Guyana Chronicle Pepperpot E-Paper 08-05-2022

Celebrating all Mothers

2022

Sunday, May 08, 2022

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CHRONICLE PEPPERPOT ― Sunday, May 08, 2022

Motherhood and the world of work

MOTHER’S Day is a celebration honouring mothers, motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on different days in many parts of the world, most commonly in the months of March or May. This year, the Pepperpot Magazine highlights working mothers, and zeroed in on the media fraternity, where two extraordinary women and mothers have not only made great contributions to their craft, but are very much balancing the demands of their children and their household as a whole.

Natasha Smith-Thomas on assignment for the Department of Public Information (DPI)

Michela Abraham Ali, Deputy CEO, NCN

Natasha Smith Thomas and Michela Abraham Ali discussed their challenges and joys of motherhood as they balanced both their careers and their role at home.

Thomas explained that one of her major challenges as a mother was actually experienced as early as when she was pregnant.

“I was pregnant with twins, and I went into premature

labour at six to seven months,” Thomas told the Pepperpot Magazine. “I think that was because of how hard I worked, because I remember going home like about 8 o’clock in the night, and early in the morning I went into labour, like some time between 5:30 to 6. And since media is not a desk job, as a result of the fatigue, I lost one of my babies. I just have one of them now, and he is 10 years old.”

Thomas explained that another challenge she faced occurred while performing her function as a news anchor during her second pregnancy.

She explained that she was removed from the anchor chair as one of the leading news presenters, presumably because of her appearance. This matter caused some controversy, and was also publicised in the media.

Thomas explained that the experience took a great toll on her, mentally and physically. Again, the stress caused premature labour because of the attention the story received, according to Thomas.

“My boys are now five and ten years old, and, of course, they had everything that normal children would have. And they miss their Mommy, and they are made aware of the times when their Mommy has to work. They are smart kids; nevertheless, I receive a lot of support. I lost my own mother two years ago, and she supported me a lot in raising my children. But I also receive support from my other relatives, inclusive of my sisters and aunt,” Thomas told the Pepperpot Magazine The Pepperpot Magazine also sat down with Media Executive Michela Abraham Ali, who now sits at the helm of one of the country’s leading media organisations as its Deputy Chief Executive Officer.

Ali, during her interview with the Pepperpot Magazine, made it clear that were it not for the support of her husband and other family members, she certainly would not have made it.

She expressed that this is because of the nature of her job, which entails travelling for long hours and days on end.

“Because of a very, very helpful, available, present father and husband, he continues to be there. Our family is such a better place because of him and his support of my own career. Between 2016 to now, I have had to travel extensively to the administrative regions SEE PAGE XXIII of the country, which, in many cases, aren’t one-day

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CHRONICLE PEPPERPOT ― Sunday, May 08, 2022

‘It is important to have a stable mindset when raising children’ --Mother of four says

CEO of Camille’s Academy Inc., Camille Deokie Gorakh

PARENTING calls for a certain mental and emotional stability that one may have never thought necessary until he or she actually did become a parent. To some, it probably seems like an easy deal.

‘What more could it possibly be than buying diapers, wipes, and baby food; I can afford it!’ may be the reasoning.

But it is when the reality kicks in that they realise that nothing they’d read or heard from someone properly prepared them for the task of raising a child. It can thus become very overwhelming, as you now have to figure things out and navigate all of the hurdles that come your way.

Mothers, undoubtedly, bear the brunt of it all, at least in most cases. It’s as if their entire life is put on pause for a number of years.

While daycare and other facilities may be available to some, there are those mothers who prefer to do everything themselves, just so as to provide an optimum level of care for the child.

Day in, day out of caring

for a child; working, doing household chores and caring for other responsibilities can

Camille Deokie Gorakh has 19 years of experience in parenting, but since she

Camille receiving the GCCI 2021 Woman in Business Award from Minister Susan Rodrigues

With her supportive husband and four sons

take a toll that, quite frankly, only a mother would really understand.

was about 16, she spent time with young children, helping to educate them. The mother

of four boys, she considers herself mother to the 1,400 other children among the branches of Camille’s Acad-

emy Inc. for which she is the Chief Executive Officer.

After leaving school in Soesdyke, she used her par-

ents’ garage to help neighbourhood kids, and, eventually, this led her to opening up the first private school on the East Bank Demerara.

She was just 20 years old at the time.

Even though Camille came out of the classroom in 2019, she still considers herself an educator to this day, because of her continued involvement in the lives of the children. In an interview with Pepperpot Magazine, she said what she especially loves about children are their innocence and authenticity.

With her 19-year-old son already in the working world, the three others are still pupils of the Academy, while Camille is focused on achieving her PhD in Business Management, having already completed her MBA. “The best thing about being a mom is having someone whose life becomes SEE PAGE XIII

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CHRONICLE PEPPERPOT ― Sunday, May 08, 2022

A force to reckon with

Guyana-born legal professional is also a ‘Second Dan Black Belt’ ALICIA Nathalie Sims recently completed a degree programme in Criminology and Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto and is anxiously looking forward to her graduation ceremony in June.

The 23-year-old Guyana-born lives a hectic and productive life and hardly finds time for social activities. Instead, she is completely engulfed seven days a week, and it’s truly amazing how she copes.

In an interview with Sunday Pepperpot at the Iron Fist Karate Dojo, Scarborough, Ontario, where she and her father Michael manage and teach karate, the Second Dan Black Belt, who works part-time at a legal firm while contemplating which area in law she will eventually pursue, teaches karate from Monday to Saturday.

Leaning toward sports or business law, Alicia said she took the year off after graduation was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic to save some money

Alicia conducts one of her sessions at the Iron Fist Karate Dojo

Alicia Sims at the Iron Fist Karate Dojo

and compete.

Still very much competing, she does her personal

training mostly on Sundays, and during the week, she and her teammates go through

Alicia shows off her two gold medals won at a Provincial Championship

Alicia and her father Michael

their paces with their Sensei.

A Bronze medal winner in the -61 kg Women’s Kumite category at the 2019 Canadian National Championships, held in Edmonton, Alicia has her sights

set on representing Guyana at international championships but lamented the fact that the country of her birth isn’t a member of the World Karate Federation (WKF) which makes it difficult for

the country to compete at the Pan American Championships, Worlds and other prestigious championships.

In order to compete at the National Championships, contestants are required to be in the top two at the Provincial Championships. Alicia’s performance at the Provincial Championships during 2019 earned her a spot on the Ontario team, while she was chosen to represent Canada at an international tournament the same year following her Bronze medal feat at Nationals.

Facing competitors from USA, China, Turkey, Japan among other countries, Alicia failed to medal. She however pointed out that the experience was invaluable. “I encountered lots of champions who were vying for supremacy in my category, plus they were also vying for places in their Olympic squads as the sport was being introduced for the first time at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.”

Touching on the Provincial Games, Alicia said those are usually held at five locations around Ontario – Brampton, North York, Markham, Orangeville and ---, so there are at least five tournaments in a year. Contestants are then graded on their overall performances over that one-year period.

“I started out at Team SEE PAGE XVI

CHRONICLE PEPPERPOT ― Sunday, May 08, 2022

Honey-roasted peanuts, anyone?

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Young breadwinner helping to make ends meet at home BEING one of the two breadwinners in his home with his single-parent mom and five siblings, 19-year-old Andrew Lamaison has recently started up a small business that he named ADDL De Dan’s

Honey Roasted Peanuts and Raisins – a business that he’s working diligently on every day and has plans to expand.

It all started with Andrew’s trip to Stabroek Market, where he found the pea-

19-year-old Andrew Lamaison

Andrew is hoping to expand his business by supplying supermarkets and other places

Boiling the nuts in some sugar and honey

nuts that were ideal for his business. Sorting through the bags of nuts, he’d ensure that he selected the ones that were whitish in colour, definitely not green, because he’d seen from experience how those came out

too soft.

E v e n t h o u g h h e ’s learned many things on the job, it was the Youtube videos that he and his big brother, Jermaine, watched that made him realise that it was definitely something he could do, and, incidentally,

he had always been on the lookout for work that he could do on his own, as opposed to working with people, especially the bossy ones that he didn’t like.

He tried various jobs, including delivering beverages for a company and con-

Always on the lookout for a business idea, Andrew recently started up his small business

struction but always wanted to do something on his own.

His big brother, although never having done honey roasted nuts specifically, knew how to run a business, so Andrew was able to tap into his experience.

“I started doing delivery of beverages, and I tried another work. I did construction, and it was hard. I kept going and saving until I got an idea because I don’t like working with people, especially those who like to boss you around,” he shared in an interview with Pepperpot Magazine.

While working, Andrew would always be careful about spending his hardearned dollars and chose to save as much as he could.

He, therefore, had the money he needed when it was time to start up the peanut business.

Now, every day, from about 10:00hrs to 17:00hrs, he’d station himself at the Independence Street, La Grange, West Bank Demerara entrance and would not leave until he accomplishes his target for the day – 40 bags of honey roasted nuts.

“We aim to get out 40 bags a day, and we don’t come in until we sell off all the nuts. I love the business because it’s very easy to do; you get to interact with people every day, and you’re your own boss.”

Meanwhile, continuing to explain the process of getting his nuts ready, Andrew related what he’d do next after picking out the perfect set from the market. “I start by washing it and putting it in some sugar and water to boil.

Then I add honey, a pinch of salt and wait for it to boil. It takes about 15 minutes to be crystalised.”

Continuing, he said he’d next take out the nuts and leave them to cool so that the ingredients he mixed them in could become attached to SEE PAGE IX

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CHRONICLE PEPPERPOT ― Sunday, May 08, 2022

Number 10 Village, a place of self-reliant people

Number 10 Village, Mahaica Creek, East Coast Demerara, an agricultural community that is on the verge of development (Carl Croker photos)

THIS week the Pepperpot Magazine visited the quiet, breezy countryside village of Number 10, Mahaica Creek, East Coast Demerara to highlight the way of life of the locals.

This village can be found down the De Hoop, Mahaica Access Road, which runs deep into the backlands area, with the last village being Grass Hook and Joe Hook.

Along this stretch of road, there are about 15 small villages, most of which produce high-quality bora and rice on a large scale.

Number 10 Village is between Industry and Handsome Tree.

This small communi-

ty has a Police Outpost, a Nursery and Primary School which are housed in one building next to the Police Outpost edifice, which used to be the Headteacher’s house.

The houses are scattered near the Mahaica Creek and along the access road.

Number 10 Village is an agricultural community with the main agriculture activity being rice production and cash crops. Residents also rear chickens, goats, sheep, cows and ducks.

There is an abundance of fruits and vegetables in this village and almost every household has a kitchen garden and the people would

utilise the canal and creek to fish.

Number 10 Village has 100 dwelling houses and about 300 residents who are either farmers, housewives or small business owners.

The village has a handful

of skilled individuals who work in both the private and public sector.

The locals are a bit sceptical when it comes to strangers, but they eventually warm up to the team after we exchanged friendly banter.

It is a village where the people do many things to earn and it is also a place of families, most of them are related by blood and they are very neighbourly.

Number 10 Village is a virtually crime-free place where nothing goes missing, a village where ducks, fowls, cattle and other animals walk on the roadside freely, and doors are left unlocked.

The people are hardworking, and they are hospitable.

Number 10 Village has vast farmlands which are utilised to the fullest for large scale rice cultivation and cash crops.

The lands are privately-owned and plots were inherited from the first settlers, who have long passed on, but their families occupy the lands, some of which they rent to farmers.

The lives of the residents of Number 10 Village were significantly enhanced when

the main access road was paved in 2008.

Before the access road was constructed, the village was only accessible by boat and launch which went through the creek.

As a result, of the major development of an all-weather road, more people began settling there, and it was after some time they benefitted from electricity, potable water and internet service.

Some villages are not receiving potable water supply SEE PAGE XI

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CHRONICLE PEPPERPOT ― Sunday, May 08, 2022

No place like home in Number 10 Village

By Michel Outridge

TAJMATTIE Gokul called “Bibi” is a pensioner, who has lived all her life in Number 10 Village, Mahaica Creek and is a farmer,

The mother of five related that her parents were among the first settlers of the village. As such, it is her home.

Her parents, who have long passed on, were farm-

Gokul and her sister used to assist with the chores and farming, where they lead a humble but satisfying life as youngsters.

At age 14 she dropped

sioner, Gokul had an accident which left her somewhat shell-shocked and it took away her love for commuting.

Gokul related that even came grown and left home, she sold off the cattle and just have some ducks and chickens.

O n t h a t d a y, when the team visited, Gokul’s daughter was visiting and she was assisting in peeling some katahar which would be used

Tajmattie Gokul (Carl Croker photos)

to make a curry.

The elderly woman does all her own cooking and household chores and just about everything else, such as farming, ploughing the field and tending to the livestock.

SEE PAGE XXII

Mulchand Persaud

Tajmattie Gokul and her husband

‘shining’ in her golden years.

ers, and they also had livestock and cattle.

out of school, and, at 19 years old (in 1969) she got married.

Soon after, she and her husband started a family and had five children, one of whom passed away two years ago.

After her parents died, she inherited the house and farmlands. Her only sibling, a sister, resides overseas.

As a farmer, when she was much younger, she used to go to Bourda Market to sell her produce, but, as she progressed in age, she quit going to markets and began selling to wholesale buyers who would visit.

Apart from being a pen-

though she is not getting electricity from the Guyana Power and Light Company (GPL) they installed solar panels to be self-sufficient in that regard.

When the children be-

Tajmattie Gokul’s home

Home of Mulchand Persaud

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CHRONICLE PEPPERPOT ― Sunday, May 08, 2022

Number 10 Village

Where residents enjoy a simple way of life

By Michel Outridge RAJESH Parrimkumar is a very simple man but a hardworking rice farmer who is trying to harvest his cultivation before the rainy season is upon us.

He is a resident of Number 10 Village, Mahaica Creek, East Coast Demerara and is renting some farmlands within the village to plant rice.

Parrimkumar stated that they are in the process of cutting rice, but the rain has been hampering the process, causing delays.

He reported that rice farming has been in his family for a long time, for as

income when there is a harvest, a profit isn’t guaranteed because of many challenges including, the weather but we try to make it work,” he said.

This villager started to help his father on the farm at a young age, so he was in the ‘know’ about rice farming after some time.

In 1992, Parrimkumar started his own farm which is located aback Mahaica Creek and Mahaicony Village, way into the backlands area.

He has lived all his life in the village and he has a very contented life, a nice, clean home and a wife and children by his side.

Rice framer, Rajesh Parrimkumar (Carl Croker photos)

long as he can remember, his father was a rice farmer.

As such, he grew up and became a rice farmer since the prospects of getting other jobs in that area are non-existent.

“Rice farming is a nice thing once you know what you are doing, it is a lot of work, but it brings in an

Parrimkumar also went to school in the village and back then he did so by launch or boat. Today, an existing road made things a lot easier for the people there.

He stated that life wasn’t always easy but he is happy that things have changed for the better in terms of community-based development.

Parrimkumar added that his mother died two years ago but his father is alive and is a taxi driver in the village.

He stopped framing due to his age and he is doing what suits him as a pensioner.

The rice farmer told the Pepperpot Magazine that he got married in 1994 and the union produced two children.

The eldest, a daughter, is married with one child, a daughter and she resides next door with her family.

The 42-year-old disclosed that his son is unmarried and he assists him with the farming and they would employ a man or two when they have to harvest.

“The weather plays a vital role in a good production and lately, I have had losses due to the flood and the consistent rainfall,” he said.

H o w e v e r, t h i s c r o p , which he started cutting rice, he is hoping for a favourable production. He has a rice cultivation of 250 acres of land.

Vidyawattie Samaroo, the expectant mother Meanwhile, in the same village, is the home of Vidyawattie Samaroo, a stay-athome mother of a toddler, who is heavily pregnant with her second child.

The homemaker told the Pepperpot Magazine that she would have a lot to do in and around the house and when the team visited, she was washing some clothes.

Her house is located at the rear of her husband’s aunt’s place where they have crops of boulanger and tomatoes.

Home of Rajesh Parrimkumar

Vidyawattie Samaroo

Samaroo, a very attractive woman, stated that life in Number 10 Village is quiet and nice.

Because she has no problems with the people and it is one of those villages where people do not get involved in other people’s business.

The 21-year-old added that after marriage four years ago, she relocated to Number 10 Village and it

has been good.

She is originally from Enmore, East Coast Demerara and is married to a combine operator, who was away that day, at work in the rice fields.

Samaroo reported that she hardly ever has to leave the house except to go shopping or go to the clinic which is at High Dam, Mahaicony, also on the East Coast Demerara.

Since vehicles selling goods, greens, and just about everything else comes into the community regularly.

“Life here is breezy, peaceful and nice. I like it here, things are just going well and it is home because I have my own little family, and I am looking forward to seeing my unborn baby,” she said.

Home of Vidyawattie Samaroo

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CHRONICLE PEPPERPOT ― Sunday, May 08, 2022 Chaitram Jagnarain (Carl Croker photos)

Fulfilling a life-long dream of contributing to society

By Michel Outridge

farmlands and he rents the rest.

“I dropped out of school at the primary level and you see me, I never attended high school and spent time assisting my father planting rice. He went to school by launch and it was right in the village. Back then, they had mud dams and travelling was only by boat,” he said.

Jagnarain remembered when he was young, they used to milk the cows and join the launch to the Mahaica Market to

CHAITRAM Jagnarain, better known as “Lincoln,” is not an ordinary man. In fact, he is a large-scale rice/cattle farmer who also has a small contracting service and returned from Canada to his homeland to contribute to society some years ago.

Jagnarain is a resident of Number 10 Village, Mahaica Creek, East Coast Demerara, who grew up in the village but migrated to Canada in 1996 when he was just 23 years old.

After living in Canada where he had his first child, a daughter, and working in a factory as a forklift operator, he was forced to come back home following the death of his father in 2009.

Jagnarain is a large-scale rice farmer who cultivates 500 acres of rice only in Burma and Mahaica areas, where he is renting farmlands from locals.

He has more than 20 years of experience in rice- farming, having learned from his father at an early age.

The resident of Number 10 Village told the Pepperpot Magazine that climate change plays an integral role in rice farming, and whenever it rains a lot these Home of Chaitram Jagnarain days, making it more difficult to harvest rice. sell, then would return home the same way after buying goods He explained that in the dry season, they would get a good for the home. crop, but when it rains, cutting rice entails more labour.

The resident added that life was very hard back then, Jagnarain would employ a few men from within the vil- because everything was manual labour. They used to put the lage to assist in his rice cultivation. He owns only 30 acres of paddy in the bag and sew it up before taking it to the rice mill.

Honey-roasted peanuts... them. And lastly, he said he’d throw in the raisins.

Andrew also makes his own paper bags for the nuts. “I buy the band paper from Ghandi’s Store, and me and my big brother would make the bags in different sizes.”

For some reason, Friday is the brightest sale day for Andrew, while Sunday is the most flexible. On Sunday, he leaves work as soon as he sells out the number of bags that he had planned.

Although he does delivery at times, Andrew is hoping to someday be able to expand his business by supplying to supermarkets and the like. A top priority for him at the moment is to become mobile, to have a form of transportation that can help with the delivery. His ultimate goal is to make enough to be able to live comfortably, and he FROM PAGE V

However, with the intervention of machinery and equipment, farming has become easier and uses less manpower and labour to get the job done faster.

Jagnarain told the Pepperpot Magazine that in the early years of rice-farming, he had a small tractor and it took days to plough three acres of field. Today, it takes 15 to 20 minutes to do that as a result of modern farming machinery.

The farmer disclosed that he has in his employ his son and four others.

Jagnarain is planting only two varieties of rice, and the drainage and irrigation system is about 80 percent complete as a result of the rising tide.

He reported that way back when life was hard when they did not have roads in the village, but when they benefitted from the main access road the place became more populated.

Today, the village has all-weather internal streets and concrete walkways leading to the schools and police outpost, which is located at the rear of the village.

Recalling a part of his life, Jagnarain said he met a lovely young lady when he was 22 years old, and they got married in 1992.

He reported that his wife migrated to Canada a year after marriage and within six months he was able to join her.

Jagnarain noted that during the years he was living in Canada, he came back to Guyana a few times to visit his parents and siblings.

He is from a large family of 15 siblings, three of whom passed away. His siblings include eight brothers and seven sisters.

Jagnarain told the Pepperpot Magazine that he gives back to society when it is necessary,as he did during the flood by way of hampers to those affected.

He explained that a few of the farmers came together and started a hamper drive which was distributed evenly within the village to bring some form of relief to locals.

“I did enjoy my younger years, and like any countryman I used to ride horses, climbed [sic] coconut trees and fish,” he said.

Andrew preparing the nuts

firmly believes that he will get there in time.

Andrew also makes music in his spare time, such as when he finishes work early on Sundays. He can still remember his school days when he would ‘clash’ with students of other schools to see who would put on the better performance, usually during lunch breaks, and on some rare occasions, during school hours when there was no class.

And one day during his stint in fourth form, he recalled how GTT visited Uitvlugt Secondary, where he was a student, and took along local entertainers to tell their stories to the youths. He had an opportunity on this occasion to show off his talent, and then later, he was introduced by a relative to the owners of a music studio where he recorded his first Christmas song, to be followed by several others.

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CHRONICLE PEPPERPOT ― Sunday, May 08, 2022

The resourceful women of Number 10 Village

By Michel Outridge ELIZABETH Persaud, called “Lizzie”, is a new resident of Number 10 Village, Mahaica Creek, East Coast Demerara, and is so far liking the community since she is surrounded by relatives of her husband.

The 22-year-old told the Pepperpot Magazine during a recent visit that it had been three months since she began living there.

She added that even though her house is the last in the street, she is not afraid, because incidents of crime are unheard of in that village.

Persaud resides in Number 10 Police Outpost Street, which leads to a walkway to the school and police outpost which is nearest to the creek.

Her husband works on farms as a labourer within the village, and that day, even though it was raining heavily, he had gone to work.

“I take things easy. I would get up and cook for my husband to go to work every day and then do the chores and take a rest because I am still recovering from losing a baby,” she said.

Although Persaud is sad about losing her unborn child, she still manages to put on a smile and appear as though things are normal.

She is originally from Cane Grove Village, also on the East Coast Demerara, and after marriage, she relocated to Number 10 Village where she occupies a modest but adequate house.

While her husband is away at work during the day, her companions are two dogs, the pets, Brown Girl and Moti, who are around to ensure her safety is not violated by visitors.

By that time, Persaud had already prepared lunch, a meal of rice with bora and chicken.

She also had an outdoor fireside, and she would use it whenever the weather is good.

Persaud has electricity, but no potable water supply,

a housewife/vendor who sells her produce at the Mon Repos Market on Saturdays.

The mother of three is a go-getter, and is talented.

She does many things to earn a living, including farming and rearing livestock.

Pilay and her husband have a small farm of cash crops, and when they have a harvest like she did with tomatoes, she would commute to the market to sell the produce before it perishes.

She began farming five

Latchmin Pilay

and would store up rainwater to use for household purposes.

She describes life there as fair, and she is getting used to the quietness of the village where the air is fresh, and there is enough space to dwell in absolute tranquility.

LATCHMIN PILAY, FARMER AND VENDOR Latchmin Pilay is a resident of Number 10 Village, Mahaica Creek, and she is

years ago to assist in earning alongside her husband, who is a farmer and labourer.

Pilay is from Enmore, East Coast Demerara, but began living in Number 10 Village after marriage.

Her father is a fisherman, and her mother is a domestic worker. She has three brothers.

She has been married for the past 11 years, and she likes the small village where everyone is familiar with each other.

The yard space is large,

Latchmin Pilay displaying her crop of tomatoes she would be selling at the Mon Repos Market this weekend

so they have some chickens, some ducks, some sheep, cows and goats, as well as a farm of cash crops and many fruit trees.

They utilise the canal in front of their house to set seine, and recently they caught 21 patwa fishes which will be used as a meal.

“In this village, we do not buy greens and fruits among other things, because we have our own, and it is just groceries we would purchase when the need arises. I like the country life, and it suits me because we have the space to do many things to earn a living,” she said.

Pilay said she is very comfortable, because they have water, light and Internet, so they are not missing out on anything.

Elizabeth Persaud

She related that transportation is only by car or taxi, and it is pricey, since buses do not ply that route.

Pilay is also caring for another child whose mother passed away. And she is surrounded by her husband’s

relatives who live nearby.

This hardworking woman told the Pepperpot Magazine that the village is nice, and the people are equally nice and neighbourly, so they have no real issues to contend with.

The place Latchmin Pilay calls home

Elizabeth Persaud’s home (Photos by Carl Croker)

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CHRONICLE PEPPERPOT ― Sunday, May 08, 2022

Number 10 Village, a ...

FROM PAGE VI nor electricity.

The launch and boat service became inoperable about 15 years ago after the main access road was built, and the drainage and irrigation system within the village was also boosted to reduce incidents of flooding.

The people of Number 10 Village are self-reliant

and pretty much grow their own foods and cattle, so they hardly have to leave the community to make purchases because vans selling almost everything would pass through every week.

The village has three shops vending hardware, fertilisers and other products. Some people would go to Mahaica Market to get essentials when necessary.

Some farmers would

The signage for the Police Outpost at Number 10 Village

still take their produce to various markets along the East Coast corridor to sell on weekends while others would await the arrival of wholesale buyers whenever they have a good harvest.

It was noted that most of the locals have lived there all their lives and for them, there is no place like home, where the heart is and it is their place of contentment.

There are some who

An everyday feature of the village, ducks in a canal.

Birds in the community are a part of the landscape.

The Police Outpost

settled in Number 10 Village after marriage and they seem right at home, not missing out on much and have adjusted quite naturally to the rustic rural lifestyle.

There are a lot of wideopen spaces in Number 10 Village, clean air and a green environment which is full of trees, fruits, vegetables, plants and canals.

It is safe to say that the village is a breadbasket since 90 percent of the people are farmers.

The Primary/Nursery School at Carl Croker photos saved in Number a folder 10 in Village Graphics as Number 10 (May 3, 2022).

Captions: 0575, 0573- The roads in the village 0586 – 0600 – The unfinished head teacher’s house 0862 –

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CHRONICLE PEPPERPOT ― Sunday, May 08, 2022

THE AGE OF HUBERT CRITCHLOW Shaping our modern times

UBERT Nathaniel Critchlow was born on December 18, 1884. His father was James Nathaniel Critchlow, a British subject of Barbados. His mother was Julia Elizabeth Critchlow, nee Daniels, from the Essequibo Coast. He attended the Bedford Wesleyan Primary School (possibly Bourda). His father died when he was 13 years old, so he left school to help feed his family, working on the tough waterfront of Georgetown. (See Wikipedia) He was 21 years old in 1905, a year that was the most pivotal pre-independence year in modern Guyanese history and social existence. 1905 launched a dangerous but necessary and unavoidable struggle in the then British Guiana that would usher in a new era of rights for the working class at the cost of blood and sacrifice.

It is strange that none of the correspondences of that period (1905-6) remains in our archives.

But it is the story of Georgetown that would echo throughout the colony and beyond. The conflicts of change that followed post-emancipation British Guiana were centred around primarily the conflicts between the plantocracy-controlled administration of the colony and the ambitions of the manumitted former slave populations, now British subjects, whose expressions of entrepreneurship was seen as a force to be curtailed and distinguished that would lead them back to the plantations. The plots, schemes and privilege of authority held by the old plantation owners and merchants did intercept and derail, in some cases, and curtailed the entrepreneurship of the Afro-Guianese, who were, from the beginnings of the town of Stabroek, the majority.

This led to numerous conflicts, as, with the uneasy

introduction of indentured labour at the cost of the new villages, whose taxes were diverted to serve the planters by aiding the financing of indentured labour, the indentured Portuguese were ma-

ditions of Georgetown did not change much. Earnings were minimal. However, a Creole middle class had emerged, but mostly oblivious through interactions with the grassroots. The

referred to by Henry Kirke, Magistrate and Sheriff of Demerara, who remarked, “Let anyone walk through the yards which lead out of lower Regent Street, Lombard Street and Leopold Street in

the natural class perception to deemphasise, based on the creature of academic accolades. This affected Critchlow in the peak of his contribution, in the interest of the Plantocracy merchants and

nipulated by the plantocracy administration into eagerly accepting the opportunity to replace the business thrust of the manumitted subjects.

This led to numerous riots and confrontations, bringing to the fore folk leaders like the apocalyptic Afro-preacher James Sayers Orr, also known as ‘The Angel Gabriel’, attacking the schemes of the Catholic influence in placing the Portuguese in a favourable position at the sacrifice of the Creole Africans, resulting in serious riots. The year was 1856.

This hostility between the two groups would, however, change somewhat. Leading to the 1900s, the social con-

decline of sugar, taxation and meagre wages haunted the mass of workers. Two areas of mass employment, the waterfront and general labour services, suffered. By the 1880s, mining in the hinterland had begun. This area attracted mainly men from the first villages, more than city dwellers. The former was not subject to rentals, had farming groves that could be attended to, and fed families in their absence, while those who resided in the troubled wards of the town were tied to rents and the daily expenses for victuals.

This was the atmosphere of dismal living conditions

Georgetown, and let him ask how he expects law-abiding citizens to be raised therein.”

In the 1905 riot, Critchlow was a young man, but he urged the boys (many of them teenagers, this category existed up to the late 1970s) to put down tools. Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow was fully committed to the struggle of the masses of grass-root workers; both male and female found in him a shoulder to lean on, his tact and incredible courage. Critchlow was an athlete, and a stick fighter, a common martial arts sport of the day. He was an organiser who was committed to the ideas of his struggle.

What cannot be ignored is

the local emerging political and professional middle class, even by his first limited Biographers. For example, “Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow, affectionately called ‘Skibbee’, was a stevedore on the waterfront of Georgetown.

From his humble and offtimes humiliating occupation, there stemmed his philosophy of the workers, his great dream of freeing them from the fetters of exploitation and degradation, and his vision of forming a militant working-class organisation to be used as an instrument for accomplishing his aim. Thus, Critchlow founded the labour union in the early 1919s.

It was the first in what was

called the Colonial Empire.

Critchlow was thus the Father of Trade unionism in Guyana and the Caribbean. He was the foremost freedom fighter of the early 20th Century.

It was significant good fortune that the Father of Trade Unionism was an outstanding athlete in his prime, for the husky physique which he developed played right in with the requirements of a pioneer working-class organiser in a hostile and reactionary capitalist society” see-GUYANA GRAPHIC Independence Souvenir page 41 -1966 {the article is called ‘50 Years of History’ but carried no pen name. Most of the significant political party leaders that had emerged pre-Independence joined Critchlow’s school of organisation (for their own purposes), the B.G.L.U. Many others came to usurp his authority, claiming the union was generating too much money, and he was not educated to handle it.

Such temerity lay with the curse of the ‘Colonial ego.’

See -page 347 ‘A Survey of Guyanese History Dr. Winston McGowan’.

It is imperative that our young leaders look to the era of Critchlow, and not only the repetitive text around this time. I close with a ‘third person’ statement by Critchlow that embodied his time. “He don’t want no man to get themselves in no trouble, for the government don’t like him, and they will do anything to put him in prison, but He is a free English subject, and can speak as he likes, He don’t mind how many spies is sent out to listen and report him”. -McGowan: “It was a British Governor in 1918 after a protest at Government House, Governor Sir Wilfred Collet, who had advised Critchlow to establish a genuine trade union, and to seek the assistance of unions in England.” See -Hazel M. Woolford pg 277 Themes in African-Guyanese history.

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‘It is important to have a ...

FROM PAGE III

Although no longer a teacher, Camille is still involved in the lives of the children

your purpose; your reason for living. I’ve achieved many things in life, but my greatest blessings are my children. And that is the greatest feeling in the world: To have that sense of belonging; to have people who belong to you,” she shared.

However, she finds that the most challenging part of being a mother is having to discipline the children.

“Sometimes you just want to spoil them, but at the end of the day, you want to nurture them into human beings that society can be proud of. So, it’s important to have a firm discipline system in our home,” she said.

Raising four boys is by no means a walk in the park. Some will tell you the struggles of raising just one! “Having four boys is not easy; they’re all unique,” Camille pointed out, as she noted the need for discipline to be done with love, and for parents to make sure that they explain the discipline.

When it comes to career choices, Camille said she’d never make decisions for her children. “I’ve never decided career paths for my children. What makes them happy is what I will support them with.”

Balancing her professional life with her role as a mother is something she said she hasn’t yet perfected; it’s still a work in progress. But she has this advice to offer: “As you balance your work and family life, it is important to have a stable mindset, because, some days, it can get really crazy. You put in long hours at work and then get home to kids who are demanding your time.

To switch over from career to family, day in, day out, sometimes can be very challenging.”

Camille’s good support system, including her husband, helps her get through. “A good support system always comes in handy,” she noted. “Like driving a car or learning a new job, they all come with a manual; parenting doesn’t. Parents have to understand that many days, they’ll make mistakes, but at the end of the day, we’re all doing what’s right for our children.”

She also called on parents to continue to instill good morals, values and discipline so that they can be good citizens of society. “We are their first teacher. Schools and organisations are just there to enforce what you have already built so you have to lay that foundation and always understand that parenting is work in progress; every day you learn something new.”

Meanwhile, the recently launched ‘smart school’ facility at Crane Public Road, West Coast Demerara, is one of the Academy’s four branches that is moving in the direction of digital learning. The school has similar facilities to the ones at Soesdyke, Diamond, and Lusignan.

CAPTIONS: Photos saved as: ‘CAM 1 – 5’

With students

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Fashion is still my passion after 25 years FOR the last few years, fashion has taken a back seat. I am celebrating 25 years in fashion. Maybe it is that factor, along with other things contributing to my recent enthusiasm. In the last six years, I have been more focused on my personal development courses and writing books. I believe when God charts our course, things happen in his time. I made

many attempts to conceptualise my next collection, but nothing came until last year in a dream. It was clear as crystal the theme for that collection and event the colour board.

My new collection is one of the things in my vision, and it helps to shape the concept for my collection for the 25th Anniversary.

I was further inspired this weekend at UNCAPPED by

the audience’s response to the live mannequins of my masterpieces. The models were Liz Devonish, Affia Gittens, Fay Harris, Jelena Da Silva and Nikita, who was the daring model on the pedestal. One of the most memorable moments was walking back to my booth and looking back at Nikita mounted on the pedestal and the sunset in the background.

Another priceless moment!

The furniture and fashion display were a hit and people were in awe of what they were experiencing. Many thought they were actually

mannequins and were going up close to verify. It brought back fond memories of when I did this in the lobby of Pegasus, seawall, Guyana

Fashion week and in other Caribbean countries. The positive feedback of seeing my collection visible again reignited something in me.

Also seeing the fusion of the ‘I AM Collection’ and my clothing line triggered some very deep.

They have a few things in common, and versatility is one of them.

They can also be rented or bought. The picnic table can be converted into a bar, and a wooden plant stand into a picnic table.

Most of the pieces can be indoors and outdoors and have more than one purpose and are customisd to your taste. Your style of life will meet your way of life. One of the things I encourage my clients to do is to include a few versatile outfits in their wardrobe. The yellow outfit can be worn to a cocktail party, the beach or a casual afternoon with friends. Last week I wore that same outfit to celebrate Eid with my SEE PAGE XVII

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CHRONICLE PEPPERPOT ― Sunday, May 08, 2022

A MOTHER’S LOVE

THE old lady sat in her rocking chair on the patio, an open Bible, its pages ruffled with age, lying on her lap. Her eyes held a vacant look as she stared across the open yard to somewhere beyond, silent words from her lips.

She sat there day after day in her loneliness, but

never leave, that he would build his life so they could always be together.

But fate holds the reigns of life and designs each page.

A day she always remembered, when he had hugged her before leaving on a trip with friends to a resort on the highway. Late after-

On the day of his execution, her heart bled rivers of blood and as her trembling lips kissed him, she had said, “This is not goodbye, my son. I will still see you every day and hear your voice, the songs you always sing, you’ll always be with me.”

He had held onto her, not wanting to let go, not

God’s words she read gave her life and hope for each new day. The words her trembling lips always whispered no one heard but her and God, “My son.”

The ache in her heart was deeper than the seas, for he was no more with her, and time and time again as she sat there alone with her thoughts, she would relive the days of her life 25 years ago.

A single mother she had been for three girls and a boy, vending food on the pavement, a poor and simple life. But for her, her children were her richness and she had worked from dawn to dusk to make life good with what little she had. Her love as a mother, sweetened their tea, buttered the bread and gave cozy comfort to their modest home. The girls matured and found strong footholds, moving on to build their own homes and families and she was left with her youngest child.

The divine love of a mother and son was like a sacred bond and he had promised her that he would

noon became night and she had begun to worry when a call at the door changed their lives, for tragedy had walked in, unannounced.

The police said a man had died on the farm where the boys had been and her son and his friends were detained as suspects.

“NO!” she had cried with every fibre in her motherly being, “My son is a good boy, you are wrong!”

At the police station, he had reached for her hands, tears in his eyes, “I didn’t do it mother, I was trying to help the man, someone left him there to die.”

She had looked deep in his eyes and had known he was telling the truth because she was his mother, but the victim’s family, rich land owners, built such a strong case which a poor boy’s words, his mother’s pleas and the church could not stop a guilty verdict for his own friends betrayed him except one who was given a long sentence.

A mother’s hopes were shattered, and her appeal was met with closed doors.

wanting to break his promise to leave her but no one can change fate. She had stood outside the prison walls and the sound of the trap-door was like a sword through her heart. Her life lost all its true meaning and no one, not even her other children could console her. “The truth must be told,” she continued to say “lies took my son away from me.”

Time went on and she grew older and feebler but she held onto life, waiting for the truth to come from somewhere.

She could hear from afar, angels singing and she whispered to the Lord, “I know my son is in heaven with you and when it’s my time to come home, please send him for me so we can walk home together.”

One day, an old man, a stranger, walked into the yard and looked at her a long moment then he said, “I’m terribly sorry for your loss.”

He handed her a letter and left as quietly as he had come.

She opened the letter

with trembling hands and read the words slowly,

“Dear ma’am, If you’re reading this letter, it means I have died. Bad deeds and lies were my life but this one thing I want to clear up, for I know how you are hurting. Your son was innocent, I was the guilty one and I set it up so he could

take the fall. His friends betrayed him for money. I know it’s too late to say sorry but I knew the truth would console your heart.”

She closed her eyes with a deep sigh, a heavy burden lifted from her mind, after 25 years. The songs of the angels drew closer and one beautiful day, a handsome

young man dressed in white stopped by.

He smiled at her and took her hand, “The Lord has sent me mother, so we can walk home together.”

She smiled the ache gone, happiness filled her heart, a mother’s love truly defined.

To Heaven she walked with her son.

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A force to ...

FROM PAGE IV

UMAC Kempo Dojo when I first came to Canada and had the privilege of competing at several competitions around the province. As I grew older, I began winning more and more often. However, one of my visiting Senseis, after watching me compete, referred me to my current Sensei, who is also a National coach of Karate Canada.”

According to Alicia, “he explained the way they fight in my current style of karate is different to the way I used to fight. Before switching, I fought with a mix of techniques, including some I don’t use now (hooks, uppercuts, etc), heavier contact and in a shorter stance, similar to boxing. He told me to go watch the Pan Am Games taking place in Toronto in 2015 to see what

he meant. So, I got tickets to watch some kumite matches at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga. After watching a few of the matches, I was interested in trying this sport style of karate.

“I went over to my current Sensei and I began training. I had to unlearn lots of things I did in my previous style as well as learn new skills for my current style.

For example, I had to use a bigger stance, my arms were placed differently in front of me, I was constantly jumping and moving around and the techniques I used also differed. I could only use straight punches, and the kicks changed. Not to mention the speed was on a completely different level. I had to teach my body to forget a majority of what I had practised for years and retain only the transferable skills.”

Alicia and her father opened the Iron Fist Karate Dojo five years ago, where they teach Shotokan and Sports karate and also train their proteges to participate in Provincial championships with the possibility of advancing to the national level. They also grade students.

Currently, the dojo has an intake of 50 students, starting from the beginners level, but this figure was reduced drastically during the high point of the COVID-19 pandemic when it dropped to as low as four, although done via Zoom.

“Prior to COVID, I had just under 20, and it dropped to four during the pandemic and increased to 50 and is still growing after the restrictions were eased.

“We also teach them to compete. Ten were involved

at the Provincial qualifications, with nine of them gaining either first or second places. You have to be 11 to compete at the Provincial level and 13 at the Nationals.”

Commenting on her teaching skills, Alicia divulged that she genuinely enjoys her job. “It makes me become a better competitor because I can’t skip training and can’t be lazy with my training or techniques because I am an example to those young athletes.

“Part of the fun of the sport is sharing it with them.

For instance, I was their coach at the last Provincial championships and also competed.”

Alicia started karate classes at the YMCA, Thomas Lands, Guyana, at the tender age of four but

migrated shortly after with her parents to Canada. She explained that her first stint in karate involved the Shotokan style, but after having problems finding a Shotokan school, she started Kempo, a form derived from Shotokan mixed with kung-fu. She was already a Brown Belt in Shotokan when she left Guyana.

Not to be outdone, Alicia’s dad Michael who also taught Alicia, is himself a Fourth Dan Black Belt.

An amateur boxer and karateka during his “younger days” in Guyana, Michael remembered being a member of the Save The Children Gym, which produced Guyana’s lone Olympian in Michael Parris, pointing out that they were members around the same time.

Michael fought in the light-

weight and featherweight categories.

According to Michael, who turned to mainly karate when he migrated to Canada, it was difficult to remain in boxing since he was advised that he needed to continue for at least two more years in the amateur ranks before attaining professional status.

“This didn’t work out well, since I had a family to maintain,” Michael pointed out.

After returning to Guyana for a few years, where he was also involved in the promotion of horse racing, Michael said he trained under Sensei Lavern, who died a few years ago; This forced him to revert to the Shotokan style after doing Kempo, which is a branch of Shotokan. `

CHRONICLE PEPPERPOT ― Sunday, May 08, 2022

Fashion is still my passion...

FROM PAGE XIV

XVII

Muslim friends and received a lot of compliments. A few years ago, I attended an event at the Essence Festival in New Orleans and made a quick change in the washroom and people thought it was a new outfit. It was the same in a different style.

We have many upcoming events discussing wardrobe management and many fashion-related topics like how to be red carpet ready or to manipulate the camera. Confidence is a big part of creating a fashion statement, and many people find it difficult. Many of you may not know that I struggled with confidence and had to work on myself. That is why I am passionate about the virtual and in-person Confidence Becomes You programme which starts on May 10. This course has transformed many lives and yours can be next. Feel free to call me or WhatsApp (684-8129) if you are interested in anything I have mentioned. We have one life and let us be bold and live in style while we continue to celebrate this beautiful journey called life BEYOND THE RUNWAY.

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CHRONICLE PEPPERPOT ― Sunday, May 08, 2022

Recouping learning losses AFTER more than two years of navigating schools’ closures, online learning, and some in-school rotations, children across all levels finally made a complete return to face-to-face classes last week. While COVID-19 concerns linger, I believe that the bigger challenge ahead is recouping the learning losses.

Learning losses include the knowledge and skills children may have either forgotten or been unable to grasp - especially when out of school. Learning losses during the pandemic have also factored in unequal learning among children in the same grades and the worrying concern that children might have dropped out of school entirely.

These losses have been feared and actually experienced here in Guyana, across the region, and throughout the globe.

Studies have found that children in lower socioeconomic brackets have been disproportionately affected for myriad reasons, be it limited or no access to tools for online learning, parents’ or guardians’ financial challenges, and exposure to violence, neglect, and/or abuse.

In Guyana, I don’t doubt that hundreds of children have been impacted. My own younger sister, who is about to sit the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) in another few

weeks’ time, grappled with unstable electricity and internet connectivity when she attempted to attend her classes online.

And for a 10-year-old whose heart is set on performing well at the upcoming assessment, those experiences were, understandably, frustrating.

But there are many more children who, I’m sure, faced unique challenges that hindered their ability to ably en-

gage in learning during this pandemic. For example, after the NGSA last year and a mock examination this year, the Education Ministry found that hundreds of children were absent from the assessments. That fuelled fears of school dropouts and concerns about children’s well-being. It also prompted a new “Operation Recovery” initiative that sees officials heading into communities and actively searching for those children, with a view of reintegrating them into the school system.

Now, I’ve written about the support provided to children during this trying timing - being it textbooks or cash grants.

Even so, I believe that too many children - especially the most vulnerable ones, have faced some form of learning loss. And now that schools have reopened fully, it cannot be a simple return to teaching as though the learners were not out of school for an extended period of time.

Yes, I know that the returning children each have to undergo diagnostic assessments meant to gauge what learning gaps exist. I am also aware that a consolidated curriculum has been crafted, effectively allowing teachers to fill in the learning gaps SEE PAGE XXI from the preceding year and

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CHRONICLE PEPPERPOT ― Sunday, May 08, 2022

Mother’s Day

FOR those of us who are lucky to be with our Mother’s Today, for those who can only have a phone call, for those who have nothing but good memories; I still thought it best to remind everyone why today is so important. This one is dedicated to my mother, Tracy, who is simply irreplaceable.

Mother’s Day should be the most celebrated day on earth as I truly cannot think of a more thankless job or one with so many roles combined. Most mothers are alarm clocks, cooks, drivers, nurses, counsellors, teachers and basically whatever else is needed. I don’t even like to call it a job as there is no pay or vacation time.

Mothers have been caring from literally the start of our lives in the womb, providing us with a safe, comfortable and nourishing environment. Since then, mothers give us the strength to look beyond ourselves and into the world around us, allowing us to question how and where to leave our mark.

Mothers are also self-sacrificing and genuinely do take most responsibility in the family. I can’t count the number

of times that I’ve seen a child misbehave and heard others or said it myself “where is that child’s mother?” I’ve rarely, if ever, heard of anyone calling for the father. Moms also have the innate ability to just make everything alright and they are often called the glue that holds the family together. Seriously, every day should be Mother’s Day. If you are an active dad today, it is your job to lead by example and show/ help your children to celebrate their mothers, to show her how cared for, respected and appreciated she is.

There are many stories of how Mother’s Day originated,

from ancient Roman and Greek tales to different religious ones. So, in this case, I’m choosing to tell my favourite one, one which, of course, tells a tale and exactly embodies the unparalleled bond that a mother and child has.

The origins of Mother’s Day in the United States date back to the 19th century to a single woman and her daughter. Ann Reeves Jarvis of West Virginia created “Mother’s Day Work Clubs” to teach local women how to properly care for their children, an initiative well before its time.

In 1968, Ann organised “Mother’s Day Friendship Day”, at which mothers gathered with former union and confederate soldiers to promote reconciliation after the civil war. Ann had a daughter of her own. Anna continued her mother’s legacy when her mother passed away in 1905.

In 1908, with a lot of support, Ann organised the first official Mother’s Day celebration at a church in West Virginia.

Thousands of people attended and following this success.

Ann spent years fighting for it to be added to the national calendar. She spent years writing to politicians, parliament and newspapers, accurately claiming that at that time, all American holidays were biased toward male achievements and there should be a special day honouring motherhood and its personal and professional sacrifices. Obviously, she succeeded as it became an official US holiday in 1914.

Just a few years after, Anna despised the commercialisation of a holiday that meant so much to her. She had no family or children of her own as she spent the rest of her life launching campaigns and lawsuits against companies that used Mother’s Day as a way of making moneyflowers, chocolates, cards etc.

Her version and vision of the day were children and husbands were to wear white carnations and visit their mother and take them to whatever religious entity they believed in. By the time of her death in 1948, Anna had disowned the holiday altogether and even actively lobbied the government to see it removed from the American calendar.

She died wanting real sentiment and believing that Mother’s Day was not about giving gifts, the point was that the mother is the gift.

Now, I’m not saying that we should not gift and spoil our

mothers today; we’ve all been doing it our whole lives. But, in respect for Anna’s wishes, I’m going to make some suggestions of things we can do for our mothers today to show true appreciation and gratitude.

It should start from the very moment she wakes up to your kiss goodnight. Genuine and thoughtful things to do would involve making her day as easy as possible. Start her day by offering to make breakfast, especially if she does it for the family every day. Serve it to her in bed if possible. Make her favourite foods throughout the day, don’t stop at just breakfast.

Give her personally written coupons which aid in making her everyday life easier. These can be things like specific chores she usually does like “clean the house” or “wash the clothes” to which she can choose to cash in at any time. These are specific to your own situations and habits.

Write her a gratitude list and tell her everything you are grateful for – what she does for you, the way she makes you feel, and any sacrifices that she has made. It feels great to have these noticed.

Make plans to do things with her that she may have mentioned that she has always wanted to do- this could be with you or her friends or both.

Rather than buy her flowers, buy her seeds so she can plant her own garden. Give her raw materials that may contribute to hobbies that currently bring her joy or ones where she can start new hobbies as her own stress management and methods.

Give her items that promote her genuine self-care likes, wants and needs. Again, you know your mothers and these would be specific to her.

Basically, encourage her to sit back and relax and for the first time in a long time, give her the day off. Rest and relaxation would be great for both her mental and physical health.

Thank you for reading and please continue to send suggested column topics to caitlinvieira@gmail.com.

Recouping learning... move ahead with learning new content. I genuinely believe that these initiatives will help children readjust to in-person classes and recover some of the academic knowledge and skills that they might have missed or lost.

I also believe, however, that children’s education extends beyond academia. Schools have always been a space for children’s socialisation, growth, and even safety. Children develop academically, mentally, and physically in schools understandably so, because they spend most of their waking hours there. As such, I believe that strategies geared at recouping learning losses must also consider the non-academic

challenges children are recovering from.

A child who has, for example, faced a highly disruptive home environment over the past two years needs certain psychosocial support. Children who might have faced abuse after staying home for an extended period or children who were forced to side-line their learning to work and support their families all need that support. Though social media might have been an excellent tool for keeping people connected, children also need support in socialising with one another again. For me, these considerations are just as important as the thrust for academic recovery.

FROM PAGE XX

I believe that teachers, the local education authorities, and parents and guardians will earnestly seek to provide all of the support that children need. And perhaps, these are thoughts that policymakers have already considered and will be tackling. Whatever the case might be, I hope that we spend the next few months meaningfully helping children learn and recoup those learning losses.

If you would like to discuss this column or any of my previous writings, please feel free to contact me via email: vish14ragobeer@gmail.com

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No place like home in ...

Mulchand Persaud, the elder

Mulchand Persaud called “Uncle Paul” is well-known in his village

of Number 10, Mahaica Creek and has contributed to society in small ways.

He has a shop which he operates from his home, a convenient setting for locals.

FROM PAGE VII The shop is licensed to sell beverages, hardware and fertilizer, supplying farmers.

Persaud explained that he used to sell groceries, but after vans began coming into the village plying their goods, he quit that business because sales became slow.

“It is far more convenient for people to shop when the vans come around weekly to their house rather than leaving their homes to come here to buy,” he said.

Persaud added that vehicles visit weekly with fish, fruits and groceries so a lot of people prefer to make purchases right then without having to go out.

The 79-year-old told the Pepperpot Magazine that he has lived all his life in the community and most of his adult life he was a rice farmer but these days his sons and grandsons have taken over the job.

The father of five stated that things have changed drastically over the years in terms of development from mud dams to roads, from launch/boats through the creek to all-weather roads and an improved drainage and irrigation network to aid farming.

Persaud disclosed that they have benefitted from potable water supply for a few months now and he is very pleased about that new development.

He related that with newer services, the lives of the people of Number 10 Village have been enhanced and things seem brighter.

“From solar we got electricity and so on, development came but slow but nevertheless it happened and we are glad about that,” he said.

Persaud is from a family of four siblings. His parents and eldest sister have long passed away. He grew up in the community where he is very familiar with the people.

He reported that he got married in 1965 and is very happy he has a good marriage which still exists to date.

“The people here live like family, stand up for each other and because of our closeness to the people through the shop, which started in the 1990s, we are well-known and well-liked,” he said.

Persaud related that Number 10 Village is the ideal place to enjoy a quiet, country life of farming and it is the only place that is home for him.

CHRONICLE PEPPERPOT ― Sunday, May 08, 2022

Motherhood and ...

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FROM PAGE II

trips. To his credit, he is there to ensure that they honour their commitments such as church, school and social. So, I have been able to do this with his support, and that of my in-laws,” Ali recalled during our interview.

The Deputy CEO made it clear that whenever those times of discouragement arise, she leans on her faith to cushion the effects of feelings of frustration, and all these negative feelings that go along with discouragement.

“I think my faith helps me to have a perspective when things get bad; when things get rough. When desolation steps in, -- and I have had that in recent times, particularly in my field -- when decisions are taken that I have no control over; when I feel like I have let people down. It is in those times that I go to God in prayer. My faith helps me to maintain a perspective when things get rough,” Ali told the Pepperpot Magazine.

Of working mothers, Ali had this to say: “Women are natural nurturers; that’s the mothering instinct in us, especially when you work in a hectic environment like media, journalism, and communication. It comes with sacrifices, and I am always in awe of all those single mothers who do have the father of their children helping them, like mine who helps me in such a great way. I salute them, and I recognise that because they love what they do, they want to effect change, hence they come to work every day, and they go through whatever challenges they face. I want to acknowledge their efforts; their sacrifices, and trust that there is going to be a point in their lives where they are grateful for it all; that their child or children will ap-

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We need to help our mothers with chores all year round—not just today M O T H E R’S Day is a universal celebration of mothers or mother figures amongst us. We use this day to show our appreciation, love and respect for our mother and mother figures in our lives. I, for one, always go above and beyond for my dear mother, grandmothers and

aunts on this day. If I haven’t shown them enough love and appreciation on any other day, I ensure that this day is filled with it. I know the same can be said for many of you reading this as well. As I’m writing this, I can’t help but wonder why can’t the same energy be recipro-

cated all year round for many mothers in certain households in Guyana. You see, from a very young age, many women in Guyana are subjected to a host of responsibilities which includes housework or chores, child-bearing, and child-rearing—all while still working, educating

one’s self or trying to balance a healthy social life.

It’s a lot.

A part of me regrets writing a gloomy, informative article on this special day, but I believe that this conversation is very much needed. It’s not meant for mothers, but it’s intended for children and husbands of those whom we are celebrating today. Our mothers are subjected to many responsibilities and roles, whether she wants to or not.

“A mother does the job of 20, for free” is a quote that best describes this dilemma.

While today is a day meant specifically to celebrate her, I urge you to show her that same kind of love and affection all year round. Many fathers and children would often get up early to make a special breakfast for mom on this day. Instead of making it an annual thing, you can do it weekly or even every other day. Instead of only waiting until it’s Mother’s Day to do the chores without her asking, try to be just as responsible for the household’s wellbeing on every other day.

The entirety of this ar-

ticle is to ensure that you don’t wait until it’s just one day out of the other 364 days to show her how much she’s appreciated, to help her when she needs help or to even tell her to take a day off. The responsibilities and wellbeing of a household should be equally shared and executed. I also don’t expect this to be forced onto children, even though they are age-appropriate chores that they as well can partake in from time to time.

The older I grew, the more I SEE PAGE XXV

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We need to help our mothers with...

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understood how difficult it is for my mother to do the laundry, cook, clean, get me dressed for school, get herself dressed, head out to work, and come home back home to restart her routine all over again. My father can’t thank her enough for all that she’s done as he was always busy working extra hours at his work to ensure financial security for us. I’m not sure what would have happened without her, and as an adult, I spend every day helping her to the best of my abilities because I am also aware that age is descending upon her. Her resilience in motherhood is something I

Happy Mother’s Day!

hope I can someday mirror into the lives of my child, even though I know I’ll have very big shoes to fill in that regard.

I remember my mother telling me that some of her friends aren’t fortunate to have tween/adult children and husbands to help them as much as we did. They’re left to tend to and care for the entire household by themselves. Those mothers are the ones I’m writing this article for. Fresh roses and breakfast baskets are nice for one day, sure.

However, our mothers are constantly working in our households, and most of the

time, they do it without help. I hope that it took time to read this; it motivates you to help your mother more in the household, to take over certain chores from her even if she doesn’t ask you to and to unconditionally show your appreciation towards her for the care she gives to the household. Happy Mother’s Day to every mother, every mother-figure, mother-to-be and grieving mother. It is my hope that you’re treated with the love and admiration that you deserve—today and all year round.

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EPA’S BIODIVERSITY MANAGEMENT

THE Environmental Protection Act sets out several roles for the EPA in the field of biodiversity management, including, but not limited to coordinating and maintaining a programme for the conservation of biological diversity and its sustainable use and to promote and encourage a better understanding and appreciation of the natural environment and its role in social and economic development.

Since its inception in 1996, the EPA has always main-

tained a programme area dedicated to biodiversity management. The work of biodiversity management is shared by a number of programme areas in the Agency, led by the Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) team. * MEAs team – coordinates the implementation of biodiversity-related conventions for which the EPA is the focal point and related policies (Convention on Biological Diversity, Nagoya Protocol etc.); * Technical Services – oversees the Biodiversity Re-

search process; * Communications – relays relevant information to the public on biodiversity issues and how communities and the general public can protect and conserve natural resources.

Biodiversity can affect and crosscut most or all aspects of development, and its importance cannot be overstated. Successful management requires the collaboration and full engagement of all stakeholders and MEAs. The EPA, through its MEA Unit, holds the overarching responsibility for biodiversity management. The Unit facilitates harmonised and collaborative information systems to support knowledge

sharing and collaboration among key agencies that have roles and responsibilities to play in biodiversity protection.

Through EPA’s programme, the Unit assists Guyana in meeting its obligations to biodiversity MEAs by providing policy and technical support and attending meetings geared to share experiences and best practices for mainstreaming and restoring biodiversity.

Biodiversity Research Most of Guyana’s habitats are largely intact and offer numerous opportunities to study organisms in their natural habitat. The EPA is responsible for coordinating research activities in pursuit of the SEE PAGE XXVII conservation and protection

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EPA’S BIODIVERSITY...

FROM PAGE of biodiversity, which includes the endemic species we covered in last XXVI week’s article. Research in any field is important, and more so in the environment as we need to take stock of our natural capital. Therefore, any person, whether local or foreign who is interested in conducting biodiversity research in Guyana MUST apply to the EPA for a Research Permit.

Communicating biodiversity issues The work of the Communications Department fulfils the Agency’s role of promoting a better understanding and appreciation of the natural environment and encouraging public participation in environmental decision making. The Department also provides information and education to the public regarding the benefits of sustainable use of natural resources through: * Awareness on television, radio, newspapers and social media; * Training for teachers in environmental education; * Engaging youth during camps and school visits; * Development of awareness materials such as brochures and posters; * Delivering presentations and supporting environmental clubs.

The work of other programme areas within the EPA allows for the consideration of biodiversity in development projects, through the environmental authorisation process and other programmes. This is done by: * Reviewing applications to determine the potential impacts on biodiversity; * Setting permit conditions e.g. biodiversity offsets, marine mammals observers; * Developing standards for discharges and emissions for environmental parameters that affect biodiversity e.g. water and air quality * Ensuring compliance through reporting, spot checks etc.

You can share your ideas and questions by sending letters to: “Our Earth, Our Environment”, C/O Communications, Environmental Protection Agency, Ganges Street, Sophia, GEORGETOWN, or email us at: eit. epaguyana@gmail.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

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OIL REVENUE SPENDING ON SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION HAS STARTED POLITICAL OPPOSITION, CONCERNED NGOs AND PUBLIC HAVE HEAVY RESPONSIBILITY OF MONITORING, ANALYSING FOR TRANSPARENCY IT has often been said that the discovery of Oil in any country brings with it both blessings and curses. One such curse which has descended upon Guyana is the plethora of advice and fearsome threats from both local and foreign sources foretelling the frightening dangers which lie in wait to envelop the country. Such threats range from the Dutch Disease, whereby a country becomes dependent on the Oil economy and all other economic activity is sacrificed, and when oil prices fall, or deposits run out, underdevelopment and poverty re-emerge. Or the country would be overwhelmed with corruption with the political class and others in authority massively stealing public funds leaving the country in economic disarray and ruin.

Or others are advocating handing over the revenues to the population so that they could be involved in a happy spending splurge until the wealth is exhausted. Or others are advocating discontinuing the oil and Gas industry and leaving the deposits on the earth, and this will end all troubles, including environmental ones. If these and other such views are given free rein and monopoly of space they all demand, the country would be overwhelmed with this chaos of competing advice, come to a standstill and then sink deeper into poverty and underdevelopment.

Fortunately, there is a group among the leadership of the country who are determined to break out of this Sargasso Sea

of chaotic opinions and advice and chart a positive course of action. They knew that for centuries, from the time of Sir Walter Raleigh, Guyanese people knew that their land was rich in varied resources, which, if exploited, would transform Guyana into a paradise on earth. It was this dream which sustained the morale of the Guyanese people in poverty, in facing the travails of life, in the socio-political embroglio generated by politics and even when they were in exile in foreign lands. The key to opening this treasure house of resources was a vast amount of investment capital which never seemed to be forthcoming. Then suddenly, oil and gas were discovered, and almost magically, the developmental capital dreamt of for centuries became available, and it was the shock of this which has led to the explosion of the chaotic advice and views which now threaten to submerge Reality.

The challenge now facing Guyanese and their leadership is how best to deploy the resources to achieve the longdreamt of social and economic SEE PAGE XXIX transformation. Fortunately, a

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group in the Guyanese leadership has had a wide international exposure and is assured that they would be able to avoid the pitfalls which had been faced by other oil and gas countries.

Vice President, Dr. Bharat Jagdeo, who is one of the spokespersons for this leadership, has reiterated that “the money would be spent on education;health care; infrastructure; and assistance to non-oil industries. . . . These four areas will attract the bulk of the resources and are part of a broader plan to ensure that Guyana’s economy would continue to thrive long after Oil resources would have been exhausted”.

President Dr Irfaan Ali, in his recent address at the Harvard Business School, reinforced the programme Dr Jagdeo had adumbrated: “Guyana is now poised to be one of the wealthiest countries in the Hemisphere; we intend to employ the gains from exploiting these deposits into initiatives geared at expanding the economy, improving competitiveness, giving people the best social services, increasing productivity, enhancing food production and building new sectors”.

These plans have already begun to fructify in Education: cash grants and uniform grants have already been given to every child in both the private and public schools. Twenty thousand online scholarships in various disciplines at several international schools and universities have been on offer and 6000 have already been awarded in the first year. These disciplines qualify the student for employment in various fields, including the oil and gas industry. To ensure that no one is left behind, a three-month course has been mounted to help students qualify themselves to satisfy the entry requirements of both tertiary and specialised technical programmes. Local educational institutions are being methodically upgraded as, for example, the Port Mourant Training Centre, which is now being transformed into a National Oil and gas institute and new schools have begun to be built in some areas which had long needed them.

In the Health Sector, the hospitals and health centres are methodically being upgraded and plans to build new hospitals are being materialised. Drug supplies are never allowed to run out and modern equipment and state-of-the-art procedures are being introduced in the Georgetown Public Hospital, the main referral hospital. For example, the X-ray system does not now require the use of film, and there are many more dialysis machines available and the dialysis procedure has become highly subsidised and more accessible. There are a number of brilliant surgeons who are doing operations locally, which patients who could afford it, once went abroad to have done. The National Eye Clinic in Berbice is again functional.

Infrastructure Development has been equally progressing with the award of contracts to build or refurbish key roads and bridges and the main river ferry has been renewed with assistance from India. Quick, easy and safe connectivity with all parts of Guyana has commenced.

The non-Oil and Gas Sector has begun to enjoy constructive assistance. Small businesses and industries have been accorded grants and loans, especially in the case of start-ups.

When the prescriptions offered in the Local Content Act are used, local companies and workers, especially blue collar workers, will enter a new phase of prosperity and expansion and the cheapening of electrical power with the gas-to-power project, the hydropower, solar and wind projects will ensure a strong and growing industrial sector. Agriculture, in its many-faceted developments, has taken off and has started to supply the US$6-billion Caribbean food market.

With this drive to create a strong, self-sustaining nonOil economy, the concomitant of a continual build-up of the future generations Inheritance Fund within the Natural Resources Fund (NRF) remains a priority.

The Political Opposition, concerned NGOs and the public at large have a heavy responsibility of monitoring, dissecting and analysing these various fast-moving projects to ensure transparency, non-corruption, and the upholding of the public interest and in some cases they may have to engage professional, including foreign, expertise to assist them. They must also take advantage of the many opportunities within the Parliamentary System of airing their concerns and pressuring the authorities.

Above all, all criticisms must be factual and constructive since empty abuse and untruths would, in the long run, make no impact and give the various executing agencies a free pass.

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THOUGHT FOR TODAY Time present and ti m Are both perhaps pr e past esent in time future, And time future co ntained in time past.

T.S. ELIOT (18891965) Four quartets. Burnt Nor ton,11

May 08, 2022 STUDY SUCCESS Dear Student, Welcome dear friend.

Here is a word about learning better in your school or home. Do strive for more independence which upgrades your organising, planning, and timing of work. Know

that independent learning is actively learning for yourself, which enables you to ask and answer more questions, and to strive for information in various ways. In summary, gaining confidence as a learner helps you broaden on study skills, and increase in ideas and organised learning.

Active learning is exciting.

Be wise.

Love you.

THE PASSAGE Read the following extract carefully and then answer all the questions set on it.

Once a day a cheap and gaudy packet arrived upward from St. Louis, and another downward from Keokuk.

Before these events, the day was glorious with expectancy; after them, the day was a dead and empty thing in this town on the west bank of the Mississippi River. .....I can picture that old time to myself now, just as it was then: the white town drowsing in the sunshine of a summer’s morning; the streets empty or pretty nearly so; one or two clerks sitting in front of the Water Street stores...; a sow and a litter of pigs loafing along the sidewalk....; two or three lonely little freight piles scattered about the ‘levee’; a pile of ‘skids’ on the slope of the stone-paved wharf, and the fragment town drunkard asleep in the shadow of them; two or three wood flats at the head of the wharf, but nobody to listen to the peaceful lapping of the wavelets against them...

(Mark Twain’s “Life on the Mississippi” (Signet, 1961)) 1. Give the meaning of the words and phrases that follow: gaudy, downward from Keokuk, glorious with expectancy, drowsing, clerks, litter of pigs loafing, fragment town drunkard, peaceful lapping, wavelets.

2. “arrived upward from St. Louis” means (a) arrived from St. Louis in the direction where the river begins (b) arrived from St. Louis in the direction where the river empties (c) arrived from St. Louis where the river meets the sky (d) arrived from St. Louis in the direction of the hills and mountains 3. “I can picture that old time to myself now” (a) I can make a kite of that old time to myself now. (b) I can view a movie of that old time by myself now.

(c) I can draw a picture on paper of that old time for myself now.

(D) I can bring up from memory, of that old time to myself now.

THE PASSAGE Read the following extract carefully and then answer all the questions set on it. .....“S-t-e-a-m-boat a-comin’ !” and the scene changes! The town drunkard stirs, the clerks wake up, furious clatter of drays follows, every house and store pours out a human contribution, and all in a twinkling, the dead town is alive and moving.

Drays, carts, men, boys, all go hurrying from many quarters to a common centre, the wharf. Assembled there, the people fastened their eyes upon the coming boat as on a wonder they are seeing for the first time. And the boat is rather a handsome sight, too. She is long and sharp and trim and pretty; she has two tall, fancy-topped chimneys, with a gilded device of some kind swung between them; a fanciful pilothouse, all glass and ‘gingerbread’....; the paddle boxes are gorgeous with a picture or with gilded rays above the boat’s name; the boiler deck, the hurricane deck, and the Texas deck are fenced and ornamented with clean white railings..... Then such a scramble to get aboard, and to get ashore, and to take in freight and to discharge freight, all at one and the same time; and such a yelling and cursing as the mates facilitate it all with! Then minutes later the steamer is under way again.....

(Mark Twain’s “Life on the Mississippi” (Signet, 1961)) 1. Give the meaning of the words and phrases enlisted below: Furious clatter, pours out a human contribution, pilothouse, twinkling, wonder, handsome sight, paddle-boxes, gilded.

2. Name the “common centre” in this description.

3. There is more to the steamboat than its physical description. Explain. (a) Do research on steamboats for what could not have been included in this abridged description. (b) Start with what is given such as chimneys, decks of many names. (c) Get the other fanciful parts of a steamboat of that time plying the Mississippi River.

4. Write a letter to a friend telling him or her about Twain’s exquisite writing about a small town and a beautiful steamboat on the Mississippi River. Include, if possible, a picture of a beautiful steamboat for him or her to see.

5. If you love sketching, make one for Mark Twain’s steamboat, and name the parts that are mentioned in Twain’s description.

THE POEM Read the poem below carefully and then answer all the questions that follow.

Tales of the Islands I watched the island narrowing, the fine Writing of foam around the shore then The roads as small and casual as twine Between the mountains; I looked until the plane Turned to the final north and turned above The open channel between The fisherman’s islets, until all that I love Was lost in cloud. I watched the shallow green That marked the places where there must be reef, The silver glinting of the fuselage, each mile Dividing us, and all fidelity strained Till space could break it, and then after a while I thought of nothing, nothing I knew would change.

When we arrived at Seawell, it had rained.

(Derek Walcott’s “Tales of the Islands”) (a) i) What does the speaker mean by the phrase “fine writing of foam”? ii) Why is the foam described as “fine writing”? (b) i) Identify ONE literary device used between lines 1 and 5. ii) Quote the words for the device chosen. (c) What is the location from which the speaker describes the experience? (d) What is the THIRD feature of the island the speaker notices? (e) What is meant by “each mile /Dividing us and all fidelity strained”?

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A mystery of dentistry IT seems that root canal treatment (commonly referred to as simply root canal by most patients) is one of the mysteries of dentistry from the point of view of the average person. Let’s try to unravel that mystery, if indeed it is.

Now, what is root canal treatment?

Root canal treatment, (also called Endontics), is needed when the blood or nerve supply of the tooth (known as the pulp) is infected through decay or injury. The end result is that the tooth becomes literally lifeless and therefore incapable of eliciting pain.

Why is root canal treatment needed?

If the pulp becomes infected, the infection will spread through the root canal system of the tooth, which may eventually lead to an abscess.

If root canal treatment is not carried out, the infection will spread and the tooth may need to be taken out.

Does it hurt?

No. A local anaesthetic is used and the whole procedure should feel no different to that of having an ordinary filling done.

What does it involve?

The aim of the treatment is to remove all infection from the root canal.

The root is then cleaned and filled to prevent any further infection.

Root Canal Treatment is a skilled and time-consuming procedure. Most courses of treatment will involve two or more visits to your dentist. At the first appointment, the infected pulp is removed. Any abscesses which may be present can also be drained at this time. The root canal is then cleaned and shaped, ready for the filling. A temporary filling is inserted and the tooth is left to “settle.” The tooth is checked at a later visit and when all the infection has cleared, the tooth is permanently filled.

What will my tooth look like after treatment?

In the past, a root-filled tooth will often darken after treatment. However, with modern techniques, this does not usually happen. If any discolouration should take place, there are several treatments available to restore the natural appearance.

What if the disease re-occurs?

Root Canal Treatment is usually very successful. However, if there should be a re-occurrence of infection, the treatment can be repeated.

Is it expensive?

Yes. Root Canal Treatment generally is among the more costly dental procedures due to the length of time required, as well as the skill and material needed. It is, however, worth it when one considers that it’s the only way to save a tooth which is in very poor health.

What if I don’t have the treatment?

The alternative to RCT is removal of the tooth. Once the pulp is destroyed, it can’t heal and it is not recommended to leave an infected tooth in the mouth. While some people would prefer an extraction, it is usually advisable to keep as many natural teeth as possible.

Will the tooth be safe after treatment?

Yes. However, it is advisable to restore the tooth with a crown to provide it with extra support, strength and natural appearance. Also, you should have it checked regularly by your dentist.

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