By
Stabroek
staff
|
October
6,
2009
in
Letters
Dear
Editor,
Remigrant
found
bound,
smothered
–household
items
stolen
Canje-family-robbed
Victims
suspect
‘Faeces
Gang’
Haseeb-robbed-Belvedere
Thieves-S-police-station
Please
allow
me
the
use
of
this
medium
to
communicate
with
the
Guyanese
diaspora
population.
I
would
especially
like
to
open
up
a
conversation
with
Guyanese
in
the
United
States
and
Canada,
two
countries
that
I
lived
in
for
extended
periods.
Channa
bomb
hurled
at
Canje
businessman’s
home
Gunman-acid-burns
Koker-door-bruk-up
The
first
thing
I
want
to
bring
up
is
the
media,
and
especially
the
newspapers.
This
is
a
good
place
to
start
because
High
powered
weapons
I
know
from
experience
that
the
diaspora
is
especially
dependent
on
the
newspapers
for
keeping
up-to-date
with
developments
in
the
country.
Kaieteur
News
Let
me
go
to
the
point
directly.
Given
what
makes
news
and
how
that
news
is
represented
in
the
newspapers
they
might
feel
as
if
the
country
is
in
turmoil.
For
those
who
have
strong
feelings
about
their
homeland
that
must
induce
feelings
of
sadness.
Many
of
them
may
even
contemplate
throwing
in
the
towel.
Others
might
develop
feelings
of
anger
and
those
feelings
might
push
them
to
supporting
forms
of
extremism.
Kaieteur
News
I
ask
them
to
be
careful
with
this
stuff.
Guyana
is
alive
and
well.
The
stores
are
stocked
to
the
ceilings
and
there
is
no
shortage
of
customers.
In
the
Guyana
of
today
people
can
find
most
things
they
have
in
North
American
stores.
I
know
some
will
say
yes,
but
things
are
so
expensive.
Fair
enough,
but
not
everyone
in
Canada
and
the
US
can
shop
at
Macy’s
or
Lord
&
Taylor
as
a
matter
of
routine.
This
is
why
Wal
Mart,
K-Mart,
and
Target
are
so
popular.
And
then
of
course,
there
is
no
shortage
of
dollar
stores,
places
where
you
will
also
find
Guyanese
shopping.
Waitress
shot
dead,
three
injured
Woman-body-dumped-roadway
Gunmen
wound
two
brothers
in
raid
on
Grove
shop
O
n
the
fast
food
scene
they
will
find
Pizza
Hut,
KFC,
Church’s
Chicken,
and
Popeyes.
I
am
not
thrilled
with
this
development,
but
they
are
here.
What
they
have
to
keep
in
mind
is
that
these
outlets
are
considered
a
‘big-thing’
here.
I
must
also
mention
New
Thriving
Restaurant
on
Main
Street.
It
is
without
qualification
one
of
the
very
best
Chinese
restaurants
I
have
ever
been
to
anywhere
in
the
world,
and
say
this
having
been
to
Asia
on
many
occasions.
Lodge
bandits
nabbed
at
Corentyne
beach
Last
night
a
bunch
of
us
visited
GuyExpo.
This
is
a
trade
fair,
much
like
the
county
fairs
they
have
in
the
United
States.
I,
for
one,
went
to
the
Montgomery
County
Fair
outside
Rockville,
Maryland,
every
year
over
the
past
decade.
GuyExpo
is
much
more
interesting
and
much
more
fun.
Twenty-five
thousand
people
attended
on
Saturday,
and
Sunday
pulled
in
a
figure
close
to
that.
This
year’s
GuyExpo
has
nearly
300
exhibition
stalls
and
many
of
the
products
are
top
notch
by
any
standard.
I
know
the
members
of
the
Guyanese
diaspora
will
be
proud
of
these
products
and
many
might
even
doubt
that
they
are
made
here.
My
pick
of
the
lot
is
Summerson’s
Furniture.
If
they
lay
eyes
on
their
kitchen
cabinets
I
feel
sure
they
will
import
them
into
North
America.
This
is
the
real
wood.
Most
of
them
must
have
heard
about
how
people
dress
in
Guyana,
they
know,
better
than
overseas.
This
one
is
simple.
It
is
true.
Developments
are
popping
all
over
the
country,
something
that
some
in
the
newspapers
refuse
to
acknowledge.
Incidentally
I
saw
the
Berbice
Bridge
and
I
can
tell
you
it
is
rather
handsome.
It
makes
the
Outerbridge
Crossing
in
the
New
Jersey/New
York
area
look
ugly.
There
is
no
bridge
in
Toronto
that
has
the
scale
and
beauty
of
the
Berbice
Bridge.
Come
and
take
a
look.
Parts
missing,
Georgetown:
Government
of
India
Funding
For
those
who
haven’t
been
here
for
a
while
they
will
be
taken
aback
by
Don
Valley
Parkway
quality
lighting
on
the
major
roadways
here.
Imagine
Vreed-en-Hoop
to
Parika
will
soon
get
‘wall-to-wall’
street
lights.
Last
month
I
went
to
the
commissioning
of
the
Skel-don
Sugar
Factory.
It
is
a
gem.
Visiting
Guyanese
must
insist
on
seeing
it.
When
it
is
up
to
capacity,
the
Skeldon
Factory
will
also
produce
enough
excess
electricity
to
light
up
most
of
Berbice.
Last
week
I
passed
by
the
water
front
and
saw
with
my
own
eyes
the
new
GPL
generators
being
installed.
The
blackouts
that
have
dogged
the
Georgetown
area
over
the
last
little
while
will
soon
be
history.
When
overseas-based
Guyanese
come
they
may
want
to
stop
by
the
Diamond
Housing
Scheme.
Take
even
a
cursory
look
and
tell
me
if
things
are
that
bad.
They
may
want
to
also
go
to
Tuschen
and
Cornelia
Ida
where
they
also
have
giant
housing
schemes.
On
top
of
that,
the
indefatigable
Minister
of
Housing
and
Water,
Irfaan
Ali
and
his
staff
have,
in
one
fell
swoop,
modernised
the
housing
sector
by
developing
One-Stop-Shops.
Major
developments
have
also
surfaced
in
health
care.
Let’s
take
a
good
look
at
this
sector.
In
1964
the
life
expectancy
was
60;
it
moved
up
to
65
by
1975,
but
then
plummeted
to
59
in
1990.
Today
it
is
70
years!
In
1991
per
capita
expenditure
from
the
fiscal
budget
was
US$7
per
person;
in
2008
it
was
US$80.
This
is
expenditure
from
the
fiscal
budget.
It
does
not
include
grants
and
other
funding
from
external
sources.
In
1990
the
MMR
(Maternal
Mortality
Rate)
was
34:10,000.
The
comparable
rate
today
is
11:10,000.
In
1989
the
Infant
Mortality
Rate
was
78:1000;
today
it
is
19:1,000.
In
1990
Guyana
was
administering
6
antigens
(ie
vaccines),
today
it
is
administering
14.
My
friends
in
the
diaspora
may
know
what
it
costs
for
one
of
these
vaccines.
If
they
do
not,
I
can
tell
them
that
the
yellow
fever
vaccine
in
the
US
costs
US$600.
All
of
these
vaccines
are
now
provided
free
of
cost
in
Guyana.
The
H1N1
vaccine
is
coming
next.
These
are
measurable
improvements.
There
is
more,
but
for
now
let
me
just
remind
my
overseas
friends
that
today
Guyana
does
open
heart
surgery,
hip
and
knee
replacement,
and
radiation
therapy
for
cancer!
There
is
a
new
Ophthalmology
Centre
in
Berbice.
Cataract
cases
that
had
people
in
the
dark
for
a
long
time
have
now
been
taken
care
of
and
older
people
can
now
see
their
grandchildren
for
the
first
time.
President
Jagdeo
stated
recently
that
apart
from
the
obvious
service
to
Guyanese,
the
centre
will
provide
care
for
other
Caribbean
nationals
free
of
cost!
Thieves
break
into
Lusignan
Primary
School
April
24,
2010
Yes,
things
are
challenging,
but
that
is
no
different
from
where
expatriate
Guyanese
are
now.
As
in
any
country,
some
people
have
it
relatively
easy
while
others
do
indeed
find
it
hard
to
make
ends
meet.
I
am
confident
that
President
Jagdeo
and
his
cabinet
would
acknowledge
that
we
have
quite
a
distance
to
go
in
order
to
have
the
kind
of
Guyana
we
all
want.
The
difference
here
is
that
this
President
and
his
cabinet
are
out
there
every
day
working
to
make
this
a
better
Guyana.
President
Jagdeo
must
be
one
of
the
hardest
working
leaders
in
the
history
of
the
Caribbean.
There
are
so
many
things
happening
in
this
country
that
would
make
those
who
live
overseas
proud
to
call
themselves
Guyanese.
I
urge
them
to
be
careful
with
the
daily
dose
of
dread
that
has
become
the
signature
of
the
newspapers.
Perhaps
I
should
go
back
to
where
I
started,
that
is
back
to
GuyExpo.
Yesterday
[Sunday]
about
25,000
people
went
to
this
event.
It
is
nowhere
to
be
found
in
print.
Not
newsworthy
enough
I
suppose.
Yet,
if
one
–
I
mean
that
literally
–
if
one
person
had
engaged
in
an
act
of
protest,
there
is
a
good
chance
it
would
be
on
the
front
page.
Absent
that,
one
newspaper
opted
for
a
story
of
a
man
and
a
horse
caught
in
an
act
of
sexual
perversion.
Bandits
rob
Non
Pariel
businessman
Guyana
is
on
the
move.
If
anyone
wants
the
evidence,
they
should
come
and
see
for
themselves.
Yours
faithfully,
Randy
Persaud
