Nice people in the stupidest country in the world

Mar 10, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

My wife and I dressed, got into the car and we pulled off. We hadn’t moved ten feet from our gate when my wife said that she wanted to get out, to check the address on the invitation card.
We were going to a site in Republic Park to a function to celebrate the 80th birthday of Yesu Persaud. She returned to the car smiling profusely. We were attending the birthday bash one week before it was due. My wife was a little bit annoyed but she was accustomed to this disarranged aspect of my life; we have been married for thirty years.
Last week, I got an email from my brother-in-law that said he was coming with his wife on Sunday (last) at 8 O’clock. I didn’t look at the e-mail properly to see if it was morning or night though I am absolutely sure that he did state the time of day.
I just told my wife we have to be at the airport for 8 O’clock Sunday morning. I got to the arrival section on time but something was not right. The place was sparse. How could there be an arriving flight and so few greeters? There and then I thought that the flight may be in the evening hour.
It was time to make an inquiry because the television screen on the wall that displays the time and departure schedules was not working. It was an extremely annoying moment.
There isn’t an enquiry desk throughout the entire space of the airport. There isn’t any wicket you could go to make an inquiry. It was a horrible thing in a country that lives in the 21st century (is Guyana still living).
My wife was getting upset because I do these things a little bit too often. So what to do? Was I twelve hours too soon for the plane? I saw an immigration officer emerging from the back and she headed in the direction of the arrival section. Before I could get to her, she was crowded. I eventually spoke to her. She requested the number of the flight. I didn’t know that; only that it began with a 6
She told me that she doubted very much that there would be a flight from Canada at 20.00 hours on Sunday. Night flights come in after 21.00 hours. She advised that I check with the airline at the departure counter.
But she asked for the name of my brother-in-law so she could check for me. Now brace yourself for the stupidest, most idiotic country in the world.
At the national airport (which is not the case at Ogle), all, I repeat, all the airline desks and counters are in a restricted area where absolutely no one, except departing passengers, is allowed to go.
There was no legal and permissible way a citizen at the airport, who is not departing Guyana, could speak to a representative of an airline. So here was I, not knowing when this flight was coming in. It was after eight and there was no arrival from Canada.
The departure entrance is manned by two security personnel. I related my dilemma to one of them and she allowed me to enter. The counter clerk for Caribbean Airlines told me that a Canadian flight was due in minutes.
When I went back to the arrival section, the immigration officer was looking for me with the information. I met two wonderful Guyanese who were understanding of the plight of others and were willing to help and be nice – the immigration officer and the security detail.
I will always maintain that despite the high crime rate, the persistence of dictatorial government and never-ending poverty, the Guyanese people are warm, friendly and inviting humans, some of the nicest you can find anywhere on Planet Earth.
We see people from other countries that we were brought up to think are the world’s great ones but many times were brought back down to earth. But our own Guyanese people are caring folks too.
Please inform me if you can, if there is another airport where the public is completely cut off from the counter clerks. How do you know about flights at the airport if there is no official you can speak to?
Why can’t there be an inquiry clerk fitted out with a computer to field questions from people at the airport that need information? This is normal in any modern world.
There are those who like to cuss down the media because of what we write. What we write is about the reality see around us.

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