"dem getting bettah treatment" - at OneGuyana Immigration Office

 

 

Writing

"I know you like to write.. you are kissoon right.. hope you write about this " the woman told me, 730am as she leaves the OneGuyana Immigration Office. She and others 'have to come back.. , another day , earlier, try than 4am perhaps when some OneGuyanese had first come to apply for passports

A PPP man had posted on his social media that 'Guyana going places and all who don't like it should book their ticket and leave' . I had wanted to ask so why yall doan mek de passport ting easy so we could go long we way, but is pointless 'yes we still working on the bad things which the PNC had broken and so"

May 2017, the PNC led coalition had fixed the PPP's mess at the Passport Office , decentralising services and reviewing the obstacles in the processing.  I had gone in and handed in application during a normal working day and not taking long.

PPP man told me  'yeah.. APNU did one or two good tings but you know.. de SOPs and de rigging and so.. who gun trust Norton now' 

Waiting area/Calcutta  Depot

2025 and the officers of the OneGuyana advised to 'come early as you could' .. there is a limit each day. And some people say the limit is 100, some say 300, no one knows.

No signs or anything for those of us who have to herd in the legacy of the Calcutta depot and other pens  in which the oppressors herded our ancestors before the journeys here.

And in this Immigration Waiting Area.. people like me probably getting passport to 'book my flight and leave' while other labourers coming in mixing with those going out .. China, India, Venezuela, other places (I had gaffed with people from Haiti, Nigeria, Kenya this month as well.. 

Bourda Market on Sunday morning had the sounds of  many languages and accents coming from India, Latin America and Africa.. 

Loud voice as the descendant of one of the Indian indentured labourers shouts at the people who are near the line for 'visa, work permit, extension'. 

Was she repeating and echoing the tone and expressions of dominance of the masters at the Calcutta depot as they talked to our ancestors? Was she echoing the tone and expressions of the overseer, like the OneGuyana President and his 530am meeting ? I imagine Kali invoked, did her ancestors resist the oppressors with that same energy?  

The people waiting on visa and work permit and so not sure what to do. The oppressors believed that shouting English at foreigners would make them understand better and my fellow OneGuyanese probably feels the same.

Line

There is some movement as officers ask to 'move' and form a line and so people who come after me now in front of me and I think well, death will come at some point anyways.  Place cool, no rain . Fresh food smells from the food stand on the road. 

Horse guard exercising horses. Horse guard used to be used to control lines for food and so back in the PNC days, and at Liberty cinema during popular shows. Man wearing blue OneGuyana MOM tee shirt on one of the horses. Nice shade of blue. Did the depots in India and British Guiana have horse guards too?

Officer comes, sorts out chairs and desk, and starts processing the visas and work permits. Two women behind me in the line gaffing 'dem getting bettah treatment dan we.. at least dem get desk fuh fill up form and getting through faster'. One of the applicants in long boots.. maybe this is a OneGuyana favour to the labourers so they do not lose a day pay waiting for their work extension.

End of the World 

We hear sounds of Skeeter Davis ' The End of the World' and woman behind me seh eh eh Spanish does listen English music?  I had tried with lil meditation and so, doctor tell me don't stress, your stomach can't handle it .  

And constant question about 'who is the last person' because it not easy to form line in the legacy of the depot and  pens used to herd our ancestors.

An elderly man in US accent comes in and he looks shocked, trying to smile.. he must have been impressed as many other visiting OBGs are, with the hotels and nice houses and roads (except the piece from the airport) and so on.. . Woman reaches out to him and removes tag from his shirt, and we all laugh and talk about how in US people does wear clothes wid tag to wedding and so and then kerry back the next day. 

Another officer comes and folds her hands, speaks quietly and somebody else has to shout down the line what she is saying, calling for children and disabled and the elderly. 

'Uncle, why you don't try a ting and see if you could pass for 65' a woman behind me tells me

Numbers 

And then 'numbers' start giving out as documents checked. We not sure how we supposed to stand. 

I get my number. Not sure what it means. Couldn't they have an online system like the US embassy ?

And numbers stop giving out, quota done.. we all say but 300 people aint deh hey.. but we learn that quota is de mix of those of us who come early, and those who could walk in late and get through quick due to connections to those who think this is development. 

Beautiful writing, first story around World War II. Sitting on the desk in the depot , waiting  not sure for what. Yeah, other people have it worse in the world. Other people, have it better, but we not encouraged to think better, think worse. Woman in the line tells me about her home, and recovering from hurricane quickly.

I sit on a desk no longer used for work permits. 

I take out book 'The Mountain:Stories' by Paul Yoon, picked up randomly from my pile of books which I have collected hoping to read some day.   

Beautiful writing, first story around World War II in the USA. 

Sitting on the desk in the depot , waiting  not sure for what. 

Yeah, other people have it worse in the world. Other people, have it better, but we not encouraged to think better, think worse. Woman in the line tells me later about her other home "Guyana is always home", and recovering from hurricane quickly. 

Steelband practice start. not too loud. 

I wonder if they will play national songs and national anthem and so on to inspire us. In May 2017, was the brass band practice with the hymns and so on. I not sure what the steel band playing. 

Another officer comes and shouts numbers to move into the next building. Steelband does not lessen volume. We hear her , her tone different though.

Holding place

At some point , my number call. 930am or so. Walk fast the woman tells me before people bore in front of you. I want to pee, but holding place and holding pee in.  AC working nice. we sit. Hear about 'expedite' and line is broken up. OneGuyana public services allow you to pay more money to 'expedite' apparently. 

I move from war time US, to post war France. Get up and move. to next chair, sit down. Find a time when I could go washroom without losing place.

Room got lots of gold trophies around. And crates of empty bottles and boxes of ink.  Sign saying 'no cell phones' but well...

"we gun done just now"

Optimistic man in the line said at 930am when we walking in.. once we go in , you gun get through fast, we gun dun just now.  

We go pay, come back, go register come back. I stop checking clock.  Book moves to South Korea and China, to Spain, Russia. I start feeling sleepy not sure why. 

Man next to me downloads , my age, trying to get documents, applied for land to build house long time ago but nothing, getting run around and uncertain as he ages where he will live. 'President talking one ting, he people doing something else'.. 'change needed' 

 Stomach feeling weird, go outside to come back. Check clock and realise is past lunch. More movement, expedite folks now mixing wid us slow folks .  

Go near the booths. People tired. We had laughed that the reason dem passport pictures so ugly is because people fed up and tired by the time you reach the camera. 

Officers getting more stressed out. A man says ' I aint like how that f..g officer talk to that big woman.. if was me mother, she would ah know'.. people don't say anything. 

Five minutes 

Booth takes 5 minutes for me. 

I can't understand why we have to wait so long. A man involved in the May 2017 fix said he also doesn't understand. 

Another man involved in a OneGuyana computer project also tell me he don't understand and I must share what I write with him as he hopes to share with others 'who will never have to experience what I did' 

The optimistic man's just now was 220pm .. almost 8 hours after I heard the OneGuyana officer shout at the new migrant workers. 

"It will only get worse" the woman who wanted me to write told me before she left to come back another day to try her luck to make the 'quota'. 

Development -OneGuyana style.