Coil : Revealing Guyana’s reality?

by Vidyaratha Kissoon

“Look what I got” the white American man said smiling. He showed me his forearms – covered in red bumps. “My whole body is covered with them”

“But why didn’t you use repellent” – I asked him

He laughed and said no, no that was part of the jungle survival training. No repellent. Against the CDC advisory it seemed, The Burnham/Cheddi in me was a bit paranoid .. suspicious of Americans who are in remote parts of the country after leaving their nice lives in America .. nah, this man mussee CIA.

But no such satisfaction that it was the Cold War continuing. It was Reality TV. The man said he was getting prepared for a Reality TV contest . He was not sure which jungle in the world the filming would take place.

Something about Guyana – preparing a man for a Reality TV show. Reality is not normally easy, and in Guyana, so many lessons recently as things are uncovered and covered up.

The dry season has caused the lowering of the Essequibo River and the rocks are exposed near the Kurupukari crossing. The lowering of the river also reveals petroglyphs on the rocks. The river is more difficult to navigate at this time. There is beauty in the water moving through the uncovered rocks. Well, beauty for people who are visitors and whose reality does not include navigation of the river in dry season. The duality of the reality.. the ugliness and the niceness, the reality of finding hope in the despair.

Real Guyana did a video of tour of The Durban Park Development Project . This is a kind of Reality TV . The producer, Francis Bailey welcomes the clearing of the jungle from the area which had ” …snakes , caiman, .. maybe even jumbie” and the ongoing cleaning and clearing of the City. Drains are being opened, restoration is happening. Real Guyana laments the money spent on the shoddy work – the work which is being described as ‘temporary’. Shoddy work had been ascribed to other contractors, including to Mr Brian Tiwarie A. A. Honorary Consul of the Kingdom of Spain . The advisory relationship between Mr Tiwarie and the Government recently came to an end when the 

President found out about it . The reality is uncertain as to the context of that relationship.

There are probably other relationships which are yet to be uncovered in this new changed Reality. The President has said there is no dirty money in the campaign. Like the relationship with Mr Brian Tiwarie, A. A – what if people have been hiding things from the President in good faith?

A dougla woman talked of her own shame this week – she had suffered an injustice under the PPP and wanted the change. “The PPP had to go”.. call similar to the ‘I glad the PPP not there any more… “ or “PPP not coming back” followed by the ‘I am disappointed”.

“You is Indian, you know how Indian people stay.. dey don’t move from dey own, and dis time, dey move because of what happen to me, now dey vex bad. I can’t blame dem’

The irony is that PPP supporters used to say similar things in the past. It was easier to accept the faults of their leaders (or claim that the leaders were faultless). The other side bad is worse than our bad. Our alleged child molesters are more acceptable than theirs.

Adjusting to reality includes this defining of the relativeness of it all.

There is a new Guyanese trauma – the trauma of thinking that the reality had changed and realised that things seem the same, and then saying over and over.. but is good dat de PPP gone.. /good for yall , yall wanted change..

This week the Guyana Police Force did not bother to ensure any protection of the identity of a child who has been accused of murder. The media and other citizens took pictures and shared. Some media houses managed to correct their mistakes.

There are reports of families of the two men who are accused in the murder being present and supportive at the first court hearing. There are no reports which I have seen of any relatives of the girls being around. There are no reports of the mother, grand parents. Lots of reports of other people saying the girls were .. bad and no good.

Some of the people who are lamenting and condemning the girls.. ‘but if they had a problem, they could have gone to someone..’ – maybe the reality is that there was no they could turn to and hence it was easier to do violence?

Another girl this week , a teenager, was trying to get help with an alcoholic father.

She had to keep her father up while preventing her grandmother from hitting him. “I am his daughter… what can I do when people ask me to go pick up from the road” She does this in a way to protect her younger sibling from the madness. There is no help available – as every relative of a drunk knows, the liquor industry thrives because there are more liquor sellers than rehab facilities, and calls not to drink have failed.

Guyana’s jubilee tourism magazine has a beautiful back cover advertising liquor. There is no mention of the other realities related to liquor consumption.

Other relatives and friends of the man have abandoned him. She feels responsible when something happens to him. In her reality though, all of this is hidden as much as possible. A reality which is similar to that faced by many other children in violent homes.

A young woman this week was failed by the system when she expected protection from a man who was supposed to love her. The man raped her despite the protection order against him. His father and brother have been threatening her. He violated the protection order which the Magistrate made against him. The police are ignoring the violation of the order. This is a reality for many people who try to use the court system to get protection orders in domestic violence matters in Guyana. She has not been talking of killing him, but is feeling despair. Her relatives have been trying to keep her spirits up.

Another woman this week , working as a security guard. She was chatting with me and a man who was torn between staying away from Guyana and having to return. She was assertive, engaged in amazing customer service. We asked where she was from.

She said she came to Guyana from South Africa. We were trying to find out why and how she ended up here. She did not tell us but said that she liked being in Guyana though she misses home. There are probably many immigrants/expats who have successfully made Guyana home.

The American man with the insect bites on his body got his certificate of survival in Guyana – well the jungle anyway. I suggested he take a real adventure and go walk in the city in the night , and he laughed and said ‘No, not that much adventure’.

He was thinking of checking out a Rotary meeting instead.

Many of us continue to fail and pass the survival course of Guyana’s reality.