Thoughts of a minibus traveller

  Dear Janelly David, I am sorry we , your nation,  your community, other men around you could not stop t he man from killing you. Y ou are 16 years old and many people hope that 16 years old would be close to completing school. I am sorry that we could not make things good for you to be in school. What dreams did you have? What did you like to do? What did you want for yourself? What did you want to be when you grew up?   I am sorry that if you were experiencing problems, that we did not do enough to make sure that you knew how to be in a good relationship, and where to get help if things went bad.   I am sorry, that even though you are living in a place with a lot of gold, and a lot of oil, that the man killed you.   Did you know about the One Guyana Ministerial Task Force which was set up to tackle the "social ills" , which resulted in the man killing you? Did you feel a part of President Ali's One Guyana, living in the mining camp?  The Village ...

Image from Saving Chupie by Amparo Ortiz; and book cover Reading .. "I find it difficult to read.. so hard to focus sometimes' the woman who used to read more than me tells me. We are the same age, and I know, reading, moving, living, sleeping, eating.. all need some focus and attention these days as they don't seem to happen as easily as before. But as the experts keep shouting that movement is medicine for the body, mind also gotta move and so 3am. I wake up, stomach feeling queasy. I breathe and so, relax.. yeah okay, I will sort you out later. Anxiety about health issues. Feeling the kind of awakeness and sleepiness. Get up and turn on light and go back under the bed.. and move away from my belly and body to New Amsterdam and Berbice and Guyana in Maggie Harris' childhood in Kiskadee Days.. and then I finish the book, and realise it is dawn. and mind back to belly and body and moving out of the bed to Guyana in 2025. Grateful though that focus was found so that the...

(L - Extract of projection on Petroglyph 1 by Maharanie Jhillu, R  - Detail from Into the Jungle by Chris Bissessar (artists' hand) ) Light "What do you think about it?" asked Akash Bridgemohan - Project Coordinator and Engineer of Immersion:Into the Jungle  , We were in the dark room, place hot.  He had played the video which resulted in light dancing along the frames and lines of the three pictures on the wall, and images on the box and in the frame. The pencil drawing of a jaguar turned into different colours. Blue light moved on the petroglyph, eyes following. There was audio which I did not hear the first time, because eyes on the light. I did not know what to expect. There were brown curtains on the door, and this jute rope saying 'no entry'. Akash Bridgemohan explained the process of projection mapping and the details of the work involved. And asked for feedback.  This kind of accountability, and interaction is precious now. A man had sent me the Stabroek ...

 Hugs "Give auntie a hug" the woman told her child.  He was wearing a Christmas crown and had a big smile as he hugged auntie, Lina. Lina had a sign with Free Hugs and was calling out Free Hugs to people walking on the pavement. Another woman told her ward to go and hug Lina. Some people walked , did not look or gave sideways glance like when you looking and not making eye contact. Some people walked past, changed their minds and walked back and hugged. Others collected books and hugged, others collected books and didn't hug. I was not giving free hugs. I had the 'free books' sign as a shield in front of me.  Another time a man had come up behind me and given me a big hug on Main Street. Then asked me for a hundred. I gave him the hundred , and he didn't hug me again. One man said .. " Free Books, this is good , books are knowledge".  He took an autobiography from a white male survivor of fraternity hazing and violence. We talked a bit, he hugged L...

Extracts from Left Morning on the River by Cosmata Lindie; right top - Toco Toucan: Psychosis Series by Roberto Teekah; Right bottom Golden Sun by Elodie Cage Smith Komorebi (木漏れ日) Rickeisha Perreira stands on dry bamboo leaves in front of blue butterflies and reads her poem Komorebi.  She explains that Komorebi is a Japanese word meaning 'sunlight leaking through the trees'.   The room is bright,  but the work around features different amounts of sunlight related to the jungle. We are at Immersion:Into the Jungle  ,   the jungle represented by 35 different artists.   The jungle imagined with jaguars, different birds, not too many people, rivers, waterfalls , plants , snakes, underwater, above ground , dark, light, flowers. And the experience of looking at Morning on the River and standing up and imagining what it would be like coming down the river watching the deer watching the people. The painting kind of draws you in,  but I woul...

    Katahar seed "I have breadnut seed, you want? the man asked me.  Sun cooling down, Kumaka Santa Rosa on Friday afternoon. Some stalls setting up for the Saturday market.  Last place I expected to hear breadnut seed and thinking that I never really hear anybody in Guyana call katahar.. breadnut. I had come over to check out the oranges. A whole set of oranges spread over the stall. And some other packs of small vials - 'thing for pain.. all kind of pain'. I had asked for one orange. He had peeled for me, one with a rough skin.  I was to make sure the outside of the rind did not come into contact with my mouth as I sucked out the juice. "Breadnut.. you mean katahar ?".. I asked him with orange juice at the side of my mouth and on my fingers .. 'is where you get katahar seed from.. how your katahar get to ripen, when everybody say it scarce." Katahar lil scarce and price gone up and so. People always asking where have, and peeling and frying and freezin...