As I write this blog, I am reflecting on my childhood days growing up in Rose Hall Town, in the Corentyne region of Guyana. We lived on an estate where my grandfather had a booming rice mill business. I remembered in the 60’s, he upgraded the mill for $39,000 USD with a multi-stage processor from Italy. My father owned acres of rice land and sugar cane fields and managed a Shell gas station. One of my uncles owned a saw mill and a magnificent house on the banks of the Canje River. I went to Rose Hall Church of Scotland elementary school. Then I attended Corentyne High School. I did well in the high school exams/University of London General Certificate of Exams (GCE). This allowed me to get a visa to study in the USA. My family remained in Guyana for a while after I left and then immigrated to USA in 1979. Today, when someone asks me where I am from, I say Guyana! Then the next thing I hear is, “You mean where that Jonestown incident occurred?” I would prefer to put Jonestown completely out of my mind. I have heard it from the American point of view, but not how it impacted the Guyanese residing there during the incident.
Guyana was a progressive country and one of the richest countries in the region. “Its principal exports became people,” said Janet Rosenberg Jagan. The decline of the economy started in the 60’s after independence. It became more severe in the 70’s. It is unbelievable that the government banned the import of spit peas and potatoes to save on foreign exchange! Spit peas, used to make “dhal” and potatoes (aloo) are staples for the Guyanese people of Indian origin. The economy progressively declined. The Guyana dollar at one time was $1GYD to $1USD. Today the exchange rate is $205 GYD to $1 USD.
The incident that placed Guyana on the map was Jonestown. The news read, “On November 18, 1978, 909 men, women and children died at Jim Jones' Peoples Temple in Guyana”. Recently I asked my mom how she felt about Jonestown and the “scar’ it left on Guyana. She said that they heard on the radio that hundreds of people died in Jonestown. She assumed that it was in the United States. She continued “Oh my god, hear how much people kill themself in America!.” My sister said, “Not in America, it is Jonestown, Guyana.” You mean Jashtown? Da na far from hay, dem go come kill abbe hey, wha dem a do in da jungle!” (You mean Georgetown (capital of Guyana)? That is not far from here. They will come and kill us here too! What are they doing in the jungle?)
As I was listening to my mother recall the day she heard the story, I could not help but chuckle. Her exact words reminded me of my roots, the way we spoke, our thought process and when tragedy strikes.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mass-suicide-at-jonestown
Weiner, Tim. "A Kennedy - C.I.A Plot Return to Haunt Clinton." New York Times International, 30 Oct. 1994.
Recently, National Geographic Traveler magazine has listed Guyana among 21 must see destinations to visit in 2014. It states “that Guyana may be the best-kept secret in South America, with most of the country still covered in wild forest”. The restoration of mangrove swamps near the capital, Georgetown, to the majestic Kaieteur Falls to the untouched Iwokrama rain forest offers tourists an opportunity to experience one of only four remaining intact rain forest ecosystems on the planet. 