Thoughts of a minibus traveller

Shame I felt ashamed and powerless when I came home from the human rights event on the night of the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  Ashamed and powerless because I could not do anything for the child with the visual impairment who had been excluded the public school in her area. The child had sat through the human rights film festival. The event though,  was not designed for the the child to share her story or for her to get resolution. Human Rights Film Festival The University of Guyana organised a Human Rights Film Festival to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights . The films were  - E-Wasteland by David Fedele and Machine Man by Roser Corella and  Alfonso Moral. The Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Planning and International Engagement , Dr Barbara Reynolds,  invited me to be a part of a discussion panel after the films. The other persons on the panel were Ms Diana Swan-Lawren

A man I love told me he is okay. I had  told him I was worried about him.  His resilience is inspiring. He has come through many things, and has managed to make progress in his life and to remain connected to the world around him. Recently though, I sense that there has been a change even as he survives and functions. Man talk is like that ,  we okay .  I tell him arite, because I know I say I okay when I not okay.  And I thought we done. He replies :- "I'm okay and you are right about the word "okay" it signals I made it to this moment. I'm not happy I'm okay. It means at this moment I'm okay ... Although I'm not happy that's okay I'm worried but that is okay I'm tired but it is okay I want to be better than okay but that is okay. I hope that I find the capacity to be better than okay. To the above points ...I'm okay that I have work, home, food, travel, health, yoga and gym. I wonder if I will ever have the stre

L - from photo by Keno George, R - from photo by Amanda Richards Rat hole "Oh , dat is what we does call de rat hole". .. the women laughed. They were selling on the road. I had the notes from Visions 2018 in my hand and I showed them. I  asked them if they knew about Oxygen Arts Gallery . They said that people had been asking for directions. I explained where it was, on the road over the bridge. The first time I visited , I did not listen to the curator , Karran Sahadeo. Or rather, I did not read the notes properly. I have been preoccupied with encounters where I did not listen , and which I wish I could go back and do over. I am also feeling bad at a mess I created for a client who is a poet and artist , as I have to do over the work for her and pay attention to composition, and lines and spaces though not for photography.  So even though it is raining, I am making the second visit. The photographs are arranged in clusters which are not in genres of portraits, bi

Demerara Waves reported that on 25 November, 2018 , Chairman of the People's National Congress Reform and Minister of Public Health, Comrade Volda Ann Lawrence, had addressed her party colleagues with the comments "“The only friends I got is PNC so the only people I gon give wuk to is PNC and right now I looking for a doctor who can talk Spanish or Portuguese and ah want one that is PNC,” There are objections to the statement. At the same time, Volda Lawrence's PNC friends and supporters used the opportunity to dig up all that was bad about the PPP and the other people who objected. So her supporters saw nothing wrong with the statement because the PPP had done worse. There was a statement which the Guyana Chronicle published in which Comrade Lawrence writing in the third person,  did not apologise . I am not offended by the comments from Comrade Lawrence. The expression of the comments  is an opportunity to fix part of the brokenness of Guyana. I am glad th

Oxygen I jumped out of the minibus at the Arch for Industry Road and started walking down. Nice breeze, the road is narrow.  People walking. Three girls pass me and they tell me good afternoon. I pass a man walking his two dogs and he didn't answer me when I said good afternoon. I am looking at some of the houses, old style houses in Industry, there is concrete. Some nice flower gardens. I am looking forward to visiting  the bottom house which Karen Budhram and Michael Griffith have converted into Oxygen Arts Gallery .  The last few days have been rough. This gallery is the nearest art space to where I live, it has good energy. Oxygen Visions  The gallery is the site for Visions 2018. The website describes Visions 2018 as "..the second curated exhibition of its kind organised through independent Guyanese photographers to exhibit works that showcase the unique and diverse people and landscapes of Guyana while using the medium to address important social topics.&quo