen received this perfume from the hand of a monk.

The health of the 70-year-old queen was poor, but from the moment that she took the extract, which became known as “Hungary water”, she completely recovered. She rejuvenated so much that the King of Poland proposed to her.

France quickly became the European centre of perfume and cosmetic manufacture. Cultivation of flowers for their perfume essence, which had begun in the 14th century, grew into a major industry in the south of France. The art of perfumery prospered in Renaissance Italy; and in the 16th century, Italian refinements were taken to France by Catherine de’ Medici’s personal perfumer, Rene le Florentine.

During the Renaissance period, perfumes were used primarily

by royalty and the wealthy to mask body odours resulting from the sanitary practices of the day. Perfume enjoyed huge success during the 17th century. Perfumed gloves became popular in France, and in 1656, the Guild of Glove and Perfume Makers was established.

Perfume came into its own when Louis XV came to the throne in the 18th century, and his court was called “la cour parfumée” (the perfumed court). After Napoleon came to power, exorbitant expenditures for perfume continued. Two quarts of violet cologne were delivered to him each week, and he is said to have used sixty bottles of double extract of jasmine every month.

In early America, the first scents were colognes and scented water by French explorers in New France. Florida water, an uncomplicated mixture of eau de cologne with a dash of oil of cloves, cassia, and lemongrass, was popular.

Today fragrance is created from a number of plant and animal products. The plethora of plant products used includes lavender, lemon, lilac, lily, vanilla, sandalwood, ylang-ylang, eucalyptus and even moss.

Others are magnolia, orange, patchouli, pine, rose, sage, raspberry, iris, geran i um, bergamot, cardamom and frankincense. Animal products range from the musk of a male musk deer to the secretion of a beaver called castoreum. The civet cat often adds his civet, which is a musklike odour.

Don’t forget the important product of ambergris, a waxy m a terial that comes f r o m the sperm whale. This material is what gives perfume its lasting power.

Have you ever walked into a fragrance store and found that some bottles were labelled ‘perfume’ while others were labelled ‘cologne’, for example, and that prices between the two were very different? Fragrances have different levels of concentration.

Contrary to what some persons believe, the term “cologne” can be applied to perfumes for men as well as women. Perfumes and cologne differ from each other mostly in strength. While perfumes are expected to stay on the body longer, between 6 and 8 hours due to the high concentration of essential oils, colognes generally stay for a shorter period of time, approximately 2 hours.

The high concentration of essential oils also contributes to the price difference between the two commodities, making perfumes more expensive than colognes. Due to being more intense, it is said, perfumes last longer, as they are not expected to be used in greater quantities than colognes. The different scents in the perfume and cologne are a mix of natural and synthetic substances that are used to give the perfume its smell.

Perfume: Also called perfume extract or extrait, this is the most expensive version of any fragrance. It is also the most beautiful, because of the whole symphony of top, heart and base notes released over a period of time. This is due to the high concentration of essences – as much as 40% by volume. Perfume is applied directly to the skin on pulse spots – insides of the wrists, behind the ears, at the throat...

The average concentration of essence in a perfume is 25%, which makes it the longest lasting of all the scent categories.

Only a tiny amount is needed, which is reflected in the sizes in which it is sold.

Eau de parfum. The concentration of oils in this commodity is over 15%, sometimes reaching as high as 20%. Since it is less intense than perfume extract, it is also cheaper; but it usually lasts well, and is sold in small sizes.

Eau de toilette. Sometimes used to describe the same concentration as cologne, eau de toilette can contain up to approximately 10% aromatic essence. The top notes – the first scent released by a perfume – are dominant, making it refreshing when it is applied, and it evaporates and fades away quite quickly. Eau de toilette and cologne are the most popular forms in which fragrance is sold, and are particularly appropriate for the summer.

Eau de Cologne. This tends to contain about 5 to 7% essence dissolved in alcohol of 60º or 70º. It is delightfully refreshing in hot weather, and because it doesn’t last long, it can be frequently reapplied directly to the skin. It tends to be marketed in large sizes of up to 200 ml and is often applied by spray.

Eau fraiche. This product has a mere 1 to 3 percent essential oils. Cologne is weak enough, to begin with, and thus is not diluted, as perfume is.

Categories of fragrance Fragrances h o s t

come in a of major categories.

Folks can choose from floral, Oriental, floriental, chypre, green marine and fruit. Floral and fruit fragrances are self-explanatory. Oriental fragrances feature an exotic scent, with the florientals infusing the scent of a fresh bouquet. Chypre offers a citrus and woody odour. Green marine offers a crisp, clean scent reminiscent of a fresh breeze, laundered linen or mountain air.

Estee Lauder’s White Linen, introduced in the 1980s, was a flagship of the green marine movement, which began in earnest in the 1990s.

Smell is the strongest and most immediate scent. It can trigger everything from fond memories to acute nausea.

Folks who wear perfume or cologne should keep this in mind before dousing themselves with too much. A few dabs or spritzs of either product behind the ears or on the wrists are all that’s needed.

(Sources: www.Wikipedia.com, www. eHow.htm, www. hellomagazine.

com, Town and Country, November 2013.)

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The rise of the...

From page XXVII

way they’d give up meat. They were traditionalist, loved their steaks and roasts, (and were) macho about it. But now more moneyed, powerful men are coming out and saying vegan is the healthier way,” she says.

It’s not even always about cutting out meat and dairy for weeks at a time. The VB6 diet, which advocates eating a vegan diet before

Mixed farming: An increasing tourist attraction

By Clifford Stanley

T

HE concept of a mixed farm or mixed farming can drive agro-tourism in rural areas of Guyana.

Mixed farming is one in which crop production is combined with the rearing of livestock, where the livestock enterprises are complementary to crop production so as to provide a balanced and productive system of farming.

There are many people who have become more interested in how their food is produced, and they want to meet farmers and processors and talk with them about what goes into food production.

For many people who visit farms, especially children, the visit marks the first time they see the source of their food, be it a dairy cow, a fish pond, or a fruit they can pick right off a tree.

Farmers worldwide are using this interest to develop traffic at their farms as, well as interest in the quality of their products and awareness of their products.

The mixed farm caters for tourists in that there are opportunities for visitors to be involved in faming even for a day, and to engage in farm activities or observe such activities related to livestock or crop production.

In the aquaculture section of a deliberately designed mixed farm, they can catch fish as part of a visitor experience, or watch chicken being plucked or cows being milked, or be given an opportunity to be involved in these activities.

Then there are parts on this type of integrated farm that cater for aesthetics and relaxation, which could be a shaded area with benches, flowers and facilities for relaxation all in one package.

Agri-tourism involving mixed farm destinations is widespread in America.

Agri-tourists can choose from a wide range of activities that include picking fruits and vegetables, riding horses, tasting honey, learning about wine and cheesemaking, or shopping in farm gift shops and farm stands for local and regional produce or hand-crafted gifts.

The Small Farm Centre at the University of California states: “Agricultural tourism, or agri-tourism, is one alternative for improving the incomes and potential economic viability of small farms and rural communities.

Forms of agri-tourism, such as mixed farming enterprises which combine crop livestock farming and aesthetics and relaxation for visitors, are well developed in California.

In Western North Carolina, the organisation HandMade in America is using agritourism to develop the local economy and craft trades, and to educate visitors

about agricultural practices.

On the website Hand Made in America, they look at agri-tourism as a “... niche market [that] not only assists communities with solutions to help diversify their economic base, but it also helps regional urban centers and increasingly suburban populations to understand the important role that farming and rural life plays in our history, by highlighting the need for it in our contemporary society.

Agri-tourism projects such as mixed farms deliberately designed as tourism destinations reinforce the need to support local farmers, and allow the visitor to experience what it is to be part of the land.

Corn maze is popular tourist attraction on many farms in the United States. Here a maze is cut out of a corn field and visitors have to get from one end of the maze to the other.

Many mazes are based on artistic designs, such as characters from movies. Corn mazes appear in many different designs. Some mazes are even created to tell stories or to portray a particular theme.

Most have a path which goes all around the whole pattern, either to end in the middle or to come back out again.

These mazes are normally combined with other farm attractions of interest to families and day trippers. Some of these attractions include hay rides, a petting zoo, play areas for children, and picnic areas. Each year, a few of the mazes are featured in national newspapers and TV. In the U.S., corn mazes typically are cut down circa the first week of November.

Mixed farming, with the economic benefits of farming as well as a source of tourism income, is a growing trend worldwide.

Why not Guyana?.

18:00, became the fad diet to follow after New York Times food writer Mark Bittman published his book last year.

There are also any number of raw food, juice cleansing, soup slimming diets that involve cutting down on animal products.

But there is also some evidence to suggest that veganism isn’t just for January. The UK market for meat-free products such as tofu, burgers, and imitation chicken fillets was put at £625M in 2013, up 21% from five years earlier, according to Mintel.

The free-from market - which includes dairy free and wheat-and gluten-free products - went up by 72% between the same period.

And the first German all-vegan supermarket chain, Veganz offering more than 6,000 vegan products - is due to open in London later this year.

There may be other reasons why people are moving towards plant-based diets. The horsemeat scandal led to more than half of UK consumers changing their shopping habits, according to consumer group Which?

Others argue celebrity-backed campaigns such as Meat Free Mondays - which Sir Paul McCartney helped launch in a bid to encourage people to reduce their carbon footprint by cutting out meat - have also contributed to a club of “meat reducers”.

But Gellatley believes there’s been a “seismic shift in attitude” towards going vegan, “which is no longer seen as alien”.

“People aren’t necessarily going vegan, but they seem to admire those cutting it out a bit more - they are more apologetic, saying, ‘I know it’s not good for my heart’,” she says.

And the 21-year veteran of veganism says she doesn’t take issue with the apparent disjunction between the principles of veganism adhered to by some devotees and the more casual attitude of the occasional dabbler.

“Any change is positive in my view. Anything that pushes that shift to eat less animals rather than more is good.

“Plus very few people go straight to a vegan diet. Some change overnight, but we get emails from people every day saying they gave up red meat, then white meat, then fish, then dairy etc. Most people go vegetarian before vegan. It’s about opening hearts and minds,” she says.

For Rachel, the vegan diet is only for January. She says she will add fish back into her diet in February, and possibly add organic white meat later.

“The vegan diet has really made me think about what I put into my body, and I’ve come across lots of nutritionally beneficial and tasty recipes which I’ll continue to cook.

“I think there is common sense in a lot of the theories, and it’s definitely a worthwhile challenge,” she says.

The part-time vegan might well become a permanent fix-

Chronicle Pepperpot January 26, 2014

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Woodside Choir

bringing cheer with its liquid melody of tropical voices

By Alex Wayne I AM well aware that Guyana is indeed rich in its abundant vocal talent, and this is a fact I am certainly proud of.

Over the years, as I grew up, I would have had the opportunity to listen to some of the more talented local singers and song groups of my time, but I was certainly not ready for the ‘melodiously invasive music’ of the popular Woodside Choir when I heard them perform at a recent awards ceremony hosted late last year by the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA).

I was already enthralled by their many happy faces the moment they came on stage with ‘merry mischief’ and ‘musical candle flies’ dancing in their eyes; but I sat awe-struck and enthralled in admiration as their angelic voices filled the air, delivering Christmas ballads interwoven with spicy little punch lines that brought bubbles of laughter and gleeful giggles to my lips.

Tropical honey-toned female voices blended majestically with the heavier husky undertones of their male counterparts. There were rich, liquid baritones fused with crystal The Woodside Choir clear falsettos, further accentuated with stirring harmonies that seemed to ooze from heaven.

The masculine tones soothed the soul, even as the pitches and ranges of the females rose to alarming degrees that had me gasping in frenzied amazement.

There I sat engulfed in the rich tropical Caribbean flava they exuded, all engulfed in a ‘musical whirlpool’ of stirring melodies that took me on a spiralling journey before exploding in a blinding kaleidoscope of ‘musical ecstasy’ as they hit certain ranges that just swept my heart and soul away.

From that day onwards, I grew to understand the talented Wood-

side Choir in Guyana has definitely carved a name for themselves in the famed hall associated with lulling Caribbean ballads.

Let’s meet the talented songbirds Guyana’s premier mixed voice choir, and the Woodside Choir, is the oldest secular choir in the Caribbean region, has given more than half a century of service to Guyana.

‘Woodside’, as it is generally known, started as the Bishops’ High School Old Girls’ Choir in 1952, initially to take part in the

. . . y t h ig m e h Secrets of t From page XXIV

Guyanese officials and counterparts.

A report of all observations during the expedition has been presented to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA).

first Music Festival held in then British Guiana. The Choir was so successful, winning both their Class Trophy and the Championship Trophy in the Festival, that they continued to sing as a group, admitting men at a later date.

Their motto, “We sing for the joy of singing”, was coined by a Music Festival Adjudicator who described the choir in those terms in his glowing report on their performance, which won them, as had become the norm, the Festival Championship Trophy.

This choir has served Guyana well over the decades, at important national functions as well as overseas.

Woodside’s renditions featured regularly in the programmes organised at the National Park in observance of Guyana’s Republic Day celebrations, and older folk would remember their lively performances under the lighted Tree in Company Path each Christmas, and at concerts in the Town Hall and at other venues.

Communities in our rural areas also benefited from their talent, since they often appeared at concerts out of Georgetown, travelling as far as the Essequibo Coast. In recognition of this sterling service to the community, the Choir was awarded a National Honour, the Medal of Service, in 1992, for service to the community in the

field of music.

The choir, founded by Lynette Dolphin in 1952, started life as the Bishops’ High School Old Girls Choir. Under its first conductor, Reggie McDavid, it immediately won first prize at the British Guiana Music Festival. In 1956, a number of men joined the group and it then adopted its present name, the Woodside Choir. Woodside was the original name of the Bishops’ High School, which was a girls’ school until the 1980’s. There emerged See page XLIII

A special one-hour version of “Expedition Essequibo” was presented by the EU Delegation in Guyana to a specially invited audience including Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, Acting Tourism Minister Irfan Ally, Minister of Culture Frank Anthony, Diplomatic Corps and others who were instrumental in ensuring that the expedition was a success.

The Team

Guyana Route

Map

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A r i e s New experiences are waiting for you out there in the world, but you won’t have the time to start exploring them fully unless you clear off your plate! Make room for adventure today by completing all those half-finished tasks on your list. And if you have to, ask for help. At least one person owes you a big favour, so why not call it in? Your health is good, but it could be better. It’s time to find a way to inject more exercise into your daily routine.

TaurusThe prettiest packages sometimes hide the ugliest things, so keep that in mind when you encounter someone or something that seems too good to be true today. Just because it glitters does not mean it’s a golden opportunity. People turn on the charm when they lack other qualities -- and sometimes the brighter they shine, the more you should avoid them. Keep asking questions until you feel as if you’ve seen the truth about what is in front of you.

G e m i ni If you are involved in any type of legal negotiations, get prepared for things to move to the next stage today. It’s time to deal with paperwork and make that final commitment. You need to stay on top of all details right now and take no shortcuts, but you can do it -- in fact, you’ve been waiting for this for a long time. Just remember not to accept any grey areas or vague terms. Your life is all about black and white facts right now -- you need to know exactly what you’re getting into.

C a n c e r If a blur of social obligations has left you exhausted, then get some well-deserved alone time today. Treat yourself to a quiet dinner, or rent your favourite movie and just chill out on the couch. It’s not selfish to want to be by yourself -- it’s actually quite healthy. You need downtime to recharge. So when you do get back in a social frame of mind, you’ll be charming and fun to be around. Super-social friends may not understand this inward phase you’re going through, but they will accept it.

L e o Something high up on your wish list is getting tantalisingly close to becoming yours today, thanks in part to the genuine and magnanimous charm you have been showing to a powerful person. You’ve been incredibly generous to them and they want to return the favour. Accept their gift with graciousness, and do not try to play it down.

If you work too hard at the modesty act, they’re going to think twice about whether you deserve it or not! Just say thank you and mean it.

Virgo A family obligation will cause a bit of conflict with you and a friend or sweetie today ... but you should definitely take a risk. Do what you really want to do right now and just be prepared for whatever the consequences may be. If you’re currently unattached, someone you meet through work will provide lots of opportunity for sizzling romance. Be more generous in your assessment of people who don’t quite understand what you’re about. They’ll get it soon enough.

Libra Today is the perfect day to get back in touch with your culinary skills, no matter how much of a novice you may be. Making meals for people you love is a great way to express your personality, exercise your creativity and explore new cultures. Plus, it’s a great way to save money! Being in the kitchen will be relaxing, because you can let your mind wander as you concentrate on whipping up a delicious dinner or fabulous batch of chocolate chip cookies.

Scorpio If you’re having a tough time making a decision about something right now, that’s an easy problem to overcome -- all you have to do is trust your instincts. And if you can’t get in touch with your gut easily, just wait. Be patient, and you will soon start to sense what the right choice is and what feels best. You have to ignore how people might react to your choice, because you have no way of knowing for sure. You can’t see the future, you can only aim for it.

Sagittarius Let go of negative things today -- it will be easier than ever before, because your mind is eager to move on to more positive endeavours. One way is to release yourself from being responsible for other people’s happiness -- you have to let them take care of their own issues. Instead, start focusing more on the new opportunities coming your way soon. Have faith and hope that things are only going to get better, and they will.

C a p r i c o r n It isn’t hard to hold on to your idealistic attitude when you have great people behind you, supporting every step you take. It’s when you’re stuck with negative people who love to complain that you start to get pessimistic about where things are going. So make sure you’re hanging out with positive forces, people who know how to keep you focused and on track. Stick with the folks who aren’t interested in tearing you down to make themselves feel better.

Aquarius Anything is possible today. It’s a very expansive day, and you’re more positive than you’ve felt in a long time. But today’s strong vibe of opportunity will encourage bad events just as much as positive outcomes, so be sure to stay skeptical as much as possible. Consequences are a fact of life in whatever path you choose, so make sure you do something good for you -- both emotionally and physically.

Pieces Grab something to hang onto today, because your creativity is about to take off like a rocket! It’ll be simple as can be for you to find ways to add more fun, colour, music and beauty to your life. All you have to do is pay attention to things that confuse you -- when your brain can’t wrap itself around something, it starts coming up with real innovation, helping you create something new. Not surprisingly, your mood will stay bright and positive throughout the day.

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Woodside ...

F r o m page XXIV

three arms: the Ladies Choir, the Male Voice Choir and the Mixed Voice Choir, followed later by the Folk Song Group, developments which took place under the directorship of J.D. and W.J. Simmons.

After that first success in 1952, Woodside continued its winning ways throughout its history as the champion choir at successive music festivals, even up to the 1990’s, when a few festivals were held.

Among its accomplishments have also been successful overseas tours to Trinidad, Barbados and, most recently, Suriname in 1995.

A succession of eminent musicians has also contributed to the choir’s development. These include conductors Sheila Bacchus Lampart, Ruby McGregor, Moses Telford and Aubrey Joseph. In addition, Joan McDavid Gilkes, Ceciline Baird, Clem Nichols, Jnr, Patricia Sam, June Bunyan Stephens, Wendy Pollard, Olivia Benjamin, Daphne Scott, Marguerite Marks Clayton, Patricia Smith, Deborah Smith and Joyceline Hunte have served as accompanists.

During that period, the Woodside grew to become the most distinguished, most accomplished and most celebrated choir in the country; perhaps until deeper research discovers otherwise, the most prominent choral group of its kind in Guyana’s history. The team seems to have settled over the past decade, developing further, diversifying and even undergoing a kind of rejuvenation, which it is hoped will be sustained.

Among the spin-off developments have been the formation of a satellite group, which evolved out of the Woodside folk singing. This is the formation of the fast rising Korokwa, a folk group made up entirely of Woodside members once led by Deputy Conductor, guitarist and soloist, Deryck Bernard. Korokwa released a CD of their music not so long ago, while, as a part of the Jubilee programme, Woodside produced its first CD featuring Christmas music.

The choir has performed extensively across Guyana and has produced many major concerts including some of its best at the Cultural Centre. For its sterling contribution to music in Guyana, the Woodside was awarded a joint Medal of Service in the National Honours list.

Sunday’s performance was subsumed into a service at St Andrews during which many tributes were

The melodious voices of a lifetime paid to the group and scriptures were read and alluded to about music and worship. Particularly relevant to this was the final selection performed, ‘Psalm 150,’ arranged by Bill Pilgrim, which has been a major item on the repertoire for a long time. It rejoices in praise of the Lord with trumpets, cymbals and voices; another Psalm which glorifies or refers to music. The Christian tone of the performance was obvious and understandable. The choir also sang ‘The Lord is My Shepherd’ by Schubert and ‘Achieved is the glorious work’ by Haydn. Some attempt seems to have been made to acknowledge history by having the Woodside Ladies Choir and the Woodside Mixed Voice Choir perform separate items.

Few choirs of any note exist, and many have bloomed and faded. The once famed Police Male Voice Choir is long extinct; we hear occasionally of the Marigolds and the group led by Edith Pieters; the University Choir at Turkeyen (UG) once led by Patricia Persaud seems to have graduated and departed these shores.

Whatever choirs there might be in schools do not usually assume any prominence. There is hardly any visible inheritance from music festivals and Woodside workshops. Even the bright influx of young recruits into Woodside itself in the nineties has not been a solid guarantee of continuity. It is not clear how many have remained. Neither have there been any announcements of new choirs.

And although they have made some effort, the task cannot be Woodside’s to initiate the formation of other groups.

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