Thoughts of a minibus traveller

 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...

  Main Street Hot afternoon with gray clouds in the South. Main Street Avenue has some stalls selling items related to Emancipation. Some people are working on the Main and Quamina Street part, big speakers going up. They are using winches and chains to put the speakers on the racks. It will be a big event. Watching the hoist and the chains and speakers , and thinking of Quamina, in 1823. The white men murdered him, and hung his body in chains to silence other rebels. They would have had to raise the body with the technology.  Lay out some of the books on the nice bench. Two men watch from over the avenue, nice Shade still. I start with the 'free books' and the older man comes over. Picks up a book. I tell him the price, to answer the question 'What do you know about the 1823 rebellion?" The man said he doesn't know anything. He from Kwakwani (the road side) and knows , like most of us, about the 1763 rebellion. He tells the other man to come over and pick up a boo...

  Two romance   "Choose two nice romance fuh meh nah, my daughter ask me to get two " the woman asked.  She had her phone in one hand, a children's book in the other. She didn't read but her children did.  We looked at a few which were there and might have been romance, she took three.  Another young woman wanted 'love stories'. There was a Mills and Boon. She had not heard of Mills and Boon. She knew of Harlequin  She took the Mills and Boons and a few others which looked like 'morbid love". The strange rain pattern the last two months delayed the return of face to face street groundings - masked and santised - in Georgetown. There were books, and a desire to resume random connections with strangers.  The Almond Tree Coop said yes, we could use their Flea Market which was indoors. I packed cloth. While there was a nice floor, I did not think we could put things on the ground as we normally do. I turned the boxes over, spread the cloth.  No...

  Ganja smoke The smell is familiar , heavy wafting over use like some kind of blessing over the random interactions of books and poems.  We are next to a man wearing  dirty brownish three quarter length pants and not wearing shoes or not wearing shirt but wearing a smile on his face. He leans sometimes against one of the concrete poles holding up the roof sheltering him and us. I look over and see him put the yellow lighter - bright on the grey day and against the greenish brownish pant.. back in the pocket. The colour of the joint is similar to the colour of the pants. Slight flame at the end. He ignores us except for when he asked for a $100 with the joint in his mouth and I told him nah after giving another man who was barefoot and who explained the calculation of his age to us and was going to repeat it so I gave that man the $100 to move on. Maybe his joint was hidden in the calculations The man with the joint leaned against the iron post and continued to ignore us...

 Managing expectations "You have to manage your expectations.. "the man from Canada said.  'Understand that somethings take longer' .  I know.. I tend to have zero expectations too of OBGs returning and holidaying generally but I am guilty of stereotyping. I avoid conversations about OBGs and Guyana because, well, there are so many other things to worry about that priorities have to be made. And I know that there is this thing about the ungrateful set of us who receive barrel and so or remittances , and then we don't pay enough homage to the sacrifice and labour and so. We were in the virtual Groundings organised by Sherlina , Dr Wazir Mohammed, Professor Vibert Cambridge and me to talk about Diaspora connections and looking at the love/not love relationships. Alissa Trotz in the first In the Diaspora c olumn had described some of the complexities of Overseas Guyanese and local Guyanese.   Marlon James wrote in the Introduction to So Many Islands "Scratch t...

Teaching children "I didn't expect to have the conversation with my children until they were older" a woman shared. A boy told her 7 year old daughter that 'brown people are ugly'. The teacher brushed it off. "I teach them self-love, they like the colour of their skin.. their hair.. they want their hair locked like their father's'.   Another woman said she taught the children around her, to do as she was taught, to respect everyone. Her family is mixed. "The bus driver tells me that he is not passing [where I work].. but you know, I let it go..I will not treat others that way" Another mother said 'I told my family my son will grow with locks and then take them off' explaining that he first decided to take them off when walking in a white neighbourhood in the USA and a family stared at him. He cut off his locks "to see what I look like without locks' and then decided to grow them. Another woman said ""I ...

Cussing "Our differences are beautiful" the woman whose first contribution in the Groundings reflected her anger, pain and disappointment at people who she felt betrayed Walter Rodney. She cussed without apology. Another woman said 'pardon my french' the third or fourth time as she cussed as she vented about racism in Guyana, and the bad governance in Guyana Sherlina and I organised another  online  Groundings., inviting people to talk about :- How do we think about race - our own and other's? How,where did we get our ideas of race (what were our childhood/race lessons?) How can we be actively anti-racist ? Cussing was not expected.  But that is the thing about difficult conversations, space has to be given for the arc of releasing pain to moving to a different place where the pain is not felt the same way. Walter Rodney's global reach was realised again - young woman from Trinidad joining to listen to Guyana and young Sudanese born man ...

Still taken from  Walter Rodney - Race and Class Video I started writing this at 8pm on 13 June, 2020 , forty years to the moment almost when a bomb exploded and killed Walter Rodney in Georgetown. Sherlina and I decided to go online for our version of Groundings., Groundings without the free books,seedlings and the banner on the road side. Theme was 'Let us take direct action to end racism in Guyana'. Idea was to get people to brainstorm some 'direct actions by the people' to quote Rodney, to end racism in Guyana. To say now we see the problem, experience problem , are hurt by the problem.. to move on from the hurt and anger.  One woman joined from Trinidad.  Others from Guyana, and the USA. One woman was in front of St John's Episcopal Church in Washington DC. She and others were providing food to the protesters there. These are some of my impressions and learning from the conversation. There was much more. How do y'all remember Rodney? T...

Taking care.. "I don't smoke, I don't drink [alcohol]" the woman, a security guard said. The conversation was about self care. "I look after my family and be with my family.. I want to go home now to my children.. but I don't know when I will finish work as they ask me to 'hold on' .. " Friday afternoon and the bank which has caused a lot of problems for many Guyanese recently provides a cool shade for the Groundings activity. Another citizen,  a civil engineer said ' no alcohol never touch my mouth, no cigarette ever touch my mouth'. His face was serious, he looked stressed as he talked to us about corruption, about being asked to bribe police, and others to get through his business. He talked for awhile, things on his mind. He did not take any books. The student said that he learned pineal meditation from his mother. 'It keeps me focussed'. He took about four books.. "yeah, you can ask me four questions.. ...

When the photographer Hilton Chan is the subject of the photo Poems shared in hearts made from newspapers "Rodney bunnin' up in his grave.. " "So yall is WPA" the man asked us when we explained what Groundings meant and that Walter Rodney went into communities to talk about African history. "Rodney must be bunnin' up his Grave with all the f..k..ery that going on now.. ".  We laughed.. not only people in the grave bunnin' up.. even people outside the graves fed up. The man said it was  a good thing to come out and share books. He wanted marketing books. He said that he reads every day, and sometimes he listens to audio books 'when I am  helping my mother wash wares.."  We were on the corner of Main and Quamina Streets. "No time to read.." "I don't have time to read.." the cheerful 13 year old boy said. He was still looking for books though.. "I will keep for when I have time". He t...

The young woman was on lunch break and said she was looking for books on communication. She seemed unsure about Guyana and the future of Guyana. "In 2015, I was pregnant and I had problems and I could not afford to go private. I went GPHC , my baby was premature but they told me that the 15 incubators were being used so my baby died. They killed my baby... I couldn't speak for two weeks after" She took a journal with her.   The conversations could go anywhere. A taxi driver said he liked to read but he had no time now. He said more than one time that wished his children were there.  He went down to the Parking Meter protests as his hustle was being affected by the additional costs. "We try to move when we see them coming.. we aint getting wuk nobody aint hey" A group of students passed and looked back at us like we were mad. It is the usual initial response. Two of them then turned  back.  Conversation topics were 'What are you doing to look ...

"Yeah, I only drink now and then, like every weekend and so" "How old are you" "17" He could have been 12 , there with his mother who said she told him about the drinking in the way in which it seems like she gave up on him stopping drinking. I said nah man, liquor aint good, and you supposed to be 18. He laughed because it is a big joke generally that nobody bothers with liquor and who should drink and at what age. We talked about 'eating' .. he said that he had lost his appetite recently and not eaten much. He knew he had to eat well and exercise. He said he doesn't really like to read but is looking for something to do so will try to read the book he picked up He laughed as he walked away.. 'arite, i gun stop drink' A woman who heard us said afterwards, it is crazy. A lot of young people drinking .. some of them have problems at home. I remember a conversation with some youngsters a few weeks ago. "My  husban...

  The man had on a tie and was walking past. He turned and took a book.  "Did you know Rodney" and he said yes, he was a youth and they used to go to his meetings. He did not know that Rodney was so big outside of Guyana until later and he felt Guyana lost an important soul "So what can you do to remember Rodney" I asked him (rule was that you take a book and you answer a question.. ) "I think tolerance. We can't get far if we hate each other. That thing in Orlando. In my office, I keep telling them, that it was wrong.. that Isis would find a reason to kill them too and not only those people . "  I said , oh you mean your office people felt okay with the killing of gays. And he said yes,that it seened progressive thinking died with Rodney. It seemed that his office people sympathised with ISIS in killing the gays.. chants in music brought to life.  A minibus driver earlier in the day who was playing kick in she back door said that m...